Kalevala ski tour, Finland

Planet

Skiing is an eco-friendly way of travelling from place to place. The carbon dioxide emission arising from passenger and service transport for each client during the skiing tour is four kilograms per day. For comparison, this amounts to what is caused by a thirty-kilometre tour in a normal passenger car.

We minimise the volume of waste by avoiding the use of unnecessary packaging material and disposable plates and cups. During the tour, all paper and cardboard packaging waste is burned. Easily decomposing garbage, such as coffee grounds and used tea bags, are composted or disposed of by means of "distributed composting". All other waste is carried back from the tour or trip. Back at the base, the waste is classified and recycled as far as possible.

A well-balanced connection with nature is the foundation of all our operations. Thus considering the environment constitutes an essential part of our business philosophy and is also of utmost importance to the success of the whole operation. The basic business idea of our company is to offer the tourist a range of products which are in concordance with Finnish nature. The products are specially designed to fuse into a harmonious whole with nature, special attention being paid to the immediate environment in which the activities take place.

We encourage our clients to show consideration for the environment: the visitors are offered a chance to take part in activities contributing to sustainable development. The adequacy of environmental activities is regularly assessed by means of collecting customer feedback and studying key parameters.

People

On this trip you will visit the local companies and will enjoy their services. For example on day 3 you will arrive to Arola where you will be welcomed by Helena and Eero, the couple who are running this authentic place. You can listen their stories from the war time and how they changed the farming into small tourism business some years ago. Helena´s cooking is based on local ingredients: fish from the river, elk from the forest, vegetables from the garden, berries from the forest. It brings the local food culture live.

By participating the trip you help Helena and Eero and their children and grandchildren to live their lives in this remote area.

Our company does not own any hotel, restaurant or buses for transportation. We buy all these services from the local operators. Also the guides of our tours are locals for as much as possible. So the money which we get from the clients goes 70% for the local companies in the area and the guides.

In our purchases, we are committed to preferring durable, locally produced, high-quality products. Disposable products are avoided as far as possible. Ecologically sound products are acquired whenever possible. When selecting co-operation partners, preference is given to those having an environmental policy. In addition, subcontractors are informed of the firm's purchases policy.