Kittilä Expedition 2023 - Part One

Eventually it comes down to the logistics of getting to the airport and the like.  My mate Jimmy kindly offered me a lift to the terminal, which was a lot  cheaper than a taxi even with the new drop off charges introduced by the airport and due to the much publicised delays at security and passport  control I also opted for the fast track services for this trip. I met Pete at the airport as that worked best for him. With a long stop over  outbound at Helsinki I took a book and the iPad loaded with films for entertainment for as long as the charge lasted, it shouldn’t be needed on  the return trip which connects much faster. Sadly there are no USB ports for recharging on these aircraft.

There always feels like there are a million and one things left to do at this stage but that is just down to anticipation because the preparations are really pretty well done by now. Final charging of batteries. Packing of sleeping bags so they are not compressed for too long, printing out essential  paperwork and the like and we are ready. On the last day before the trip it was just a matter of squaring away a couple of admin jobs for the  business and packing my bags for a work trip to Edinburgh the day after  my return.

Security at Manchester was predictably thorough, with them taking particular interest in the electronics and the many spare batteries I had in my hand luggage.

The main bags were taken to the bag check area and scanned first by a nice lady who was fascinated to learn where we were going. Once scanned, the  hold luggage was not examined further.

The hand luggage had to be spread out across multiple trays for scanning  and being in the priority lane here was useful to reduce the chance of  the trays being mixed with others. I would pay for that again but not bother with the passport priority charge in future.

It is worth being aware that when you arrive late at Helsinki there are a few shops still open airside, including the duty free, although most are closed.  However, once you get past the passport control on your way to the transfer gates, pretty well everything is closed and they don’t open again until 10am which was too late for our flight.

Our gate was marked up and it was quiet when we arrived so Pete got some rest while I decided to stay awake and keep an eye on our gear.

The bags checked right through from Manchester to Kittilä without needing to be collected at Helsinki and I had invested in a few small trackers which enabled me to check their progress and location which was very reassuring during the journey.

At Kittilä, there is nowhere to fill water containers once you move from airside so Pete asked a member of staff who very helpfully filled them all for us. Joined by a Second Lady, who turned out to be of Sami  decent, there followed a number of questions from curiosity about where we were going and did we have good gear etc. I left a copy of our  planned itinerary with location coordinates with them for reassurance  before we drew our packed toboggans away from the airport and onto the road heading towards town.

Collecting the groceries ran smoothly and I loaded them onto my toboggan while Pete did his shopping in the supermarket.

By now, combining the hold luggage, cabin luggage and groceries, I estimate that the load must have been about 100kg. The heaviest they would be for the entire trip. As we left, it was clear that the sleds were significantly harder work on snow than they were on the icy road  surface. We used paths until we reached the junction of the 79/80 and thereafter we were just on the road, facing into the oncoming traffic. I have to admit I was very glad that I had a high visibly vest for this section of the journey.

There is an old military saying that ”No plan survives first contact with the enemy” 

We set out with an ambitious plan and soon discovered that it was somewhat over ambitious.

What eventually brought us to a halt was the condition of the snow pack once we left the roads.

Lying about 2’ thick on the ground, the snow was unconsolidated and powdery.  Not what we had expected at the temperatures were were travelling in.  Even in snow shoes we were sinking deep into the snow. The night spent in the airport had already left us tired but after hauling heavy sleds so far on the road, this new challenge just left us exhausted.

We took the decision to make a temporary camp early, not far from our objective to be fair, but as the light was failing fast it seemed the wise thing to do.

I pulled out a sheet of TYVEK and set up a simple lean to while Pete set up his Smokehouse Hammock Tent. We just needed shelter and a good sleep at this stage. 

Next morning I scouted out the path ahead and discovered that getting to the location we had originally planned would be a significant challenge but there was an alternative spot, closer to the road but still providing the resources we needed. Pete was having difficulties with his knee and the decision was made to switch to this new location which proved to be a wise choice as time went on. 

Strangely enough, ice cream is one of the few foods that requires no  preparation at this temperature and provides good energy benefits from the fat and the sugar which out weighs it’s cooling effects. Used as a quick energy boost when you are already warm from working it can be very useful indeed.

My bags were in better order for the move so I set out first while Pete remained where he was to rest and get his admin sorted. We were in contact with the radios of course and no more than 10 minutes apart in case of emergency.

I set up the Snow Shed and moved my gear directly into it with two trips, reducing the sled load across the unconsolidated snow.

After six passages on the float track, the condition of the path was  improving but was still soft when Pete made his trips the next morning.  Very weird snow conditions.

There is something about being in an environment where life cannot simply be taken for granted.

I have heard it described many times as a challenge. Humans against the elements and all that. The truth is that if you challenge nature you will usually lose.

