Doing a season in Ruka

milo-mcsenderson

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Have any of you done seasons in Ruka?

What's it like getting work and accommodation out there?

I know most Europeans are good English speakers but is it easy to get by without speaking Finnish?

Is it just a park resort or is there other sick shit to shred?

Any other information with regards to doing a full season out there?

Good idea? Bad idea?

Just after a general idea of the feasibility of it all
 
you'd leave Whis for Ruka?

I can see it being a great cultural experience if you're into Finland and only want to ski, but I can think of dozens of better mountains otherwise.
 
My old boss was from Finland and I was talking to her about the skiing the country offers. She basically said it is all terrible and extremely icy and cold. In my ignorance, I thought that Ruka was a sewer resort so I mentioned it; she laughed and said it's just a freezing cold hill with nothing outstanding to offer.

Sounds like it's just a park scene to me. I would not leave Whistler (which has a better park scene) for that.
 
So I've been in Ruka for about a week now & it definitely is mainly a park scene here in the winter. It has a very Midwest resort feel to it but bigger (in terms of skiable area). That being said, the park here is so damn good. There's a reason kids go to the Ruka freeski school here.

Everyone here speaks English, some are better than others though for sure. Most everyone lives in Kuusamo though which is about 30 minutes on a free bus from Ruka.
 
To those saying why would you leave Whistler, I already have, was there for a season but consider it a 'home mountain' because it's where I grew up skiing. A trip to Ruka is definitely a good shout over going balls to the wall season straight up. Just curious as to what it would be like as an option.
 
13810735:Kretzschmar said:
So I've been in Ruka for about a week now & it definitely is mainly a park scene here in the winter. It has a very Midwest resort feel to it but bigger (in terms of skiable area). That being said, the park here is so damn good. There's a reason kids go to the Ruka freeski school here.

Everyone here speaks English, some are better than others though for sure. Most everyone lives in Kuusamo though which is about 30 minutes on a free bus from Ruka.

I hope we get a story out of this whole experience.
 
13810735:Kretzschmar said:
So I've been in Ruka for about a week now & it definitely is mainly a park scene here in the winter. It has a very Midwest resort feel to it but bigger (in terms of skiable area). That being said, the park here is so damn good. There's a reason kids go to the Ruka freeski school here.

Everyone here speaks English, some are better than others though for sure. Most everyone lives in Kuusamo though which is about 30 minutes on a free bus from Ruka.

Can I ask if it's an expensive resort to do a trip to in terms of accommodation and lift passes etc? And is the park progressive? I'm new-ish to freestyle but loving it and skiing with uni team heaps and just want a trip to progress and push myself in the near future
 
If you're going to go somewhere, then really go somewhere. Not just to swing on dicks. Everyone who could used the opportunity to get the fuck out of there for part of the season.
 
Hello, I'm going to toss in a long time local's opinion since I basically grew up there (had a season pass from 2005 until 2013).

As you might already know, Ruka has the best park out of all the resorts in Finland. The kind of a "cult reputation" has only strenghten the park's development and marketing of the resort (for park skiing of course). The park attracts good skiers from all over Finland, Russia and Scandinavia (and apparently from all over the world nowadays). Also, the skiing "highschool" is located there (for racing and freestyle), so quite many good skiers live there. Back in the day, I didn't even realise how good the park actually was until I went to other resorts. If you literally only want to ski park, then you might want to consider, but read the rest.

While the park is great, other types of skiing are kind of lacking for the most part (from a general freestyle skiers point of view). Powder days are pretty rare, and off-piste skiing is quite lacking if we compare to the usual "whistlers/alps/whatevers". The conditions are pretty cold and icy for most of the season. Still, skiing pow is very fun at best. But remember, it's a pretty small resort really, so all the best powder skiing spots are going to be scoured in a couple of hours after opening.

Ruka is mostly a FAMILY ski resort, judging by their marketing. The groomed slopes are taken care of very well. There are many slopes that vary in difficulty, but most of them are pretty short (longest slope is 1300 meters in lenght though). There are loads of family activities to do in the village, including husky riding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ice-fishing, bowling etc etc. The main town of Kuusamo is like any other small town with the basic services. If you want to have constant action, the area is not for you, trust me I lived there for 20 years lol, the main city is basically dead. You could draw a 200 km radius circle around Ruka and not have any "bigger cities" inside of it. But it might be enough for you, who knows. During certain times of the year (opening day, new years eve, Ruka Spring Break) the resort has wild action and parties though, so check those out.

The Finns speak english pretty well, as you would expect from a well educated country in general. Language barrier shouldn't be a problem for the most part.

I have never worked at a ski resort (I assume that's what where you're implying you'd work in), but you can try applying to some open vacancies around the shops, rentals, restaurants or whatever. Can't really help you with the work question.

I am not sure of the accomodation situation there, but you can prolly get a fairly cheap rental apartment from the main town, or the resort area somewhere.

If you are looking to be a "ski bum" who works nights and skis days, I'm not sure if it's worth it. The opportunities are not too special compared to the bigger mountains. Still, Ruka is a great resort and very popular. Ruka also has one of the longest ski seasons out of all EUROPEAN resorts (if you don't count the ones that do summer skiing (actually Ruka used to have that too, but not anymore)). So suite for yourself, do your research, and even if you decide not to pick Ruka, I'd hope you visit there one day for a week or something. It's a great place :)
 
Thanks for all your responses. From the sounds of it it's not a seasonaires place as such. I definitely plan to go for a week or two in the near future. Being English it's not too far to travel. Looks like I'll plan m next season somewhere else though.
 
13810905:MF-HARP said:
Thanks for all your responses. From the sounds of it it's not a seasonaires place as such. I definitely plan to go for a week or two in the near future. Being English it's not too far to travel. Looks like I'll plan m next season somewhere else though.

Do it and write a trip report on it.
 
not speaking finnish in finland isn't a problem, usually.

ruka as a resort is very small compared to all the other resorts you can find in europe. the park real is good tho.
 
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