He started skiing at young age in a local ski area where it was possible to ski back home at the end of the day. This was in the 80’s and he joined the local freestyle skiing club. With the club he was competing moguls on national level. Later on in the 90’s telemark skiing was popular in Lapland mountain areas. With time, new ski touring skins opened up a world of opportunity to properly ski tour without carrying your skis. Explorations to higher mountains started from Swedish Lapland taking him and his skiing partners to Lyngen Norway in the late 90’s, and shortly after to the Alps.

 

During his first Alpine skiing season he changed back to alpine skis, although ski touring remained with him and is what led him to learn more about the mountains, snow and skiing. Powder days were often spent skiing with a mono ski in the legendary La Grave ski resort in France.

 

After a few seasons in La Grave, the growing desire to ski more led Jarmo to Chamonix where the inner ski beast was a finally set free. During the following years the terrain got bigger and the ski slope angle steeper. His learning curve of getting to know the mountains and the possibilities of mountains exploded. 

 

The search for beautiful ski lines took off and he was searching ski literature and maps to find new possibilities to ski on different continents. This took Jarmo and his ski partners to Peru and Cordillera Blanca to ski Artesonraju to mention just one mountain.

 

This period was an eye opener of what could be done on skis and made him take a step back during the following years. When he really realized the potential dangers involved in steep skiing and skiing big lines, taking a little distance from that life style and type of skiing was natural. 

 

This little break led Jarmo to think about the future and to take the next big step in life, and mountain sports. He started a programme to be a professional mountain guide.

This step was probably the best thing for him to do. During the intense guide training he was really forced to open his eyes from the amateur perspective to see the mountains with a wider view.  He came to fully appreciate the potential that this terrain holds in order to be able to work fully as a qualified mountain guide.

”The chance of gaining perspective was enormous during the training and was one of the most important and best parts that I got from the programme. Personally I think absorbing all this and expanding your understanding makes the difference between an amateur and a professional. These are the reasons why training exists for different professions.”