Nichlas O'Kane

I am a 33-year-old Canadian-Finnish adventurer. I grew up in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, skiing and hiking in the mountains from a young age. I started ski-touring when I was 17, and I became particularly interested in backcountry skiing after serving in the Finnish Special Forces. My passion for hiking has led me on numerous wilderness trips to the wildest parts of Lapland in Finland, Sweden and Norway. I have fallen in love with the spectacular fells of Pallas and have spent countless hours exploring their every corner.

Expertise

• Pallaksen Pöllöt Fell guide since 2021

• Ski-touring with 15+ years of experience
  AST 1 - 2009
  Finlav 2 - 2022

• Fell skiing with 10+ years of experience

• Guiding 7 years

• Firefighter and EMT since 2017

Expertise

I am a 41-year-old, happy fell guide with a love and respect for arctic nature. The longing for snowy winters brought me from Helsinki to Äkäslompolo in Ylläs ten years ago. A few months of remote work escalated into fell guide studies in Sweden and a permanent move up north. It's good to be here!

The Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park starts in my backyard and I have spent years exploring it on foot, by bike, on skis and with an orienteering compass in my hand. In the winter my favorite sport is Fell skiing and in the summer I love to hike.

Although the job of a guide is to get hikers safely from point A to point B, I think the most interesting thing about a guide's job is the people. I think it is important for a guide to create a comfortable and safe environment where experiencing the beauty of nature together is more important than the kilometers.

My day job is with the Department of Forest Management, as a side job I am an entrepreneur with my remote work space rental company Kohta Coworking. At home I am accompanied by my kindergarten-aged child.

• Pallaksen Pöllöt Fell guide since 2018

• Fjälledare (Swedish Fell Guide diploma) 2016-2018

• SVELAV Friåkning 1 – Swedish avalanche skill training level 1 2018

• NOLS Field Instructor (National Outdoor Leadership School, USA) 2019

• Wilder First Responder (NOLS) – 80 h 2020

Heidi Siira

Petra Lillqvist

I am a 66 year-old, seasoned wilderness explorer. The magic of mountains and backcountry has fascinated me since I was young. For the past 20 years I have been skiing and snowboarding in the mountains and fells of the Alps, the Rockies and the Nordic countries. Backcountry skiing came into the picture when I joined the "Calgary Scrambling and Mountaineering" club while living in Canada and worked as a guide there. In the summer we hiked the slopes and valleys, and in the winter we enjoyed the snow-covered wonderland. After returning to Finland, I have spent most of my free time exploring the vast nature of Lapland. I travel in the fells and the borreal forest on foot, skis, bike and kayak. Whatever the game, it is just so good to be in the fells!

I am a doctor by profession. Over the years I have completed several courses related to backcountry safety and knowledge of the sport.

Expertise

• Licentiate in Western and Chinese Medicine

• Emergency Medical Technician (Calgary, Canada)

• AST1 (Avalanche Skills Training) (Yumnaska, Canmore, Canada)

• AST2 (CloudNineGuides, Canmore)

• Crevasse rescue certificate, Rock rescue certificate (Yumnaska, Canmore)

• Mountaineering and Glacier Travel certificate (Yumnaska, Canmore)

• Advanced Wilderness first aid certificate (University of Calgary, Canada)

• International Diploma in Mountain Medicine (Alpinärtzeschmiede, Österreich)-pending

• 20+ years experience of hiking in the wilderness. 10 years of guiding in the valleys, slopes and glaciers of the Rocky Mountains.

Expertise

I am 52 years old and just as excited as I was as a little boy when I first ventured into the wilderness with my father. I have roamed the wilderness countless times, both with various groups and alone. My first hikes were at the age of 5 or 6, and since then, Lapland and the wilderness have lived within me. During my childhood and teenage years, I lived in Iisalmi, near the border of Lapland, making it easy to take various-length trips into the wilderness with my father (whether skiing or hiking), fishing, paddling, and berry picking.

As a young adult, work and life took me to southern Finland, where I spent about 30 years in Pirkanmaa. However, the call of the Lapland wilderness was strong, and I had to spend at least a week there every year, sometimes even longer. Every time I visited, I felt that this was a place where I belonged. Life kept me firmly in southern Finland until 2019, when it began to seem possible for me to move permanently to Lapland as my youngest child reached adulthood. I spent some time searching for a place to live until I found one in Levi in the spring of 2022. Since then, I have lived in Levi and have become self-employed in the Tunturi-Lapland area.

• Fishing guide

• Wilderness guide

• Canoeing Instructor

• Ski Instructor, Alpine, Level 3.

• Ski Instructor, Cross-country skiing

• Avalanche technician, Finlav Pro 2

• Ski Patrol 2

• Carpenter

• Arborist

Janne Hapuoja

Ronja Ollikainen

Hello!

I am Ronja, I live in Muonio and I teach at a secondary school during the day. I am a passionate fell explorer and forest walker. There are many things you can do in the forests and hills of fell Lapland, I cycle in the summer, pick berries in the autumn, ski in the winter and free-ski in the spring. After these all adventures the most important thing to me is to pause for a moment and breathe in the worlds clearest air. The best thing about Lapland's nature is definitely silence and cleanliness, a clear starry sky and untouched snow. Let's go see these together!

Expertise

• Shory Ski Instructor 2016

• Alpine ski club coach 2018

• Pallaksen Pöllöt Fell guide since 2021

• EA 2022

• Finlav 1 2022

• Masters of Education 2023

• Finlav 2 2025