Join us on a four day bikepacking trip to the highest point in Finland – Halti (1324 m) – in the very north of the country, up above the Arctic Circle.
“Journey to Halti is a four day bikepacking trip born from a slightly hare-brained idea three years ago, that saw us trying to reach the highest point in Finland – above the Arctic Circle, in the middle of winter, on skis. It was my first time on skis (brave or stupid, you decide), -28 degrees C when we set off and at the end of the year when the sun no longer rises in Lapland. We only made it halfway, faced soft snow and a lack of established skiing routes that early in winter, so it’s been an incomplete mission since then.
Christian moved nearby for work in 2020, and me visiting for summer presented the perfect opportunity to try reaching Halti again – this time by bike. We had no idea what the trail would be like, and were aware that it might not be rideable. With a very literal rocky start, and slow-going flat sections and climbs, we were rewarded with descents that we could actually ride to enjoy. Smooth sections in between the boulders felt like the best trail ever! Four days out in the vastness of Käsivarsi Wilderness Area, with everything we needed on us or our bikes, was a great way to complete the mission of Halti, three years on.”
32 Comments
Always a great adventure video from Manon! First Mont Thabor and now Halti.
Thank you for showing us your trips, it has always inspired me to do a bike trip someday in the future!
wow
Fantastic adventure… Finland is now on 'the list'. As was Estonia and Sweden. I can see a bike pack of the Baltic coming on….
Nice one! I really enjoy this sort of adventure riding.
Fantastic. The perfect pick me up for the dark winter months with an added dose of lockdown. More stuff like this please Manon
Great effort. This is a beautiful trip. Great vid 👍
I think I am the bikepacker mentioned in the video, who gave the couple some advice about the route. I also tried to give some encouragement.
The terrain between Kilpisjärvi and Halti is very demanding, and there are easier (and maybe better) areas for bikepacking in Finland. The good news is that the Sami people move around the Kilpisjärvi area with their ATVs. ATV tracks are sometimes a lot easier to ride than the marked footpath.
If you really want to ride/push your bike east from Kilpisjärvi, I strongly recommend using this route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33899941
It is a great video anyway. Greetings to Manon and Christian.
wow.. got tired just watching this.. credit to you both for completing the trail.. bravo.. : )
Amazing to watch! Thanks!
Absolutely class ! Quality vlog , loving your lifestyle Manon
Thanks everyone for the kind comments! It's great to be able to share these trips, and I'm happy it's entertained, inspired or provided an escape to the outdoors for you in some way 🙂
"Just getting out into the simplicity of nature" so true. Beautiful Journey!
Great looking trip. Now I too wanna go there.
Fantastic video Manon! Good quality footage, brilliant narration and subtle music made for a really enjoyable watch – I could tell it was a great adventure. You also got the subtitles bang on, which a lot of people don't; they appeared for long enough to read them and were short enough to not really miss any of the footage 👍
Bravo Manon! Showing there is so much life to live outside the race tape (and outside the bike park!) And I loved the bit of geology in there as well!
Can you make your content accessible by formatting the auto captioning into closed captioning? It is extremely hard to enjoy your content having to keep concentration on the auto captioning and not be able to see your content properly sadly.
What a great film, Manon! Beautifully done.
Such a well done and entertaining journey. The beautiful and stark scenery was captivating. Thanks for sharing your tale. These videos are such a wonderful way to share experiences. Well done!
I personaly have a Radon "Urban" bike, custimized to gravel-cyclocross.. The first half of trail could do with my bike easely…
The second half — couldn`t 🙂
Such a lovely film and well worth the longer watch. Your voice over is fantastic! Lovely work Manon.
That was awesome! Nice riding, great destination!
Amazing video! What a great adventure!
Only envious people can push the thumbs down button.
Great video Manon! I've been following your adventures from instagram but didn't even realise you made videos as well 😀 Greetings from Lapland!
awesome adventure!
Hello… congratulations on your beautiful trip!!!!. Can you tell me roughly how many kilos your backpack weighs ???? Thank you in advance and good luck….
This is awesome 👏 looking forward to this amount of freedom after covid 🙏🚵♀️
Well done guys, you're truly inspiring with your adventurous souls! You should submit some of your videos to the BANFF Festival :). Xoxo.
Amazing filming 👍🏻
Amazing! I hope you'll produce more longer videos like this.
Great video and commentary!
I have been planning a cycling trip from Kilpis to Nordreisa along this route, this is the best video I have seen that really shows the trails. Thanks!