Korpijaakko

Recommended reading, resources and other stuff:

Supporting active outdoor life

Trekki – “Ulkona kuin kotonaan” Finnish outdoor gear shop supporting me and my clients
Ursuk – Outstanding drystuis, made in Finland!
Packrafting Store – Packrafts and related gear for Europeans
Blacks – Outdoor clothing and kit
Millets – Kindly providing me waterproof jackets

Blogs
Asentopaikan päiväkirja – Entertaining writings about hiking in Lapland (in Finnish)
Grammari – Timo Anttalainen on lightweight backpacking, MYOG and kayaking (in Finnish)
Hiking in Finland – Hendrik Morkel’s superior blog on lightweight and UL backpacking
Ilman täydennystä – Aiming and preparing for a long solo hike (in Finnish)
Nordic Lightpacking – Collective of Nordic lightweight and UL blogs
PTC* – Great writings about gear and trips by Petesy from UK
RyanJordan.com – BPL.com founder RYan Jordan’s blog on UL and simplicity in outdoors
The Roaming Dials – Packrafting guru Roman Dial’s blog

Forums
BPL.com forums – The Holy Grail of UL backpacking
Digicamera.net – Comprehensive discussion forum on digital photography, also good place to sell and buy camera gear (in Finnish)
Relaa.com – Discussion on hiking, trekking, climbing,  skiing, etc.  Also an active gear swap area (in Finnish)
Turinat – Great place to discuss on hiking and backpacking in Finland (in Finnish)
Vaell.us – A bit quiet discussion forum but well establishd knowledge on certain topics (in Finnish)

Epic trips for entertainment and inspiration
Andrew Skurka – Epic trips on almost yearly basis, e.g. the epic 4700 miles Alaska-Yukon Expedition
Arctic 1000 – 1000 kilometers on foot in the Alaskan arctic, no support, no assistant. Epic!
Bergans Baikal 2010 – A 650km ski crossing of Lake Baikal in Siberia
Etelänaparetkikunta 2008 – Finnish South Pole expedition in 2008
Greenland 2008 – Three months long expedition from the Southern tip of Greenland to Qanaaq by skiis and kites
Hii-Pat – Over 930km skiing thru the Northern most wilderness areas of Finnish Lapland (in Finnish)
Kalottireitti 2004 – Solo skiing the whole lenght of the Nordkalottleden (in Finnish)
Pohjoisnapa 2006 – The Finnish Airborne Ranger Club’s unsupported and unassisted expedition to the North Pole.  Epic strucle and determination!
Rajapyykki – A 500km skiing trip across the Finnish Lapland (in Finnish)
Team N2i Expedition – First ever kite skiing expedition to the South Pole of Inaccessibility. Epic!
The Iinet 1000 Hour Day Expedition – Unsupported crossing of Victoria Island in the Canadian actic – the spirit of adventure!
1000 days – 1000 days at the sea non stop and with out support or assistance.

Other recommended reading
Expedition.fi – Archive for Finnish Arctic and Antarctic expeditions in the 21st century (in Finnish)
Explorersweb.com – News and information on polar, mountain, trekking, ocean, etc. expeditions
Outa – Nice Internet based outdoor magazine (in Finnish)

In case of unresistable urge for new gear:

Recommended and trusted brands
Cumulus – Quality sleeping bags from Poland, also tailor made if needed
Finnsvala – Quality merinowool, fleece, headgear, etc. made in Finland!
Golite – Maybe the largest lightweight/UL brand out there
Haglöfs – Trusted outdor gear brand from Sweden, good stuff also for everyday use
Hilleberg – The tent maker, the choise for harsh conditions
Nahanny – Good quality and amazingly warm down gear from Romania, tailor made!
Sasta – Finnish quality outdoor gear brand, makes possibly the best arctic skiing jacket in the world

Shops in Finland
Partioaitta
Reittipiste
Retkiaitta
Scandinavian Outdoor Store
Varuste.net
Varusteleka – Probably the best military surplus store in the whole world

Shops in Europe
Northstar – Outdoor gear shop in Sweden (in Swedish but e-mails also in English)
Skistart – Skiing gear shop in Sweden
Towerridge – Adventure clothing & equipment from the UK
Ultalightourdoorgear – UL oriented outdoor gear from the UK

Planning a trip or needing info?

Outdoors.fi – Good information source for goverment run hiking areas in Finland

Maps of Finland
Citizen’s MapSite – Online maps from the National Land Survey of Finland
Finnish Geoportal – A map portal that ables to combine different map data
Excursionmap.fi – Good maps of goverment owned areas in Finland

Weather
Foreca – Finnish meteorological service Foreca
Fmi.fi – The Official forecasts of the Finnish Meteorological Institute
Yr.no – Norwegien weatherforecast service