Over the years I have had many trips
studying and travelling 250km North of the Arctic Circle in Sweden and
Finland. This area has a huge fascination for me as being remote and as
wild as it can get. I have met many indigenousness people while in this
region, who have taught me a great deal. Their resilience, confidence
and ease they move through the landscape has always been at the
forefront of my study. The varied tasks I have carried out are such
things as herding Reindeer, dog sledding, travelling on skis and
snowshoes, sleeping on frozen river ice in Quinzes and many other
activities that are too many to mention.
In this time I have
gathered together, used and abused a wide variety of clothing and
equipment to carry out this work. To have an understanding of what kit
to take, you have to have firstly an understanding of the weather, then
secondly the tasks you will be carrying out and thirdly where you are
going to sleep. These three questions are fundamental in gearing up to
have a great, interesting memorable trip or a miserable, potentially
dangerous one.
The weather is very interchangeable in the winter,
I normally travel in February. The hours of light are from around 9am
to 5pm with some really cold and dry conditions, expect an average of
-20 celcius. However, on several occasions it has warmed to + 8 Celsius
and has started to rain, with the snow turning to slush.
Then
consider the task to hand. Are you going to be very static i.e.
snowmobiling, ice fishing etc, or are you going to be travelling on
skis, snowshoes, dog sledding or a mixture of both.
Your sleeping arrangements are also important. Are you going to be hotel /cabin based or tent / snow hole based or both.
The
following kit list is what I take with me, or is already over in Sweden
in storage. I spend time on snowshoes pulling a pulka and camping in a
tent with a wood burning stove, while doing some ice fishing and hunting
Grouse. I also hire a snow scooter and travel from cabin to cabin.
Remember this is my kit list, everyone runs differently either hot or
cold.
Clothing
200g Top and Bottom Woolpower 400g Top and Bottom Woolpower 600g Top Woolpower 600g Woolpower Socks x 3 pairs 400g Woolpower Balaclava Norrona Lyngen 750 Down Jacket Fjall Raven Greenland Trousers x 2 pairs Hestra Falt Gloves Duluth Elk Mitts Hestra Neoprene Adventure Glove Duluth Winter Parka Sealskinz Winter Hat Norrona Recon Jacket & Trousers Meindl Nordkap Boots Fjall Raven Marma Anorak
Sleeping
Exped Downmat 9 DLX Helsport Kongsfjorden Sleeping Bag
Tent
Helsport Varanger 4-6 with Ground Sheet and Inner Helsport Stove
Cooking
Trangia 25-6 Set Trangia 1 Litre Meths Bottle x 2
Water
1Litre Source Liquitainer GSI Outdoors 1 Litre Dukjug Steripen Pre-Filter Steripen Adventurer Spare Lithium Batteries
Accessories & Possibles
Life Systems Mountain First Aid Kit Frost Knife Leatherman Wave Multitool Frost Crook Knife Petzl Myo XP Head Torch & Spare Lithium Batteries Tent & Roll Mat Repair Kit 6 Boxes of Matches Stored in a Loksak All Spare Equipment Stored in Exped Drybags Tool Maintenance Kit Gransfors Small Forest Axe Duluth Folding Saw 6 Uco 9 Hour Candles Bahco Laplander Folding Saw Ice Auger Grivel Steel Blade Snow Spade MSR Trekking Snowshoes Map Silva 54 Sighting Compass ( MN Orientated ) Mobile Phone GPS Fire steels x 2 Wetfire x 8 Deuter 40 + 10 Backpack Midge Net Fishing Gear Sewing Kit Gaffa Tape
All this equipment plus food for the duration of the trip is hauled in a Swedish Army Pulka.
The
biggest thing to remember is that any fool can be cold, wet, thirsty
and hungry in any environment. Good preparation, planning and judgement
are as important as good equipment and clothing.
Mike Rushton
Tamarack
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