We hike, ski, snowshoe, cycle and canoe avoiding unnecessary noise, without disturbing wildlife and leaving no trace. We are specialists in small group tours, a typical group size being 12-16 passengers.

Clients are given information about local environment and culture, seasons, every-mans-rights etc with a focus on regional characteristics. Several of our groups visit prehistoric rock paintings, in which case it is the guide’s responsibility to make sure that everyone knows not to touch the paintings.

When selecting cross-country ski routes, special attention is paid to the terrain to reduce maintenance costs. We ski on Hossa National Park’s maintained tracks as well as on tracks that are made especially for our groups. In summer, we use only marked hiking trails.

Picnic lunches around open fires are an essential part of our tours. We only use official fire places maintained by Metsähallitus (Finnish forest and park services) to whom we pay a set fee per participant. The guide is responsible for not making the fire any bigger than necessary and taking adequate measures for putting out the fire. Open fires are not permitted during forest fire alerts.

Whilst outdoors in the woods, composting toilets are preferred. If these are not available, we ensure not to contaminate water supplies. Paper is buried deep under the soil and when the ground is frozen, it can be burnt.

We buy the vast majority of the husky safaris from our partner who have a Green Activities certificate as proof of responsible operations. Most reindeer farm visits take place on farms that host tourists on a small scale. These visits do not typically include reindeer sleigh rides.

We practice catch and release, unless the fish will be prepared as food.

Our programmes never include motorised activities, e.g. snowmobiles or quad bikes.
Some groups have the option of booking snowmobile safaris for an additional fee. We primarily recommend short safaris of a couple of hours instead of longer ones where two people share the sled.

During summer hiking trips our customers can participate in a bear watching and photography excursions for an additional fee, during which it is possible to take photos and watch the animals from a hide. The organisers of the bear-watching trips follow the laws and guidelines and carry out the trips in such a way that their effects on the natural ecosystem are minimized, e.g. the bears are only fed during the filming season.

We recommend our fresh tap water for drinking. We advise our clients to bring a reusable drinks bottle which can be refilled daily. Bottled water is not accessible most days. For cooking, only tap water is used.

We encourage everyone to use water sparingly in shower etc. Dishes shouldn’t be washed under the running water. To wilderness huts drinking water is carried in cans and water for washing and dish washing is taken from the lake.

When shopping, the volume of waste is minimized by ‘bulk’ buying. We almost never buy plastic carrier bags. For our picnic lunches, we use reusable plastic dishes and cutlery. We advise our clients to bring an own lunch box instead of using our paper bags for lunch sandwiches. Disposable plates and cups are only used if it is necessary for some reason.

We abide by a strict environmental, “leave no trace” policy. All litter is removed. Only easily biodegradable waste, such as coffee grounds, are composted or disposed of by means of “distributed composting”. Back at base camp the waste is sorted and recycled (plastic, metal, glass, carton, bottles, batteries, medicines, etc.). We advise our clients to sort and dispose all waste correctly.

Landfill waste in our operations is mainly generated from broken and irreparable equipment. Equipment removed from customer use, but still usable (skis, snowshoes, winter boots) is sold at second-hand markets or flea markets. Unusable textiles (e.g. winter overalls) are delivered to textile recycling collection points. Sheets and towels are donated for reuse.

We do not allow the purchase of souvenirs containing threatened flora and fauna species, any illegally obtained historic/archaeological artefacts, drugs or illegal substances, and abide by local and international laws in place to prevent this.

At our small home-office, with two fulltime employees, ecologically sound choices are made throughout daily operations. The office is heated by wood pellets and to save energy the room temperature is adjusted.

We sort all the possible waste, in addition to all things previously mentioned, we recycle all office waste, e.g. inks and bulbs. We use environmentally friendly paper and print only what is necessary, double sided to save paper. All brochures and programmes are online and invoicing is done by email.

Some sheets and towels are washed at our office premises. We use ecolabel detergents and wash only full loads. In the future we only purchase ecolabel cleaning materials.