Following the aftermath of one of the deepest storms Helsinki Finland has seen in decades, we rounded up a ‘dream team’ of Phil ‘B-Dog’ Casabon, Mike Hornbeck, and Tom Wallisch along with veteran photographer Chris O’Connell for our return Scandinavian urban trip.

When we arrived in Helsinki the view was much different than the previous year’s trip when we were shooting for Refresh. This time around there was almost too much snow, and the city was still recovering from the record storm the week before. Driving around town people we’re seen shoveling snow off roofs and hauling large piles of snow out of the city with front-end loaders. Unlike an urban trip in North America, we didn’t have the luxury of having all of the lighting equipment, generators, drop ins, winches, camera gear, etc. Thankfully with the help of our Finnish friends we were able to round up everything we needed to get the job done including an old bright orange construction van and ‘beater’ Ford escort. We only roll with nothing but the best here at Level 1!

We started the trip out right with a nice down-flat-down bend rail after 3 hours of digging out the rail and 1 failed night session due to a faulty generator. The next morning everyone got a shot and it was a good feature to start out the trip with- highlights were ‘B-Dogs’ style on his nose/tail presses just like you’d expect. The second feature into the trip Phil injured himself which unfortunately resulted in him flying back to Quebec to get things further checked out. With a quick email and the help of Josh Berman & Under Armour (thanks Conor!), Ahmet Dadali quickly booked a flight and arrived at the Helsinki airport with the quote ‘let’s get it moving!’ So we did just that, got right to business and got it poppin’.

Helsinki had decent weather following the storm, even blessing us with a few days of sunlight. Despite the fact that we wouldn’t see a storm roll through during our 10-day trip, the artic-like temperatures were on our side, and the last thing we were worried about was a shortage of snow. The one thing we love most about Finland is that there are never any worries about getting kicked out; we hit the features as long as we need to. In both public and private property we were welcomed by the public, security guards, and even curious police officers. There are never worries of lawsuits; you’re responsible for your actions if your injured hitting rails which is the way it should be.

There was one feature on this trip was one we couldn’t head home without shooting- a massive trap rail that required a winch for speed. Once said winch was rounded up we tried unsuccessfully to shoot the feature for 2 nights in a row, both nights running into different mechanical problems. On our 3rd night we returned with a repaired winch and got it rocking which put the icing on the cake to a successful Finland trip.

Towards the end of the trip we took a couple hours between night and day rails to visit the local ski hill Serena. There are quick laps through the park on a poma lift and the park was loaded with jibs along with a few decent sized jumps. For us it was fun to visit a smaller resort for night skiing since we all grew up skiing similar terrain, so this reminded everyone in our crew where we came from, and why we do what we do. With a perfect setup for quick laps, and great terrain, the freestyle ski scene in Finland is huge, and getting bigger, so keep an eye out for the many young up and comers from this area.

Fuel TV also joined us during that 2nd half of the trip filming a ‘First Hand’ episode of Wallisch, which will air later this year. We’ll update you on the Level 1 site as to when this episode will air.

Huge thanks to Lasse Nevantausta, Henri Salokangas, and Pasi Salminen for going out of their way in assisting us throughout our trip!

Words/Photos: Kyle Decker