Nothing much has been happening for us in the past two years in terms of advancing our Polar ambitions. However, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel: it looks like we’re finally set to go to Norway for some easy camping and skiing on Hardangervidda at the beginning of April. So it’s time to dust off and inspect our kit and to revisit a project I started two years ago, but then never actually tackled: building a better cooking tray for us. ‘Better’ in that sentence can be directly translated to ‘lighter’ since the functionality of a cooking tray is quite limited, but before I dive into the details, let’s start with what a cooking tray is and why you would want one.
We’re slowly coming out of the pandemic-induced hibernation. Lauren and I still can’t meet because of Travel restrictions, but I can at least go on trekking trips again. If you’ve read a bit of the blog already, you know I’m a gram-counter, so for this year I thought about my cooking setup and how to make it lighter. I’ve written about my default setup before, which is the Alpkit Kraku, Mytimug 650ml and a 100g gas cartridge. So these are the specs to beat.
Back in January, the lovely people at Intrepid Magazine selected me to be one of their gear testers and sent me a Black Diamond First Light Hoody. The idea was that I’d take it with me to Norway and put it through its paces in the airport, the city and the snow. You can read my detailed review in issue 8, but the short version is, I loved it!
The best thing after a long day of skiing is getting out of your skiing boots and into warm and dry wool socks. Unfortunately, throughout the evening and night, you will have to get out of your sleeping bag and back into the snow at times: to go to the loo, to check the tent, to get something from your pulk, or whatever reason. Enter the Expedition Down Booties.
This will be the last gear highlight for our Hardangervidda crossing. Navigating the unknown terrain safely and limiting risks as far as possible is a priority for us. Much like Amundsen, we want to plan the adventure out of our expedition. Here’s what we are bringing for navigation, personal safety, risk mitigation and some other tools and gadgets.
Polar exploration isn’t all about skiing for hours on end. We will spend the majority of our time inside or around our tent. Getting our camp routine and equipment right is just as important as being a capable skier. This gear highlight is going to be a big one. We are going to go over the majority of kit we need when we’re not on the move: the tent and tent equipment, sleeping gear, cooking equipment and food and drink.
Taking on extreme challenges like Greenland or Antarctica doesn’t only require extensive planning and physical training, it also involves a lot of kit and money. Partnerships with and sponsorships from companies or organisations can go a long way in helping to overcome the logistical challenges and can make the difference between a dream expedition happening or remaining just a dream. We are already peeking past our upcoming Hardangervidda traverse, and are eyeing Greenland for 2020 and Antarctica later. To keep our adventure going, we are looking to build lasting mutually beneficial relationships with organisations sharing our beliefs and values and manufacturers whose products we trust to be the very best for our expeditions. Today, we are excited to announce our partnership with The Heat Company.
We’re done with our clothing now, and we are moving on to our primary means of transportation: skiing and man-hauling. It’s much easier to use a sled to carry our gear than putting it in a rucksack, as we’ll likely have around 35kg of equipment. This gear highlight will tell you what skiing and pulk equipment we have.
Following the layer principle, this time we are going to talk about our outer layers. There are two types of layers to add above the mid-layers: windproof shells, and warmth layers. The shells protect us from the elements and help to stop wind and snow, basically like a rain jacket. They are usually lightweight and don’t add any insulation themselves. While we are on the move, we will usually not wear any additional layers, but once we stop, we need to at least add a down jacket to prevent us from cooling down too fast. The head and hands are our body parts requiring the most additional protection from the elements. Our head, because you lose a lot of heat if you don’t cover it, and of course because our eyes, mouth, and nose sit there. And our hands, because they are exposed to the wind and snow a lot and thus freeze most easily.
In this week’s gear highlight, we are going to cover our mid layers used for skiing and camping. Usually, while skiing, we will not wear that many insulated layers, likely only a fleece jacket over our merino base layers. That’s because we want to avoid sweating too much at all costs, since sweating means you have to dry your base layers. After pitching the tent, the mid layers become a different story, though. We are usually throwing on at least a heavy wool jumper and maybe insulated trousers, because we won’t be moving that much, and thus will freeze more easily.