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Few images from the Nuuksio (February 2011):

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Picture above: The Brown River fall by Mikko Risku.

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Few images from the Korouoma (November 2009):

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The most obvious of these falls is the 1) Brown River (WI4/WI5), which is visible from the camping place at the bottom of Korouoma. Brown River is the highest of the falls, having up to 50 meters of ice suitable for climbing. Going up (left) from the camping place, one encounters 2) Mammoth (WI3), 3) Charlie (WI3/WI4), 4) Way of the Wind (WI3+/WI4) and Northern Lights (WI3+). Going down (right) from the camping place, there’s 5) Monk cave (WI5+/WI6), which is pretty close, and then 6) Angel Fall (WI3) and 7) Wolf’s teeth (haven’t seen it), which both are much further down the Korouoma (about an hour of walk in winter conditions). Except for Monk Cave all of these falls are on the south side of the Koro River (i.e. opposite to side of the parking lot). In addition to these there are several such falls, that aren’t there every year and might not have names (at least I don’t know the names).

Picture above: Brown River, Korouoma, Finland

Out of these Brown River, Mammoth and Charlie are by far the most popular ones. There’s almost always a good trail leaving from camping place towards those. Well, to the Charlie the trail used to be less established couple of years ago, but it seems that Charlie has gained popularity quite a bit and in my opinion for a good reason. I too like Charlie, both because of its sights as well as varied climbing opportunities it offers. In case you would like to do it with the top rope, there’s a side trail going up to each of these. Whereas at Brown River and Charlie it might be somewhat difficult to spot the right trail, it’s easy at Mammoth, just climb up left side of the fall. At Brown River and Charlie the side trail leaves from the right side of the fall.

Generally speaking approach is fairly easy, it’s canyon after all. After a walk to the bottom of the canyon, you just need to continue the trail following the river till you’ll get under your favorite fall. Typically there’s a short steep descent to each fall from the trail. On the other hand getting up from the canyon after hard climbing day requires much more sweat.

Getting there

If you’re arriving outside Finland by plane, the two closest air fields are in Rovaniemi and Kuusamo (about 100km from Korouoma); another alternative is Oulu (about 250km from Korouoma). If you’re coming from southern Finland you have an option either drive the whole distance, or get yourself (and in case you wish, your car) to the train to Rovaniemi or Oulu.

Once nearby the only really viable option is car. In case you didn’t bring your own, there are several rental agencies, including all the large global names, available in Rovaniemi, Kuusamo and Oulu. There are some busses coming to Posio, which is about 30 kilometers away from Korouoma, as well. Some of the busses might even be driving the road from Rovaniemi to Posio and in such case you could get off at the Korouoma crossing (5-7 kilometers from the actual place). With heavy climbing gear it is quite a bit more comfortable to come by car than rely on those very few busses, especially because there’s no local public transportation available what so ever. Well, you can get a taxi, but that’s expensive.

If you’re arriving by car drive first to Posio, from Posio head towards Rovaniemi and after roughly 30 kilometers, you should see a sign pointing to Korouoma, turn left as pointed by the sign. Drive about 2 kilometers, and there’s another sign, turn right. Drive till you end up to the parking lot (see map for exact location). From the parking lot you need to walk, just take the path down (starts from the left side of road, just a bit further from the parking lot), and you’ll end up to the camping place, where you can see the brown river.

Accommodation

There are few government owned cottages for rent, some cottages where one can stay for free and a place for camping in the area. (As surprising for a foreigner it might in Finland we have a system, where in certain remote cottages anyone can stay for free.) If you’re ready stay a slightly further from the venue, there are several private cottages with in distance of 30 kilometers as well.  From all the alternatives Piippukota and nearby camping ground are the closest to the falls, basically just few hundred meters away from Brown River. You can find more information and book accommodation online for instance from Villi Pohjola web-service.

