Yes, You Could Ski in October. Thanks To Snowfarming, That Is
..It's the month of October, and the area outside of Lapland Hotel Olos is the site of a veritable ski pilgrimage. A dozen tongues are spoken simultaneously as platoon after platoon of sportsmen and women clip their skis on and disappear into the forest. There's hardly a snowflake on the ground, but the skiing trail looks picture-perfect. Welcome to Muonio, mid-Autumn capital of cross-country skiing. An estimated 20+ locations around the world are now farming snow for the next season; Beitostølen and Trysil in Norway, Lahti and Ruka in Finland, Davos and La Clusaz in the Alps, and Canmore in Canada to name but a few. Still, many national cross-country ski teams keep on returning to relatively remote Muonio where trails are the longest – and, some say the best…