ADVENTURE MAG – July 2019

ADVENTURE MAG EDITION 1 - OE EDITION 56 59

ONE DAY IN APRIL...

FINLAND 2019 - WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

I finally arrived at destination

Kilpisjarvi and not had a proper

meal for 48 hours. My host

suggested that I head to the local

diner for a traditional Finnish buffet.

What a great suggestion that was.

Fully fed and ready to start this

adventure, I headed straight to

the local service station where my

crate had been delivered. It was all

starting to resonate with me now

that I was here trying to achieve

something really special.

The rest of the afternoon was spent

unpacking the crate and assembling

The SWOOSH, putting on the new

decals and preparing for the next

two days.

Exhausted but satisfied with the

all about. I woke up at 5 am, had

coffee, and breakfast, and went to

meet Ville Eskonen, my guide, all

by 6:00 am. Now, this guy knew

his stuff. Ville has been guiding

in Lapland for eight years now,

and if you are thinking of heading

up this way, summer or winter,

be sure to contact Ville at http://www.

laplandguiding.com

Ville had the snowmobile and sled

all rigged and ready when I arrived

at the carpark in Kilpisjarvi. We

loaded all the gear and Snowsailer

into the sled and headed up the

range, chasing the wind from the

lake to lake.

After 3 hours on the back of the

snowmobile, it started feeling like

Deja vu with regards to the wind.

day’s achievements, it was time

to head off to my base camp in

Skibotn, Norway with my host, a

magnificent 50-kilometre drive

through the Fjords. The cottage

on the fjord was sensational and

like all Scandinavian homes has a

sauna about 100 metres from the

house.

I must confess that I used the

traditional Scandinavian way every

day for the next six days, sauna

followed by a swim in the fjord in

frigid 2-degree water. But we were

not here to enjoy the sauna; this

trip was all about setting a speed

record as the fastest person to

ever ride a Snowsailer.

What followed over the next 24

hours was what this dream was

April 2 was here and after months of planning, the day of departure for my World
Record Attempt had arrived. I had been watching the weather patterns in Kilpisjarvi
closely for the best part of three weeks, and it was with excitement and anticipation
that I boarded for my flight with Qantas and Qatar Airlines to Helsinki. While the
travel would only take 24 hours, I then had a layover in Helsinki for 4 hours followed
by a Norwegian.com connection to Rovaniemi, and a 7-hour car drive to Kilpisjarvi in
Lapland. It was here that the adventure truly began...

WORLD FIRST: SNOWSAILING

by Charles Werb