Ruka, Open to May 8th, Posts Record Skier Numbers

The 21-22 ski season which began nearly seven months ago at Ruka in Finland is not yet over, but the resort has already set an all-time record of ski days recorded passing the half-million for the first time in its history.

The new historic half a million ski days was exceeded in sunny spring weather on Friday 22 April, with more than a fortnight of the season there left to run. The winter season started in Ruka on October 8th last year and will continue to May 8th for a seven month/ 213 day total – one of the world’s longest for a non-glacier ski area. 

“Winter has been really successful due to the snow situation and the weather, and it has been a pleasure to see that customers have enjoyed the slopes of Ruka. We have built a comprehensive and fast package of fast lifts, which has enabled the growth in the number of customers,” says Matti Parviainen , Local Director of Rukakeskus .

 The Aho family, who own the Ruka ski resort, has been developing Ruka holistically and long-term for almost five decades. The development is based on the Ruka Master Plan, which aims for a  sustainable development of the resort.

“Half a million ski days is a significant milestone and makes Ruka one of the world’s largest centres,” commented Rukakeskus Oy’s family entrepreneur and CEO Ville Aho.

For 22-23 Ruka will create a new family slope complex in the Vuosseli area, complete with new ski run, a new progression terrain park and a new lift. The redeveliopment, along with a second lift upgrade, will cost around 1.5 million Euros.

“Families are our most important target group and the development of our most popular ski area is carried out according to the wishes of families and children. These renovations will make it easier to move to bigger slopes and at the same time the uplift capacity will increase,” says Ville Aho.