The best way is to accept the conditions and work with them. Humans have lived in places like this for millennia and thrived. The wildlife has been doing it for even longer. We can all learn from that by humbly accepting our position in that nature. Embrace the environment rather than fight against it.

The wilderness is not out to get you, nor is it there to nurture you, it really does not care if you live or die. It simply is what it is and no amount of sentimentality will ever change that. You need to take charge of your well-being by doing the things you need to do to ensure your own survival.

On the whole your needs are quite simple in a cold environment. You need to stay hydrated enough that your circulation system can work properly.  You need to provide food that your body can metabolise and your cells can produce body heat. Lastly, you need to protect yourself from factors that will attempt to redistribute your body heat into the wider environment

Water, food and insulation/shelter are your three main priorities when you are cold camping. Almost everything else will generally take care of  itself.

Your clothing should provide most of the insulation you need and with the addition of a sleeping bag and some kind of shelter you are generally in a good position, but that position does need to be maintained.

Wind and moisture are the main factors that will work against you here.

Preserving fresh food is quite easy as you are living in a giant freezer, the main  challenge is defrosting that food so that you can actually eat it.  .

Surprisingly the biggest challenge in this environment is staying hydrated. There is water everywhere but not a drop to drink, it’s all frozen.

We lose water all the time, passing it normally but also by sweating and in every breath. It needs to be replaced and that requires either an open water source or a constant routine of melting snow which impacts your fuel supplies.

On my earlier reconnaissance I had found a stream with some open sections but it was unclear if it would be potable without treatment. Boiling it would be a similar drain on our fuel resources to melting snow which we could at least be more sure of.

We had the water we had acquired at the airport to start us off but getting the stoves set up was one of our priorities. Snowball Soup would be the dish of the day, every day

My shelter would be open most of the time, perhaps all of the time, so I wanted a good view and this is what greeted me each morning as I woke.

The kitchen area evolved constantly for the first few days as my needs became more defined. Interestingly it ended up very close to the sketch I made when first planning the Snow Shed. Got that right at least.

The green camouflaged tarp material blended in better with the environment than I had expected and all that remained to be seen was how robust the construction would be in the cold and laden with snow.

When Pete moved in the next morning, his knee was still troubling him and it was clear we had made the right choice to stay closer to the road. The road would also give us the option to call in a taxi rather than attempting a return journey on foot. We had good location information for the layby at the start of the track and we resolved to curtail our plan of moving on to a second location later in the week.

As Pete set up his Smokehouse shelter I started refining my living conditions.

With the bedding at the back of the shelter it was largely protected from the light snow that was blowing about. I added an extra cover for the bags on the right of this picture because of the camera gear contained within one of them but in the end it was unnecessary.

There was a sleeping platform at the snow surface level with a cold well cut in front which provided good head room under the tarp roof.

I covered the sleeping area with a TYVEK sheet which turned it into a dry seating area and occasional work space. This worked very well indeed.

As the snow had been trampled down the day before it was now starting to sinter and consolidate. This allowed me to cut blocks with the saw that could be used for simple construction work. ( Not strong enough for an Iglu unfortunately. )

I tried out the snow block form but the freshly packed snow really did not want to consolidate and was weak even after an hour or so.

I did use a few blocks to refine the kitchen area and after a few days they iced up and became quite solid.

It would seem that the block form would serve best in it’s secondary purpose as stove back and wind shield on this trip.

Having gone to the trouble of making snowball soup, the last thing you need is for it to freeze back into ice before you can use it.  I brought with me an insulated pot cosy and a cork mat but to increase it’s efficiency I used the natural insulation qualities of the snow itself.   It is mostly air after all and works very well. I could keep water liquid this way for about 8 hours and I had a couple of flasks in my bags that held water hot for at least 24 hours for emergency needs. The bottles on the left lasted about 6 hours with a dish used as a lid over the holes.

The layout you see here served well for the rest of the stay with only very slight changes mainly caused by walking in and out.

I should say something here about my choice of stove for this trip

We all take the preservation of our environment seriously and for bushcrafters that means considering our fuel needs on a trip like this.  Many people look at the woods and see plentiful firewood, apparently  free for the taking. The truth is that nothing is free. It all has a cost even if we do not immediately see it.

Dead wood is a habitat for lichens, mosses, fungi and a host of insect life  that work to break it down and return it’s nutrients to the soil. In turn, other insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals feed on that flora and fauna. As such, dead wood is an important part of the local food chain and in areas where that food chain is already challenged by harsh conditions, it’s importance is even greater.

Some believe that gas or liquid fuel stoves are the true ”Leave No Trace”  option, but they usually fail to consider that those fuels are produced somewhere else, which simply transfers their impact out of sight and out of mind.

There is no perfect solution to this problem but the option I prefer is to look for renewable / recycled fuel sources where I can find them.

