THE LAPLAND EXTREME CHALLENGE IS NOT A RACE.
IS YOUR OWN PERSONAL ARCTIC CHALLENGE.
Since 2013, the Lapland Extreme Challenge is based in doing a 1.000 kilometers tour around Finnish Lapland in winter in a maximum of 30 days. Is a self-supported human powered challenge. This challenge is no possible to do it by FatBike, best way is with wide or long skis (forest skis, OAC skis or splitboard) and universal bindings.
The Challenge runs through the Finnish Lapland wilderness. On the way you find shelters and free cabins but also you have to do bivy and in some towns you have the posibility to sleep in hotel if you wish.
This is a real challenge. In six editions only 3 athletes had finished the Challenge. To have the chance to survive and success is essential to have a very good experience in winter traverses and long winter journeys.
You can start any day you want, but the best periode to start the Challenge is between middle of February and the end of February. Also is ok to start any day untill the 15th of march for less cold temperatures and longer days. What is very recommendable is to finish before the middle-end of April.
Challenge start and finish in Rovaniemi, the main city in Finnish Lapland.
You choose your style. Some people sleep in hotels and/or private houses (if people invite them) and some others don't. Some people take advantage of markets and supermarkets they find in the way and some others don't. Some people carry a tent and some people don't.
You choose your way. There is no marked route so you take the track you want, you design your way, you stop when you want and sleep where you want.
To do the Lapland Extreme Challenge in the right way participants have to go through the marked waypoints, no matter if clockwise or opposite.
Whoever do the Challenge and like to be in this web page finishers list, must record the whole track and do a check-in at every waypoint with the satellite tracking device. Once she/he had finished have to send the track route done by her/his satellite tracking device to Polarguide and Logistics email.
Temperatures: Between February and begining of March temperatures could reach or even over exceed -30ºC.
Light hours approximately: Increasing between 8 hours (end of february in Rovaniemi). Every 7 days, light time increase by 30 minutes in Rovaniemi.