More information:

• Retkikartta.fi – accurate online topographic maps of all the natural reserves of Finland (+plenty of other places), including routes cottages and cabins
• Villi Pohjola – online reservation and information about cottage accommodations in Finland
• Posio – Posio municipality (sorry, no English here)

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Few images from Korouoma below:

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It was two nights trip. We left on Friday evening and got back on Sunday evening. Our group of nine was spending the nights on Sail Island at Posio. Most of the people were pretty well know members, but interestingly there were two outsiders along as well. I’ve got to say that the accommodation were great, we had our own island, good cottage with sauna (for a Finn sauna is a huge plus). As I heard that the rent for the whole island were only 115€/night, I can recommend it warmly for everybody. It’s just 20-30 kilometers away from Korouoma and quality-price ration is excellent.

During the first day we split in to two groups. Couple of more experienced climbers went to Brown river fall, which is the highest in Korouoma (about 50-60 meters). Some of the routes are fairly challenging actually. Rest of the group went to Charlie fall, which is my favorite. It’s kind of too easy, but I like the atmosphere and the view from the top of the fall. Additionally it lets one to choose the route between quite different difficulties. On the right there’s easier routes, whereas on the left much steeper routes. Ice at Charlie is also more solid than it is on Brown River.

On second day we all decided to walk down to Angel Fall, which was a new one for most of us. Angel fall is fairly easy to climb (I needed four screws, whereas some of the more experienced climbers only needed three, most of the other falls in Korouoma require significantly more), but the approach took long. Got to say, it took too long for me. On the route down to Angel Fall, there’s Monk cave fall, which is really challenging thin-ice-mixed fall. After Angel, there’s still one more, a fall called wolf’s teeth. It should be pretty challenging as well. Since it was so long approach we maximized the climbing by two leaders taking two sets of double ropes up first and then four seconds going up at the time.

Got to say I enjoyed the trip. The good thing was also the fact that this was first time I gained the usual climbing confidence this year. It was fortunate, since the next trip is likely to direct in to Norway for really long falls (300m and up). Got to say I really needed the confidence. Funny, it takes at least 4-6 climbing days until one gains the confidence each year. I know, I should be climbing more.

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Saturday was modest, just about -25, but on Sunday it got colder. The lowest figure we had was -29.5 (measured on our car’s thermometer few kilometers away from the spot), it were most likely even colder down on the bottom of Korouoma canyon.

As many of you may know cold makes climbing difficult in several ways. First of all ice is very hard and it carks really easily. As a result screws tend to fracture ice while screwing, screwing requires more strength, large chunks of ice will detach frequently due to use of ice tools, which posses danger not only climber himself, but anyone below as well, and it requires more skill to build secure belay anchors on the wall etc. Second, cold means freezing, freezing fingers and feats, fingers feeling numb and all the pain related having frozen limbs. In other words one better stay warm.

Few tips for climbing in cold:

• Use only sharp screws. The ones that have seen some stone may bite reasonably well on warmer ice, but will just fracture the cold ice making the placement of ice protection almost impossible.
• An extra large down jacket is a absolute must, even though I had one (+one layer of fleece, two layers of merino wool +extra warm climbing boots) I were having hard time to keep myself warm.
• I would think that a soft shell would do much better than Gore-Tex as an out most layer. Unfortunately I don’t have one and can’t give you a real firsthand experience about it. In theory besides being warmer, soft shell doesn’t have the freezing problem related to Gore-Tex. In other words if temperature is below -20 to -25 Gore-Tex pores freeze and doesn’t let vaporized water out as they should, thus resulting a small internal snow rain inside your jacket.
• Use eye protection, cold ice results plenty of small razor sharp ice bits that poses serious danger to your eye sight.
• Chemical heat pads were a real life saver in a glove while climbing the first 20 meters until you’ve really warmed up.
• Make a good warm up before starting to climb. Swing your hands; take a short walk to uphill etc.
• Have a good thermos filled with extra hot (and sweet – plenty of energy) drink and remember to eat enough to ensure that your body has the energy not just for climbing but to keep you warm – heating takes more energy in cold conditions.
• Where possible and in case you don’t absolutely want to lead climb, you might consider setting a permanent belay position on higher ground and do belaying at the top of the fall, as it is much warmer there than at the bottom of the canyon.

The positive side on cold conditions is the fact that you don’t usually need to worry about staying dry. Water floats less and tends to freeze directly on top of your clothes. As an extra plus you don’t sweat that much either, which again means drier feel.

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