This has led me to a type of stove often referred to as a ”Wood Gasifier“ that can be fuelled with small twigs but also runs very efficiently on wood pellets. The sort of pellets made from recycled sawdust and often marketed as Eco Cat Litter.

This means it’s easily available and transportable in a relatively compact  format. It leaves little residual ash and what it does leave is not generally harmful to the environment. It’s not perfect, it has it’s own carbon footprint from manufacture, transport and combustion but it is  the best solution I have found so far.

As a rough idea, my two week trip, including regular snow melting duties, consumed about 20kg of wood pellets,  which is considerably less than the wood used by a tent stove over the  same sort of period. 

A few simple tealight lanterns provided more than enough light, in a generally white environment, to work confidently into the evening and in Scandinavia and Finland such tealights are readily available in most supermarkets.

Let’s discuss the environment of the camp for a moment. When looking for camp areas I had a few things in mind. Firstly, they had to be on government land rather than privately owned. Finland has similar “Everyman’s Rights” to Scandinvia but we did not want to abuse those rights.

Secondly, they needed to provide a mixture of trees to hang shelters from and space to fit them.

Thirdly, on the off chance that we might be lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, we wanted some open sky so that we could appreciate them.

These requirements all needed to be met within a reasonable distance of the airport so that we could get there with all the equipment we needed. This was close to the first of two areas I had spotted while looking at the maps and satellite images of the area.

There is a good reason that this area is so open in an area that is mostly dense forest.

It’s a swamp.

In the summer, this area would be a midge infested bog, completely unsuitable for camping but in the depths of winter it is frozen and covered with deep snow. Perfect for our needs.

The only thing we wonder now is whether the damp conditions contributed somewhat towards the odd snow conditions we encountered but when talking to the locals it turned out that they were equally puzzled by the “weird snow” they had been experiencing this winter.

I’m afraid I have to mention one piece of equipment that let me down on this trip. The plastic straps on my Atlas snowshoes broke, causing me to have to make repairs in the field.

This is not the first repair I have had to make. Last year when I removed them from storage another strap on the heel had started to fail which led me to replace them both with webbing.

It is fair to say that these are military surplus and were therefore likely to have been made to obtain the lowest price and stored in sub prime conditions most likely but they are not a good advert for Atlas I’m afraid.

I carry a container filled with useful materials for fixing things in the feild and in this case some strong cordage and a few layers of gaffa tape saw me through to the end of the trip.  The question now is whether to repair or replace?

On our fifth night, we were expecting our next party member. Susanne Williams, a YouTuber with a channel followed by some of the group. She had suggested that she might arrive quite late so I set out a string of lanterns to lead her down the track into the camp in the dark. I didn’t know much about her but she had asked to join us on the trip and a few of the members that knew her from YouTube and other places thought she might have some skills that could be an asset to the group so, on that basis, we agreed. I had been surprised earlier by the sudden appearance of two locals on skis. They had come to visit Susanne and were surprised that she was not yet here. I explained that she would be joining us later and they returned the same way they had come.

She turned up a short while after putting the lights out and set up a small laavu just a little further down the track from Pete’s shelter.

Perhaps it is the photographer in me but I like light. Not just to work with but also for the atmosphere it creates.

Part of my order from the supermarket was for candles, which seem to be a big thing in Finland. We had simple tealights but also candles in pots, some of them weatherproof.

I may have been a little excessive but such is my nature I guess.

Next morning you can see Susanne’s laavu to the right and beyond Pete’s Smokehouse shelter. Snow overnight had softened the edges of the track somewhat.

Susanne’s preference is for skis rather than snowshoes. in the conditions we encountered they certainly seemed to offer a bit more flotation than the snowshoes.

The weather in this first week had been rather mild, ranging between -6.5°c and around zero. gentle conditions really. With the arrival of the main party on Sunday the temperatures were predicted to drop sharply according to the forecasts.

We started monitoring the radios when the main party was due to land but heard nothing.

Bizarrely, our main form of communication became Facebook and Messenger. Since arriving in Finland, we had enjoyed a strong 5G mobile signal, far better than most of the UK it has to be said. It would appear that in mobile connectivity our vainglorious little island seriously lags behind our continental counterparts as well.

Eventually a message came through that the main party was struggling on the journey due to a number of factors and had decided to set up camp closer to the town. I wondered if we might end up having to return to their position at times but when we explained that our plans had changed and that our new location offered the possibility of using taxis for the return journey the party swayed towards completing the journey in the morning and meeting us at the new camp.

Although our team had increased by this time to three, it was to be another quiet night in the woods before the main party would arrive.

Part Two

Unless noted otherwise, all photography, artwork and content on this site is copyrighted. © Gary Waidson 2022 All rights reserved

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.