2013 Expedition - Jokkmokk - Part Four - Ice Raven


	2013 Expedition - Jokkmokk - Part Four

Well I suppose some of you are wondering what I bought at the market. Apart from materials like leather I also found Beckolja for half of what I pay for it in Britain.

“Tin” thread is something I’ve never seen at home so I bought some to experiment with.

I wanted a gift to take home for Debs of course and as she is a keen embroiderer and needle worker a Saami needle case or nállogoahti was high on my shopping list.

This one made by Tyko Lampa, the gentleman in the fur coat sixth picture from the bottom of part three, fitted the bill perfectly.


	I also found a traditional sewing purse on another stall, with cloth patches for storing needles in.

I was also on the lookout for a small reed like the Saami use for weaving bands but the only one I saw was a real work of art in antler but far beyond my means on this trip.

I am a great fan of simple matches for lighting my fire with so a nicely engraved match case was another thing on my wish list.

This one, made by Per Erik Nilsson has a plain concave channel down it’s back where I will attach a striker with simple latex cement that can be peeled off and replaced when necessary.

Top of my list though was a Gupse, Kuksa or Noggin depending where you come from

The Gupse has become an iconic outdoor drinking vessel. Variations of it’s design can be found all over the World but it started with the Saami and is just one of a number of carved wooden vessels used in the old nomadic life.

I have a few commercially made ones that I use a lot when I’m out but I’ve hankered for a nice hand made example for many years.

Looking around the market there were many to choose from but it would seem that Roger Grönlund, the maker of this cup, must have hands very similar to mine because every curve, every hollow fits my hand perfectly.

I saw a lot of fine cups but this one was made to be mine.


	An important point behind all fine Duodji is that it is not art just for arts sake, the form and the function should be in balance. That is a principle I try to follow with much of the gear I make or modify for my own use. It may not fit everyone’s needs as we all have differing hands and tastes but the kit I use suits me very well. When thinking of how my kit performed on this trip I have very few complaints. For the most part I used the same equipment as I did on last years trip. It worked well then and it did equally well this year. The one major change was the use of a Toboggan in place of the ill fated pulk I used on my last trip.

					Although I did not use it over the same sort of distances this time, I was impressed with it’s handling and capacity. I would say that the pulk had a better sense of direction, the toboggan occasionally developed a will of it’s own on smooth cross slopes but in deeper snow it followed the snowshoe float faithfully. As far as the trip is concerned it ticked all the right boxes for me bar one.


	I was fortunate last year to see and photograph great auroral activity but this time although we could see the lights in the distance we were a little too far south for a good display.

Misty Dawn over the River - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.

However, this was more than compensated for with the light that we got during the day, particularly the golden hours around dawn and dusk. For a landscape photographer like myself, the light of the Northern Boreal Forest is rather special.

At this time of year on the edge of the Arctic Circle the sun does not rise 10° above the horizon which gives the light a quality that we only see in the late afternoon or early morning back at home.

Of course cloud often obscures the direct light of the sun but on the occasions when it does shine through it turns the snow covered landscape into a wonderland.

I could quite happily have spent much of my time with photography but the shots you see here were mostly taken while moving from one place to another and as such lack the attention that the conditions really deserved.


	The life of a landscape photographer is often spent standing around, waiting for the world to change. The only problem doing that in the Arctic is that it’s a good way to get very cold.

Shooting Hide - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.




	I used two cameras on this trip, both of which performed perfectly at temperatures far below their operating specifications. I was regularly working at 30° below freezing and at one point it was about -37°c. The biggest problem I had was my moustache freezing to the camera on occasions and keeping my hands warm.


	On this occasion I had no need for the external power packs I carried with me but we had the ability to recharge batteries regularly in the cabin which made a big difference. On another trip, without such facilities, I think they would have been a real bonus.

Misty light over the River - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.


