Levi's skinning routes offer new adventures.
Ski touring, i.e. climbing up the fell with your climbing skins, is a big part of freeskiing.
The closure of ski resorts during the pandemic significantly increased the popularity of both freeriding and ski touring, both in Finland and around the world. In the fall of 2020, Ape and Saana (Finnish freeskiers) came up with the idea that there could be demand for the marked ski touring routes around Levi fell as part of Levi's freeskiing offering. The idea was to make routes that would be safe to climb, that would look beautiful, and that would be fun to descend.
In the spring of 2021, Ape and Saana made the first alignments in the terrain, crisscrossing the fell, studying maps, and looking for safe and interesting places for ski touring routes. With the enthusiasm, the idea expanded, and Ape and Saana soon noticed that instead of one route, it would be possible for Levi to make routes from all directions, which would connect to the top of Levi.
The 2022 spring season kicked off with five different routes, from which it is possible to ski a single ski touring route or combine several routes for an all-day workout, where you accumulate more than a kilometer of ascent.
You can get to know the fell in a whole new way, and you don't need previous freeskiing experience, because you can also ski down the slopes. It is also possible to rent ski touring skis or a splitboard from the Zero Point Rental. Ski touring with a headlamp set also works well for a sweat run before the sauna. During the dark season, some of the routes can and should be explored with the light of a headlamp, but please note that the routes are not illuminated.
Ski touring routes are maintained by servicing the routes with a snowmobile from time to time after snow flurries, but otherwise the routes are in a natural state and ski touring on them is at your own risk. The ascent routes are designed in such a way that they do not run in avalanche terrain. The routes are marked on the terrain with a yellow with a four-pointed pattern, on the slope map with a yellow dashed line, and the GPS track can also be downloaded from the levi.fi website. Outside of marked routes and in slope areas, ski touring is prohibited for safety reasons.
Enjoyable ascents and descents!
Levi's ski touring routes have been planned in collaboration with Arto "Ape" Majava and Saana Saltevo. Skinning routes can be found here: www.levi.fi/skitouring