The Long Haul – The Fine Details

A quick run down of equipment, what worked, and what didn’t. If you are interested in this sort of thing, my full kit list is linked at the bottom of the page.

There were a handful pieces of equipment that I determined were critical to this trip. Some were critical for travel, but the most important were those that were critical to survival.

The latter of these were: the tent, sleeping bag and the stove. The tent and sleeping bag were to protect me from the elements, and the stove was to provide water (by melting snow) and for cooking. If any failed, I’d be in trouble: so I prioritised these items when it came to budget.

The tent was the Nammatj 3 GT, from Hilleberg. My main criterion were to find a tunnel tent (much faster to pitch, especially when used with a pulk), have an extended vestibule for cooking and storage, and an extremely rugged build. The Nammatj meets all of these criteria: it’s gone to the South Pole and back, so with a bit of care it’d have no problems in Norway. I felt the main risks to the tent were fire (from the stove), or storm damage. But with a bit of skill both of these risks can be minimised.

The stove I already owned: an Optimus Polaris. I bought some spare parts, and managed to borrow a full spare stove and pump as redundancy. The stove is liquid fuel, as gas won’t work at low temperatures. I had issues with the stove on my trip (leaking fuel line), so switched to the spare. Would consider changing to MSR in future as a more tried and tested alternative.

Sleeping bag was Mountain Equipment Glacier Expedition. Supposedly rated to -35°C, so fine for March in Finnmark. This, however, would be one area I’d definitely change things up. I ended up with a lot of issues with condensation and dampness: especially bad with down insulation. For future would investigate a synthetic overbag to catch the moisture (shifting the dew point outwards), use a vapour barrier liner (sleeping in a plastic bag), or going full synthetic for the insulation.

For skis, I went for Fischer fjellski, with short skins. Also took long skins for uphills, and grip wax as a backup and for any easy days on ice. No problems here, and expect to get a lot more usage out of them. Bindings were NNN BC manual: easier to de-ice than the automatic version.

Boots were a big issue. I used plastic (VBL) socks to keep them dry from sweat, but rain/slush soaked them from outside anyway. The boots froze, and eventually disintegrated. Had to DIY a repair for the last 150km. Also caused a lot more foot issues than I’d expected: heel spurs and blisters. Would use a longer period to break them in in future, and find a way to defrost/dry them.

Pulk was a good choice: used the Fjellpulken Transporter. Plastic is more rugged and cheaper than fibreglass, and the mixed conditions, and the odd road crossing, meant it took a beating: a couple of holes and cracks by the time I reached Kirkenes, but still serviceable. I didn’t find any other commercial pulks that I feel would have survived. Pulk drags were damaged in the cornice incident, but would take some spare poles for anything more remote, and I don’t intend a repeat performance.

So on the whole, a few things I’d change, but generally everything worked out well. Any questions or queries feel free to get in touch!