Skiing in Karelia

Ok, as I've noted in the previous post it's time to say something about skiing in Karelia.
As it is considered by scientists, for hundreds and almost thousands of years that was the only and rather not bad way to move for people who lived here. Maybe dog sleds or sleds with reindeers were used also but I do not know any facts from literature or other sources about that.
But let's see what we've got today.

Skiing in Karelia is actually cross country skiing. There are few places for downhill skiing equipped with lifts in our region.
When I was a child I skied across Petrozavodsk bay of Onego lake. The most remembered things are the cold wind and the track with blocks of ice made by an ice breaker ship.
There are some tourist routes for ski trips to the famous island of Kizhi, the central part of the well-known Kizhi museum of wooden architecture. Of course, that's not a trip from Petrozavodsk to this island - that would be almost 80 km across the ice of Onego lake. Such "ski walks" usually begin somewhere from the shores or even from an island of Onego situated not far from Kizhi.
If you haven't heard about Kizhi yet, you can visit the official website of Kizhi museum or view a description of Kizhi museum on our company website.

In spite of the fact that one third of the territory of our region, Karelia, is covered by thousands of large, smaller and very small lakes the best areas for skiing are local forests, taiga. Taiga protects you from cold winds and offers splendid views in winter. These forests consist mainly of pines and fir trees here. Though some leafy trees, for instance, birches are also usual.

If you come to Karelia from January to March and stay here for some time you can try a ski walk. Good ski trails should be prepared by snowmobiles, otherwise it is rather hard to ski along them after snowfalls. The tracks of popular ski routes near Petrozavodsk are periodically renewed by snowmobiles during all the snow season. Ski routes near large tourist lodges are usually prepared as well, to give all the guests the opportunity to enjoy skiing.