Mobile traditional Finnish sauna comes to Vancouver
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 00:02:02 +0000
Valtteri “The Sauna Dude” Rantala will be pleased whether his fledgling mobile business is hot or cold. Ideally, it will be both.
When the 35-year-old entrepreneur moved to Vancouver from Finland in 2016, he was frustrated by the absence of “proper” traditional, wood-burning saunas here, he said.
“Especially an affordable, authentic, outdoor kind of sauna experience, where you can go to the hut and then jump into a lake or a river, or just have that kind of bathing ceremony that we’re used to in Scandinavia,” Rantala said.
But building a sauna near freshwater in Vancouver would cost far too much, so Rantala started researching mobile saunas, which are common in Finland and often towed on trailers to public events.
This led to the acro-yoga and partner acrobatics teacher launching his latest business last week. Now in its “innovation phase,” Finnish Sauna B.C. offers mobile public saunas by donation.
Rantala ran the first session last Thursday night at Spanish Banks Creek, and two more last Sunday. All three were booked within 10 minutes, he said. He now plans to run two “Sauna Sundays” sessions each weekend.
“We just want to build up the community and offer the experience,” he said.
Valtteri Rantala stands outside his Finnish sauna at Spanish Banks in Vancouver.
Rantala’s mobile sauna was built by his Finnish-Canadian ski pal, Mika Sihvo, a carpenter who created the original design in Revelstoke. Sihvo’s firm Sauna Stoke is “spreading the sauna culture” there while Rantala spreads it in Metro Vancouver, he said.
The sauna is deeply embedded in Finland’s national identity, an obsession and tradition believed to date back more than 9,000 years. Saunas are used for religious ceremonies, cleansing, healing, relaxation and socializing.
“In Finland, when people build houses, they build the sauna first, so when they’re building, they actually have a place to go after the workday to relax,” Rantala said.
Each session, Rantala and seven guests enjoy a 90-minute, wood-fired sauna held at about 70 degrees Celsius, with water poured over hot rocks to control the humidity. Periodically, they head outside to dip into nearby cold water.
Meanwhile, Rantala offers them a brief lesson on the basics of Finnish sauna culture. They learn about the importance of rinsing and breaks in the cold, and speaking softly but having a meaningful, “mindful” group conversation.
In the spring, he will bring a fresh birch-branch “vihta” which guests can use to gently whip each other and enjoy the soothing effects of its essential oils.
“It’s a really healthy way for people to be together and hang out,” he said.
Elsa Marlowe, president of the Vancouver Finlandia Club, said that for a time, the longstanding ritual of the weekly sauna led to developers in Finland building them into condo units, although that is less common now.
In Vancouver, people of Finnish descent prefer to gather in a neighbour’s sauna to socialize and relax, she said.
“These days, that continues,” Marlowe said. “Most people are religious about their Saturday-night sauna.”
Marlowe said mobile saunas are common in Finland with some operating in vans, buses and, in at least one case, on a ferris wheel.
“We all love our saunas,” she said. “It is definitely important for us.”
Valtteri (Val) Rantala and his dog Nala with Finnish sauna at Spanish Banks in Vancouver, BC, January 16, 2020.
Long-term, Rantala plans to find a piece of land off the Sea-to-Sky Highway with a nearby freshwater source, where he will set up several permanent saunas, a cold tub and a fireplace. He will expand his mobile sauna fleet, too, so that people can rent them and he can tow them to events, he said.
“The idea is to have a full-on, outdoor, affordable sauna experience,” he said. “Right now, your options are a rec centre or something expensive. … We just want people who enjoy going to Whistler who can stop over, have a sauna, hang out by the fire and socialize, and then continue on.”
Rantala will announce future public sauna events at facebook.com/thefinnishsaunaBC.