Toksovo 27 December 2014

We got to St Petersburg just as the first snow was falling. We immediately went skiing fearing that the snow could soon thaw.

We recorded the GPS track only for the second part of out trip (blue line), so the first part (red line) is an approximate line of our journey. The train icon shows the Kavgolovo station.

The ice on the lake was solid as the cold weather set in a couple of weeks ago. We are crossing the Kavgolovo lake. The snow was not deep, only 10-15 cm.

Victor and Zhenya.

This is not Martian landscape, it's a disused quarry.

Heracleum. It is a dangerous plant to touch in the Summer.

A little hill above the quarry.

The sun came out and everything became so much more colourful.

We got to the Khepoyarvi lake.

We met cyclists crossing the lake. They were very happy to see us.

Some people use dog power.


but we are happy to just ski along.

Sunset on a little stream on the other side of the Khepoyarvi lake.

The Malinovaya Gora and the Great Kavgolovo lake

Two days later we went skiing again. We got off the train at the Toksovo station.

We recorded the GPS track only for the second part of out trip (blue line), so the first part (red line) is an approximate line of our journey. The train icons show the Toksovo and Kavgolovo stations.

A short break - Victor is fixing a broken ski, and Yasha started a fire to stay warm.

Warming up...

Wetland near the lake. The sun came out, and the world around us transformed into a scene from a fairy tale.

No people, not even ski tracks - it was great!


Getting to the Kavgolovo lake.

Racing. Running in fresh powder snow is great!

Portrait of the shadows. We can recognise everybody...

We crossed the lake and found ourselves in a magic snow land.

Apparently the weather has been very still since the last snowfall. The trees were richly decorated with feather-like snow.


We ate our lunch and made another fire. When we got back to the lake, the sunset colours were everywhere.


Victor is making his way through the reeds.


The sunset is reminiscent of the seaside.

Skiing on the untouched snow is great.

We spent so much time trying to take this picture that all but missed out train.

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