How to choose your Winter Adventure
Over the last few years, we’ve evolved from running our hut-to-hut ski tours to now guiding quite a few different adventures in the Arctic so we thought a mini guide about each trip could help you decide which one to join. All our trips are a week long as we think this helps give you a proper experience of life up north.
We run 5 different winter trips at the moment:
Sarek Ski Expedition
Each trip is unique and amazing in its own way, you can of course join us on all of them but here is a little roundup of what each one is about.
Backcountry Hut-to-Hut Ski Tour is our original trip, the one that Sidetracked was created from. It’s everything that we are about. It’s a week spent skiing around one of Finland’s largest national parks. Pulling everything we need for the week in sleds, we ski each day staying at different wilderness cabins. No specific Nordic ski experience is needed just a good level of fitness to ski 8-17km a day.
Arctic Winter Skills - A bit like our hut-to-hut trip but a little more adventurous. We spend the week skiing in the national park making our way each day to a wilderness cabin or a different camping spot. Learning to setup a winter camp, and how to route plan across arctic wilderness.
Lapland Winter Adventure - this trip is based in a modern, but traditional log cabin for the week where we head out each day for a different adventure. From snowshoeing up the local fjells to exploring the forests on a fat bike. We head off midweek for a mini overnight expedition to one of the wilderness cabins in the national park then return for our final day where the group learns to drive their own team of huskies. This trip is a great taste of the amazing ways to enjoy Lapland’s endless landscapes.
Intro to Nordic Skiing - This trip, like the Lapland Adventure, is based in a traditional & modern log cabin for the week. Heading out each day for a Nordic ski adventure. We will do a mix of backcountry and traditional skiing and finish the week with an overnight trip to a wilderness cabin in the national park. This is a great way to learn or hone a new skill in a beautiful environment.
Sarek Ski Expedition - This is a new trip launching winter 2025 and it will be a 7-day winter ski expedition into Sarek National park. Known as one of Europe’s last wildernesses this part of Arctic Sweden is very wild. With no cozy cabins to stay in we will be camping for the week and exploring this epic arctic landscape. This is our most challenging trip.
Where do you prefer to sleep?
In a warm cosy cabin with heating, wifi and hot running water or pitching a tent in the snow, drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate before bed. Or the middle option - a night in a wilderness cabin where you can expect shared sleeping spaces, rustic charm, and a communal atmosphere. It's an excellent opportunity to get to know your fellow adventurers and share stories around the fire.
Our Lapland Winter Adventure and Intro to Nordic skiing weeks are based from a modern but traditional log cabin on the top of a fjell about a small resort town. Our Hut-to-Hut trip spends each night In a basic but cosy wilderness cabin - lit by candlelight and warmed by a log burner. We spend our evenings collecting water and firewood and whittling spoons by the fire. On our Arctic Winter Skills week, we will split between huts and tents in the snow. Our Sarek Expedition is a full winter camping experince.
Wilderness Cabin in the National Park
The view from our lounge from the cabin on our Lapland Adventure Trip
How much activity do you want to do every day?
Being out in arctic temperatures your body is already working, but a good way to stay warm is to keep moving. Nordic skiing is a good, all-over body workout (especially when pulling the pulks) and most are often surprised by how little layers are needed when you’re moving. On our Hut-to-Hut and Arctic Winter skills weeks, we spend from 4-6 hours skiing each day. These two trips are physically challenging but very rewarding, they are quite demanding as they are influenced heavily on the weather. If there has been fresh snow it makes the day a lot harder. If you really want to challenge yourself then our Sarek ski trip is both a mental and physical effort as we will be camping and moving everyday.
Our Lapland Adventure and Intro to nordic skiing weeks allow more flexibility. As we are doing multiple day trips and one overnight trip we can adapt our plans if needed, you are also welcome to join some activities just for the morning/afternoon or even have a rest day if desired.
Pull everything we need for a week of adventure
What do you look for in a holiday?
If you seek a sense of achievement and enjoy the camaraderie of a small group the Hut-to-Hut Ski Tour is perfect. The breathtaking scenery, physical challenge, and simple pleasures of hut life make it a unique experience. If you're keen to learn new skills and head off the beaten track into the Arctic wilderness then the Winter Skills Week will be ideal for you. For those who want a winter holiday that combines adventure with a bit more relaxation, the Lapland Adventure is ideal. It provides a diverse range of activities, all based from a modern yet traditional log cabin surrounded by the beautiful Finnish nature allowing you to try new activities and get a real taste of Lapland.
Which trip is best for seeing the Northern Lights?
This is a tough one to answer because it also depends on you and the time of year. The best chance of seeing the northern lights is when it’s dark, which means that you have more chance in January compared to April just because of the number of daylight hours. It helps to be away from light pollution, so being out in the wilderness where you are 30km from the nearest street lamp will help. The good thing about Lapland is that you are surrounded by nature wherever you are, so even the cabin we stay in during our Lapland Adventure in Saariselkä is set on a hill, surrounded by forest so it’s a good vantage point for spotting the aurora Borealis. There are apps you can use to check how high the activity is, and it will alert you when you may have chances of possible sightings (this is good to download if you join us)
The best thing you can do though is keep checking the skies above, the more time spent looking the better your chances are of seeing them. Because it’s a natural phenomenon its never something we can guarantee but we have been very lucky the past few winters with most groups getting the chance to see the skies dance.
How did our previous guests describe the trips?
Hut-to-Hut - ‘This was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. Spending a week in the wilderness staying in huts with no electricity was such a fantastic break from busy life. The simplicity of the routine of skiing all day, collecting water from frozen lakes, and chopping wood for fire was so cathartic and it really felt like a week of getting back to nature.
I would count myself as a fairly fit person and found the physical challenge to be at a good level. The trips are achievable for anyone who is motivated and exercises fairly regularly. On days when people were tired, we shared the weight around the pulks and all pulled together as a team with Sophie leading the way. If you have a sense of adventure and want to spend time travelling along ‘a road less travelled’ I'd highly recommend Sidetracked Adventure. - Jen.S
Lapland Winter Adventure - The best adventure break you could wish to go on. The sidetrack team is a handful of people keen to show off the delights of Finland in winter. We had Chris for the week, a guide full of knowledge and skills perfect for the activities we did during the action-packed week. The week is well organised and all information pre-holiday is good to make sure you know what you need and pack accordingly. Snowshoes, backcountry skiing, husky sledding, fat biking the fells, overnight cabin stays. What more could you ask for … meet new like-minded people, explore Finland (under supervision), and have a brilliant action-packed week. Loved it , loved it , loved it.
Arctic Winter Skills - We had a fabulous introduction to the Arctic with Sidetracked Adventures. Skiing for 6 days in a magical landscape. Cosy evenings in the fairytale huts and wonderful food with Anglo-American company! Two nights spent under the stars, and we even had an appearance from the northern lights. We even got to whittle our own spoons! We would go back in a heartbeat.
See our winter schedule here
If you’re still undecided or want to have a chat over the phone just get in touch with us and we’d be happy to help.
The team heading out for a hut-to-hut adventure