Korpijaakko

Last Saturday it was once again time for the annual Helsinki Adventure Night, an adventure and climbing oriented movie evening. This year offered an interesting documentary about research work on Antarctica in the form of Antarctica: A Year On Ice, excellent keynote speech from Ueli Steck himself and Valley Uprising, a documentary about the history of modern rock climbing in Yosemite valley.

But for some this wasn’t quite enough of an adventure, despite the long queues to the restroom and bar during the intermissions.

Photo by Marko Takanen. See the rest of his set by clicking the pic!

Before the big night Marko suggested on Twitter a proper follow-up adventure for the event and we ended up with a plan involving camping in an island and ferrying ourselves there with couple of small inflatable boats in the middle of the night after the show. Plan was good but my preparations were pretty sloppy: I forgot to take my shell clothing despite the forecasted rain and sleet, I forgot to pack beer and forgot to buy food while shops were still open so only had a bag of marshmallows… But that’s no reason not to go for a little adventure!

After the movies a group of five jolly adventurers met outside the theater ready for a little adventure. On the way to the sea-shore I stopped at a fast food restaurant to fill an empty soda bottle at the toilet and buy some sandwiches to grill over fire. Missing water and food covered. The weather was better than expected: around zero and no rain so I was okay without the hardshell. And I also had a little flask of whiskey in my HMG pack so that made up the lack of beer. All covered and ready to go!

We met at the shore in Kaivopuisto little after midnight. The party people waiting for a taxi didn’t believe that we were about to ferry ourselves into an island and sleep there under a tarp just for fun. Well, we are all different. If I can choose between an evening in a nightclub or an evening by a camp fire… It’s a no brainer!

The first crossing to Uunisaari was ruined with a temporary bridge but we decided to take advantage of it anyway as it was already late. The next crossing was a real deal and we crossed it ferrying a little Packboat canoe and an Alpackraft packraft back and forth. After little exploration we found a great camp site with level rock platform for sleeping and an old fireplace. Soon we had a big tarp rigged to shelter us from the cold wind blowing from the sea and a crackling to keep us warm. (Thanks Alpo!)

Very early in the morning we retired side by side under the big tarp. During the night the temperature dropped a bit below zero and some of us had slightly chilly night in their summer bags, me included. Morning was gorgeous with the sun visible for the first time for a couple of weeks. We had coffee and breakfast by the fire and walked around the island to get a good view of it, the sea and the city on the background before ferrying ourselves back to Uunisaari and to the mainland.

It was a great little adventure. A proper ending for the Helsinki Adventure Night. I hope there will be a sequel next year!

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See also Joni’s report and Marko’s photos.