Finnish hiking influencer Ali Leinio has died at age 49, apparently of a seizure. At the time, he was skiing the Käsivarre Wilderness area in Lapland.
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper, confirmed his death and the cause. Leinio took up hiking in his 30s and soon began posting videos of his outings on YouTube, where he had over 87,000 subscribers. His last video, uploaded three weeks ago and documenting a hike to Southern Finland’s second-largest bog, already has 145,000 views. He also posted regularly on Facebook, where his many fans paid tribute to him in the comments of his final post.
Leinio spoke in Finnish, but his YouTube vlogs were automatically subtitled in English. The popular figure won Finland’s Best Travel Influencer Award in 2022.
“My goal is to capture the atmosphere of hiking and nature, and create good stories from them,” he explained.
His body was found in remote Lapland earlier this month.
