Treasures of Russian Lapland

After having a good sleep we will start our snowmobile adventure from a snowmobiling base camp “Skidooking – Khibiny. There you will be outfitted with all necessary cold weather and protective gear and, after a briefing and driving guidelines, will hit the trails accompanied by two of our professional snowmobiling guides. A route across picturesque valley of Little Voudyavr lake quickly takes us to the deeps of Khibiny mountains. Khibiny are the largest, highest and oldest mountains. These mountains survived several glaciers and while they significantly decreased in hight, they didn’t lose their grandeur. 110 of the minerals found in Khibiny are unique to this region. For example, mineral Khibinit, bearing the name of the region, hasn’t been discovered anywhere else in the world!

After the first 16 kilometres the mountain valley will become more friendly as cloudy mountains give way to the forest. We will stop at a beautiful and friendly rescue station Kuelporr – the crossroad of all Khibiny roads. Then, we continue our journey East passing a mountain ridge and Lovozero tundra along the way. There, we will see a beautiful frozen mountain lake surrounded by stone walls of Khibiny. Soon after we reach Umbozero – a lovely lake that is considered to be the deepest in Kola peninsula. We cross the lake and arrive to a beautiful and cosy lodge in a now abandoned Puncha village. Here we will have dinner and reward ourselves with sauna after a long day of snowmobiling.

On the sixth day we will discover Kanozero – a place rivalling the Seidozero for both natural beauty and importance to Saami. We will start by going to petroglyphs – the largest cluster of stone-age rock drawings in the region. Three islands are part of the museum. The largest of them is easily seen from afar for its large glass dome that covers around 600 of the most valuable drawings. Overall, to this day there are over 1500 drawings found in Kanozero and new ones are still reported.

The choice of islands as holy places is understandable, as water has always played an important role in Saami religious beliefs, dividing the holy place from the rest of the “everyday life” land. According to scientists, the drawings are related to Saami hunting cycles. After listening to the tour we ride to lodge “Sandy Shore” where we’ll stay for the night. This cosy lodge is located on a shore of the lake opening a relaxing view on the calm frozen water

After a good breakfast we leave the lodge and go to the snowmobile route at the foot of Spruce-Tundra mountain ridge. We’ll cruise along this trail to the natural reserve Kolvitsky, dedicated to the protection of the wild Northern reindeer. From there we turn North, pass White lake and through a narrow isthmus we enter a real-world winter fairy tale – a little sanctuary of northern nature hidden from prying eyes. Here you will float up and down deep canyons, dozens of charming little lakes and streams running between mountain ridges. Climbing to the highest mountain along one of these streams, we will see a magnificent panorama of the White Sea trapped in the prison of ice and its countless small and large islands. We leave this place through a narrow rocky canyon with frozen blue waterfalls.

Our next stop is Volosyanaya mountain. Here we will take a break in DoubleHouse – a tourist stop that was named as one of the best cabin designs located in hard-to-reach places according to Cabins. Escape to Nature. Here we will make plenty of photos on the surrounding scenery of the White sea and the evening town of Kandalaksha at the foot of the mountain. To finish the day we will have dinner in a beautiful restaurant with a view on Kandalaksha marina and stay for the night in a ski resort “Cross Mountain”.

On the eighth day we will pass 130 km and finish our tour. For the first part of the route, we ride along the wide snowmobile track and old logging road. In about 60 km we reach Imandra – the largest lake in Kola peninsula. From there we move across the lake and river valleys to Khibiny. This time we enter these mountains from Western side. The last leg of this journey brings you over a beautiful canyon named after a Finnish explorer – Wilhelm Ramsay. We reach Little Voodyavr lake, already familiar to us from the first day, and return to the snowmobiling camp “SkiidooKing – Khibiny” – the starting point of our adventure. On arrival you will be greeted with lunch and have enough time to prepare for going home. After saying goodbye to our guides and snowmobiles you’ll be transferred to the airport and from there take a flight home.