In times of mild and dry winters the area of Kola Peninsula is a snow safe place to visit.
Not famous for huge amounts of snow like the Japanese mountain range, but due to its far north location it is manly cold winters starting already in october.
As a comparison most of the skiing in Japan is between 40-45° latitude, the Khibiny mountains are close to 70°latitude! Something that has been a problem this year in Japan with many ski resorts that has kept closed due to lack of or no snow at all.We started an 11 dat ski-trip from St Petersburg and then train to Apatity, with one day of skiing in the ski area of Kirovsk. Before heading out to a Refuge 20km from the road end, surrounded by mountains up to alost 1200m high.
Supported at the refuge by our Russian staff which served a good variation of traditional Russian food and drinks.
This is a great area to visit from March until mid May, but for the cold snow March is probably the best time. Earlier in February it is still quite short days.
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| Descending towards the town of Kirovsk |
A combination with the very punctual Russian trains givs the whole trip a bit more of adventure when you end up seeing areas that one might not be existing.
But the trains it self are very trustful and have a good reputation to always be on time, which we can only agree on after our journey. Including a very good train restaurant, well, except the coffee.
You just need to book the tickets well in advance and choose 2nd or 3rd class...depends on the experience that you want!
For further information, please contact alpinemadness.se / Krister Jonsson
