STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MUFFY RITZ

It was billed as the longest ski event in the world—for 30 years, at least, until the Finnish created a new event that traversed the length of Finland.

But, at 440 kilometers—or nearly 274 miles—the seven-day Rajalta Rajalle Hiihto ski tour was still a challenge for several Nordic skiers from Sun Valley.

Muffy Ritz, Roger Mankus, Joney Otteson and Karla Cale took part in the “Border to Border” guided ski tour across the middle of Finland in March accompanied by their friends Jeanie Clark and Beth Thomas.

They started in sight of Russian border guard towers on Finland’s eastern border and skied to the Finland’s border with Sweden, spending the last night in the town of Tornio across the river from Sweden.

“I turned 60 last summer and realized I needed to do this now,” said Ritz. “I thought: Seven days of skiing all day, how awesome. New people. New experiences. Off the radar. Not another bike or hiking trip in Italy.”

The route, nicknamed “Death’s Railway,” is an abandoned route built during World War II by Germans who forced prisoners into hard labor. The towns along it bore names like Taivalkoski and Sy-ote that were impossible to pronounce.

The relatively flat single classic track set down by snowmobile only once a year for this event wound through forests of birch, Norway, spruce and Scotch pine. Only on rare occasions was there a skate ski lane, but there were plenty of trolls lining the route.

“It was relatively unscenic compared to what we’re used to here. But it had a subtle beauty. And I loved the experience,” said Ritz.

The skiers skirted the Arctic Circle, skiing across frozen swamps and lakes. They crossed into Lapland briefly, passing a reindeer farm. And they passed through a national park full of snow ghosts—trees that had been hammered by snow so heavy that they appeared to tip over.

All they had to do was get up every day and ski. There were no mass starts and no worry about making it to the finish line before someone else.

It became like a week of meditation for some. Ritz double poled much of the way, listening to Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping” and other songs from her childhood to today.

“If you’re craving solitude and a challenge, this is it,” said Ritz. “My mindset was in the flow-skiing easy, no sweating allowed. If you’re craving solitude and a challenge, this is it.”

The group from Sun Valley started out on a grayish day in temperatures below zero but enjoyed temperatures in the 20s most days.

They awakened to a breakfast of yogurt, muesli, cheese, bread, herring, Cream of Wheat, bacon, sausage and strong coffee known as Kahvi in Finnish.

It was just a start, as they needed to eat between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day—well above the usual 2,000 to 2,500—to keep up with the calories they expended.

Food stations along the route offered orange slices, raisins, waxy tasting chocolate, hot lingonberry juice known as mehu, salmon chowder or reindeer soup, hearty Finnish bread and dill pickles known as kurkuu designed to replace the salt they lost through sweating.

Dinners included salmon, caribou meatball stew, potatoes, winter root vegetables, salad and a fruit soup with lingonberries, blueberries and raspberries.

“Our most memorable lunch was a weenie roast with big juicy sausages,” Ritz said. “They didn’t have a hard skin like ours, but they were the best I’ve ever tasted.”

The Border to Border has attracted as many as 400 skiers from Australia to Norway some years, with some having skied it a dozen times or more. This year’s attracted 280 spread over three weeks.

They ranged in age from their mid-30s through their mid-80s, with most of the skiers in their 50s and 60s.

They started skiing at 8:30 or 9 in the morning, finishing by 4. Their longest day was 88 kilometers, or about 50 miles. There was always a bus they could hop on if they didn’t want to do the full day’s journey.

And, of course, there were hot saunas.

“We were doing Level 1 or 2 skiing—a nice conversational pace. Everybody was just happy. I never heard a complaint except about the snoring when we spent one night sleeping on the floor of a schoolhouse,” Ritz said.

At the finish—that’s Maali in Finnish—Roger Mankus ate six desserts as each country provided cultural entertainment.

Team USA comprised of the Sun Valley skiers and a few others reenacted the Jessie Diggins-Kikkan Randall Olympic win.

Ritz already is making plans to return, and she wants to take others with her.

“This is an easy trip--the one that goes from south to north—that’s 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) in 34 days. And this is incredibly well organized—like a Swiss watch, with every meal and meeting right on time.”

FLASHBACK TO FINLAND

Two other Sun Valley Nordic skiers—Jim Keller and Blaine Staun—did the Border to Border trip in 2013 in more trying conditions.

They needed only step out of their hotel in Helsinki and look at the boats stuck in the ice in Helsinki’s Baltic port to realize they had landed in a country that endures winter eight months out of the year.

They started their tour in negative temperatures, which warmed up to—brrr—single digits and, finally, into the lower teens as the week progressed.

“We hit minus 34.6 degrees Fahrenheit once—the coldest ever for this event,” said Keller. “Their windows had four panes, and we could stash our beer in between the panes and have it stay very cold.”