Frozen Time: Finns have always loved winter, with activities to warm the hearts of the whole family

We all have to toughen up, say the Finns. Forget hygge. We must have courage, or Sisu. It’s about resilience and strengthening the psyche. There are even some new books on the subject with names like Sisu: The Finish Art Of Courage.

Eastern Lapland is a good place to try it. Our family—my wife, Jayne, and our daughter, Lucy, 17, has never been more demanding.

In winter, the average temperature is minus 13°C, with occasional lows of minus 30°C (minus 22°F), and you only get about four hours of sunshine. They are 80 percent covered by swamps and lakes and have been frozen for months.

So it’s a challenging world. Wolves and bears like it, but there aren’t many people. In our area, Salla, there were more than 10,000 reindeer and only 3,400 people.

The Gimlette family (above) tested snowmobiles in the small ski town of Sallatunturi. John says it looked like the vehicles were taking off. [them] To the ends of the earth’

But it’s also beautiful. The light is pink and the air is dry and minty clean. Below, the forest looks delicate and delicate. On top of the hills, however, everything is thick with pebbles in the ice. The trees balled up in the snow now look like giant branches of cauliflower – or trolls.

For locals like our tour guide Paula, magic is at work. They all pick their own berries and have a mökki or log cabin in the forest. Salla’s Supermarket has everything you need in the Arctic, including toast forks and moose slices.

We were soon out and getting hard. In our small ski village Sallatunturi there are 15 slopes and 150 km of cross-country trails. Thanks to floodlights and special rental suits, we were outside all the time. Time stands still when you’re having fun. Once we found ourselves sledding at midnight.

Reindeer led John and his family through a frozen forest in Lapland (file photo)

At night it was like driving through a huge sculpture park. The oldest ski in the world was found nearby and is believed to be 5,267 years old. Sometimes Paula came to us. Once her daughter came too, on a walk through the hills. Although she was only six years old, she never considered skiing 8 km. Here, too, Sisu applies to children and starts the day running.

Most mornings we were out with the huskies, reindeer or snowmobiles. As Finns we were never just passengers, we had our own sledges and our own plane. The reindeer herder carried a bundle of skins and gave simple instructions: “Riding is easy. Reindeer know where to go. They have their own brakes.”

I loved these beasts and the soft curves they cut through the frozen forest. But Lucy preferred the huskies with their mad howling speed. There were 180 dogs on our expedition, all with names like Surprise and Panic. It was like riding a fur tide through the hills.

Swamps and lakes cover 80 percent of eastern Lapland and have been frozen for months, John reveals. Above is the region’s Salla National Park in autumn

The snowmobiles were harder to love but seemed to take us to the ends of the earth. Finally we reached the watch tower on Ruuhitunturi. It looked like it was blown with meringue mixture.

Far below lies Russia, laid out like a great carpet. It was a good time to think of Sisu. This is where the concept took off in 1939. In November the Russians invaded the Winter War and Salla became a battlefield for a while. But the Soviets would soon regret their invasion. Outnumbered 15 to one, the Finns unpacked and pushed back.

In Salla, a small museum commemorates these months. Bear traps and stuffed wolves include helmets and guns. The curator told me that she still finds military equipment in the forest and that everyone knows about the miracle in Salla.

The exterior of part of the small museum in Salla commemorating the 1939 Winter War

While staying at Sallatunturin Tuvat Resort, John discovered that Restaurant Kiela (above) has an extensive menu of Arctic dishes; Soups, char, berry salads and reindeer steaks

Of course, you can’t always be tough, so we had the Sallatunturin Tuvat. Anywhere would have looked cozy after a day on the ice, but our little resort had everything cozy about it.

Our cabin had a sauna, fireplace and dryer. For some Finns it might have been too much and the neighbor would sometimes sneak out naked to roll in the snow.

The hotel restaurant Kiela was full of skins and skis. Then at the foot of the slopes stood a large wooden house called Keloravintola. Both had similarly sumptuous menus of arctic food; Soup, char, berry salads, reindeer steaks and even some slow-cooked bear.

The nights were almost as beautiful as the days. Some nights we walked through the forest, everything around us was covered in ice. But then the clouds would open up on the frozen lake and we could see shooting stars or great vibrant green streaks: the Northern Lights.

On our last day we rented fat bikes and went through the hills. I remember a reindeer walking along the path and a little red dog digging for partridges in the snow.

We also came across a sign announcing The Middle of Nowhere and a group of retirees racing along on cross-country skis. There goes Sisu, I thought; pain and joy alike.