Eine deutsche Zusammenfassung der Expedition befindet sich im unteren Teil der Seite. Sie ist keine Übersetzung des oberen Englischen Teils, sondern nur eine kleine Erweiterung des Ganzen.
Ten days of silence, wind, fog and snow, warming up huts with fire wood and melting snow in a bucket over the chimney. Exhaustion was paired with growth, growth over my own limits and with moments of pure joy. Meditative conditions and surreal landscapes in partly extreme cold temperatures make the expedition unforgettable. All together, an achievement of a variety of life lessons and an amazing way to show how grateful one can be for so many simple things.
Cross-country skies paired with a heavy pulka, no experience in the usage of neither of these two and lots of motivation were the start of a journey through the snow-filled landscape close to Kilpisjärvi in the north of Finnish Lapland.
Learning how to walk up the hills with lots of weight pulling from behind was an experience that brought me to discover what my mental and physical strength can do and what it can not. To accept limitations is a part of going on, if even it means little steps (both front and back) and maybe not the shortest way to the goal. However, limitations are also there to push you to find more about yourself.
Grabbing fire wood from the shed to light up the fire inside, scooping the snow from the surroundings of the cabin to melt it for drinking water, lighting up candles and headlamps to see was the everyday routine after quite some hours of skiing. Enjoying a rich, hearty and selfmade dinner and resting in the sweaty beds of the shared (reservation) huts belonged to joy of the evening.
Dry toilets OUTSIDE the hut, are one of the things I will for sure not miss in my everyday life back home. Dressing up fully with shoes, snow trousers and a warm jacket before even going for a pee, were necessary measures during these cold and snowy days. Definitely not my definition of comfort. However, it makes you appreciate everything you got once you are back from the trip.
Daily Routine
- Getting up from a usually not so tight sleep, as we had to keep the fire going during the night to not get too cold.
- Heating up water for coffee and for filling the thermos.
- Eating breakfast..
- Packing everything up and securing it on the pulka.
- Going skiing for about 10km to the next hut with a short lunch break. Depending on the difficulty of the trail we took more breaks for drinking and/or snacking. Also there were always tiny breaks for catching our breath.
- Reaching the evening hut and putting all gear inside (The pulka usually stayed outside though).
- Lighting up the fire inside.
- Grabbing more fire wood from the wood shed and filling up the snow bucket to put it on top of the chimney to melt some water.
- Lighting up candles.
- Stretching.
- Preparing lunch for the next day, putting out sleeping bags.
- As its probably warm inside by now: Changing clothes. Putting the clothes of the day close to the fire to dry (usually there is lots of space to hang everything). Having a rest.
- Washing ourself with some warm water and soap.
- Cooking and eating dinner.
- Making sure that there is enough water for the night and for the thermos bottles for the next day.
- Relaxing and sleeping.
Gear
Gear for the day
- Clothing for skiing: base layer (polyester/merino), fleece jacket, wind breaker, extra warm layer for cold days
- Buff, buff and buff & hat/ headhood
- Warm gloves: thin and/or thick
- Down jacket for breaks
- Daily backpack
- Butt buddy
- Thermos bottles (2,5liters) for tea and hot water during the day
Skiing Gear
- Pulka – Fjellpulken plus Pulka bags, which were great as they had easy openings for food storage and warm cloth for the break
- Cross-country skis – Panorama
- Skiing shoes and poles
Essentials
- Emergency kit for e.g. mostly blisters in our case, voltaren for any kind of neck/knee/back problems
- Satellite phone/ GPS
- Toilet paper
- Fire making tools
Important Extras
- Candles for the evening mood
- Photography gear
- Crocs or Boots for the evening
- Head lamp as there is no other artificial light
- Power bank
- Dish soap, sponge and drying towel
We rented our gear from Adventure by Design (which is one of my internship places for my studies to become an International Wilderness Guide at Tredu Vocational College). They made us an unbeatable student offer, which we took with pleasure. The gear we rented included our pulkas + bags, skis, skiing poles, skiing shoes and even one of our sleeping bags. Furthermore the option for renting snowshoes and satellite phone was also there. Check their website out: https://adventurebydesign.fi/en/
Our food was a mix of heavy and light, to get a good mixture of easy and fast preparation and tastiness
- For breakfast we had often some (rye) bread with chocolate spread or peanut butter and sometimes also porridge.