	Sadly, all things must come to an end and our time in Jokkmokk was drawing to a close. It was time to start travelling again. Bus to Murjek, Train to Stockholm and then a little time to kill before another bus to Arlanda Airport.

There was one museum we had not had time to visit on the outward leg of our journey which I thought might be worth a look.

The Ethnographic Museum is a little further from the city centre than the ones we had visited but easily reachable by bus so we dumped our gear in the rail station lockers and set off on our course.



					It would be a great injustice to single out particular exhibits as the best ones because this was perhaps the most interesting and diverse museum we visited in Stockholm. from the navigational instruments used by early explorers to the cultural treasures they brought home from the places they travelled. Today of course we question the morality of such practices but right or wrong the collections they formed offer a fascinating glimpse into cultures in parts of the World that are rapidly changing. The Octant above and the Transit Board left seem like crude tools to trust your life to on the wide oceans but three hundred years ago such instruments were opening the Globe to trade in ways that have formed the World as we know it today. One of my favourite museums in the UK is the Pitt Rivers in Oxford and one section of this museum the “Magasin” reminded me a lot of that. The haphazard manner in which early collections were built up means that many museums have storehouses full of miscellaneous “stuff” that does not lend itself to any meaningful manner of displaying it all. This is a great shame as much of this material is fascinating in it’s own right and often quirky by it’s nature.

	Pitt Rivers gets around this by following a thematic approach which is really interesting but in this exhibition they have just opened the boxes and put the items on display with computerised access to whatever information is available. What you are presented with is an absolute treasure trove of items that you might never see in another museum.

I could have spent all day sticking my nose into drawers and cabinets full of the kind of stuff that people from cultures all over the World used in their everyday lives.

I’ve already used the word too much but here it is again... fascinating.

Fire Steel Purse Mounts - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.

Just as a quick sample, here were a few fire steels mounted on small leather purses for carrying tinder originating from areas around the Himalayas.

Half the stuff I saw I simply forgot to photograph as I explored the collection. Many of the cabinets were multi layered and the drawers were brimming with artefacts I didn’t even know I didn’t know about.

I will certainly return to Stockholm some day and the Etnografiska Museet will definitely be on my list for a return visit with more time.

North American Mask 3 - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.

I didn’t have time to take in much information about these masks but I remember they came from North America, possibly from the Pacific Coast area but I couldn’t resist photographing them, even if one of them did look like a certain pop star.

Craftsmanship is worthy of study in any culture in my book and I have to admit to thinking towards future trips that may take us to that side of the pond.

Finally from that museum I will leave you with this picture.

It took me a few moments to see the peculiarity in this shot so I will leave you to ponder it on your own.

Jokkmokk Market Purchases - Ice Raven - Sub Zero Adventure - Copyright Gary Waidson, All rights reserved.

I came away from this trip with a few treasures but most of them were not the ones I had expected.

The real treasure of this journey is the knowledge and deeper understanding, particularly of the Saami culture, that I gained along the way.

That is something difficult to express and I would be the first to say that I have barely scratched the surface.

Another treasure I found was real friendship when I needed it most.

I regret to say that I found gaps in my photographic record when I returned home, most notably I found I had no pictures of Andy, Pete, Lennart or Ramko. A hideous oversight and one I hope I can rectify soon by borrowing some photos from my companions on this expedition.

The landscape was breathtaking and left me pining for more.

Damian, I know, is already thinking about a return trip of some kind and possibly to Canada as well, but events at home have overtaken me somewhat it may be a while before I can get such deep powder under my snowshoes again.

But fear not, I will return to the Arctic some day soon.




	Tired but happy, the last wait before the delayed flight home.

The Ice Raven Project promotes sustainable and low impact bushcraft and wilderness skills in Arctic and winter conditions. This includes the use of tents, tarps and snow shelters where possible. Fires are only used where safe and where use and collection of firewood will not damage the natural environment. We often travel to locations by public transport and then use snowshoes, sleds, toboggans and pulks to transport our equipment into the wilderness.