The Terrains of Säynäjä Take Orienteers into Depressions, Bogs, and a Conservation Area
The Kainuu Orienteering Week will be held in the summer of 2026 in an area that has never before been mapped for orienteering. The terrain of Säynäjä in Suomussalmi has been mapped by Joni Korhonen, Teemu Köngäs, and Jussi Silvennoinen.
According to Silvennoinen, the Säynäjä area is fairly typical Upper Kainuu terrain. At the heart of the competition area lies the small but intricate depression zone of Ruunasärkkä. It is surrounded by the extensive Säynäjä bog conservation area, which features magnificent pristine mires and old pine forest islets between them.
The Louhenvaara and Väärävaara area offers more demanding orienteering challenges with its slopes and cliffs. From the direction of Leinosaho and Viitavaara, pine ridges provide speed, while the sharp contours of the Hullupuro ravine add extra spice.
“The forest is generally barren, and the young stands are easy to run through – you’ll hardly find any dark green on the map,” Silvennoinen says.
The Säynäjä Terrain is Silvennoinen’s First Mapping Project in Suomussalmi
Next summer, the competition center will be built at Ruunasärkkä on a former gravel extraction site, now partly reforested, where the ground can withstand all kinds of conditions.
The planning of Kainuu Orienteering Week courses has already begun and will continue through the winter with the familiar Kainuu O Week course setters Joni Korhonen, Joona Hirvilahti, Annastiina Vanhala, and Niklas Hirvilahti. The area’s trails, small roads, and ponds will help in designing safe courses for children, while the slopes of Louhenvaara promise diverse challenges for longer courses.
Through the Kainuu O Week project, Jussi Silvennoinen has had the chance to do mapping work in Suomussalmi for the first time. His goal has been to map areas as diversely as possible across Finland and abroad.
“What I’ve learned is that when you go north from the Joensuu region, the terrains usually become harsher and more pleasant than in the south.”
Silvennoinen says he has competed in Kainuu Orienteering Week for about ten summers. When younger, he wasn’t too fond of the number of rest days, but his perspective has since changed.
“But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to enjoy the rest days – my legs can’t really handle a full five-day orienteering week anymore.”
Next year’s Kainuu Orienteering Week will take place in Säynäjä, Suomussalmi, traditionally during week 27, starting on Sunday, June 28, and ending on Friday, July 3. The first and cheapest entry period for the orienteering week is currently open and will close on November 30.