- Lunch was mostly consisting of sandwiches, instant noodles & soups and some chocolate or protein bars. For us the most important thing was to have a fast meal, which did not need lot‘s of time or energy to prepare.
- Dinner on the other hand was a bit more fancy with some pasta/rice with tomato sauce, fried onions and garlic, carrots and beans or tuna. Sometimes we also had potato mash with sausages and some (frozen) veggies, like peas.
Preparation & Planning
We didn’t do any specific physical training as preparation, but I would recommend to have an overall good fitness level. Some cardio exercises beforehand would have probably been helpful, but anyway you can just go in the pace you want to go.
Otherwise we prepared the trip by getting some recommendations for the route by Adventure by Design https://adventurebydesign.fi/en/ and by checking retkikartta https://www.retkikartta.fi for the routes (Note that there is a difference between summer and winter route.).
We were lucky to have a satellite phone (inReach) with us, which was planned for emergencies only, but in the end was used as an GPS (as we had put our everyday routes and accommodations in it (Waypoints & Routes)). This helped a lot, especially when we couldn’t see any orienteering points due to extreme foggy weather conditions.
In addition to that, we made an expedition plan including all topics ranging from food (which? & amounts), gear needed, emergency contacts, safety plan (including risk assessment), information about the huts, our budget and transportation to and from Kilpisjärvi.
Zehn Tage unterwegs im Norden Finnlands mit Langlaufskiern und Pulka, viel Gewicht und Motivation, ohne viel Erfahrung aber was macht das schon aus. Das erste Mal auf Skiern dieser Art und dann gleich so lange brachte mich an einige Grenzen. Mein Kopf und Körper wollten am Anfang nicht so wie ich und aufgeben war ein Gedanke der im Hintergrund drängte. Soweit kam es dann aber zum Glück doch nicht, Grenzen überwinden und Landschaften die einem den Atem rauben entdecken, war mehr nach meinen Geschmack. Schneebedeckte Berge und 360° Nebel, auf und ab, minus 20°C und starker Wind, wir hatten alles mit dabei und noch viel mehr. Erfahrungen haben wir an jeder Ecke gemacht, Abenteuer pur auf ganzer Strecke.
Jeder Tag began in einer kleinen Holzhütte mit glühenden Kohlen im Kamin, der die Nacht über ständig angeheizt werden muss, da er die einzige Wärmequelle in der kalten Umgebung darstellte. Aufwachen, Kaffee trinken, etwas Essen und dann alles zusammen packen und ordentlich warm anziehen. Alles vorbereitet wurden dann die Skier an den Füßen befestigt, die Pulka (der Schlitten mit all unserem Hab und Gut für die Expedition) an unsere Schulter- und Hüftgurte geschnallt und los ging ein Tag voller neuer Hindernisse und schönen Momenten.
Nach einem langen Tag an der frischen Luft, möchte man dann am liebsten erschöpft einfach nur ins Bett fallen. Zuerst muss aber ein Feuer angezündet und Holz aus einer der Nachbarhütten reingetragen werden. Sich einfach auf die Toilette setzen ist auch nicht, dafür müssen sich erstmal Winterschuhe und Hose und eine warme Jacke angezogen werden, denn die Trockentoilette befindet sich meistens 30 Meter von der Schlafhütte entfernt. Zum Glück heizt der kleine Kamin schnell ordentlich ein und nach etwas Warten und auspacken der Kerzen und Schlafsäcke, kann man sich dann doch noch etwas ausruhen bevor es ans Abendessen kochen geht.
Anstrengend waren die 10 Tage unterwegs in einer magischen und schneebedeckten Landschaft sehr, aber gelohnt hat es sich mehr als alle Mal.
So viel über sich selbst lernen kann man sonst in so einem kurzen Zeitraum eher selten. Viele verschiedene Eindrücke hab ich fest in meinem Kopf abgespeichert und einige teile ich hiermit nun auch mit euch. Glücklich und zufrieden freue ich mich schon jetzt auf nächste Abenteuer.
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