this summer I walked Troms border trail. After this wonderful experience I decided I wanted to do this trail in winter.
Well, the planning has started. we are with a group of four. It will be the first big winter tour. Two "expedition members" have tourski, ski and langlauf experience. One member has little ski experience but is eager to learn. The last one is a good skier/langlaufer but has no tourski experience.
The first question we asked ourselves is: how are we going to do this? By tourski or snowshoe. I would really like to do it on tourski. The trail is not so difficult, no steep descends (maybe a little one, Isdalen). But there are two big BUT's: not all the members have experience with tourskiing and none of us has experience with tourskiing with a sled (with all our stuff).
Ans if we go by snowshoe, what do you do with the baggage: carry it in a backpack or with a sled?
Second question: when to go. Most people recommend from mid march to mid april. What about februari? Is it to cold?
I believe Chris Townsend has done this route by ski -- try dropping him an email (contact info here).
How was the walk? A few folk on here are planning to do this route -- myself next Sep, at least one other this Sep.
What are conditions like? Any navigation issues, or are the paths easy to find/follow? Streams/rivers easy to ford? Which maps did you use -- 1:50,000 or 1:100,000 or both?
Kristian, I have skied this route and I would recommend skis. The terrain is mostly easy, as you say, and a good langlaufer should have no problems. I led a group of ten along the route and we took two sleds to carry the food and each had a pack.
I haven't been there in February but the stats show that it is much colder and stormier then than in March and April. There's also less daylight of course. I'd go for mid-March onwards if I was doing it again.
Zubald, I have also done most of this route in summer. This was 16 years ago so it may have changed since then! The paths were good and navigation easy. I was there in September and don't remember any problems with stream fords. I used 1:50,000 maps.
The Troms border trail is well north of the Arctic Circle, so it will be DARK for most of the day in February. At that time of year you are also likely to encounter either warm (-10) but stormy conditions or clear but cold (-30 to -40) conditions. could you cope with that?
Much better to wait until April or even May, then do it on x-country skis. As you know, there are few serious descents, so a tyro should be able to cope - traversing and kick-turning if nothing else. But x-country technique is easy enough that a beginner should have great fun on this route.
Have a serious think about food. You'll need at least 4000 kcal per person per day and it's a 10 day route (plus a couple of "storm" days). That means 12 to 15 kg of food per person even if dehydrated.
Will you use the huts or camp? If the latter, remember to carry extra fuel to melt snow.
Zubald: Troms border trail has the fantastic combination of a remote walking area but not too difficult paths. We walked the route in 5 and a half days (our guide said it was a 8 day walk) wich was though but do-able. If you walk from hut to hut it is an easy walk with days of 4 to 6 hours. There are about three steep descends/climbs depending which way you walk the route. Especially in the evening and when it was windy it got really cold. We walked the route late july and I had my thermo's on and jacked closed.
The path is easy to find, there is a trail and it is well marked. We used the 1:50.000 maps but this was because we could not find the 1:100.000 map (Indre Troms). You need seven 1:50:000 maps or one 1:100.000 map, the second option saves a lot of weight and money.
It was very dry during the walk so the river crossings were easy. Twice we took of our boots. The good thing is that the easy wading places are marked. We had little trouble with wet/swampy parts, mostly there are planks to keep your shoes dry.
I think I never tried -40 before. But it would be very cool to do this once. Maybe it's not a good idea to do this on our first serious winter tour. The polar temperatures will have to wait for next year. So March, April or May it will be then.
As I said in the post before, the walking guide said it was a 8 day walk from Insett to Kilpisjarvi. Jim, you are talking about a ten day trip. Do you have the extended version?
The food is another good topic. On my summer hikes I normaly have oatmeal in the morning, knäckebröd as luch with dried meat or honey and some dried meal (pasta, rice, couscous) in the evening. Would you recommend to do the same in the winter?
As for the huts or camp question. We will stay in huts. It will save us the weight of the fuel, the tent and the matras. I think we will take the stove for emergency's.
Oat in the morning with some sugar or honey is great, but you´ll need a big meal for both lunch and dinner. Knekkebrød won´t be enough - worth bringing the dried meals were you just pour water into the pack, reseal and wait for it to be cooked - they sell them in orange packs in sports shops in Norway.
If you go in March, you may find the trip co-incides with the Northerners celebrating the sun returning - worth looking into, so you can celebrate with the locals.
Have a look at the kcals per 100 gm labels on some foods, then try to make up typical rations that give you say 4500 kcal per day.
Nuts are great for energy, so musli is better than just oatmeal alone for breakfast. Lunches (I usually eat 2 per day) - more energy per 100 gm in oatcakes than knekkebrød. Norwegian spekemat (dried meats and salamis) is good for energy too. Evening soup poured onto pasta or rice is my staple - a lot cheaper than the dried meals, and maybe more calories too.
Thanks for the info all. Planning to use the 1:100,000 map and also prints from the 1:50,000 series taken from the online version. My understanding is that digital mapping is not good if you need to use it for compass work, and the 1:100,000 would do for that as well as give an overview, but the 1:50,000 will help for detail.
Nuts and dried fruit are fantastic. I find I get most of my daily calories when walking from the daytime snack stuff: nuts, fruit, flapjack, a bit of chocolate. Commercial energy bars are disgusting things, I gave up on them after a brief trial! For evening meals I find what I really want is warmth and flavour and would prioritise palatability over out-and-out calories.
@ Jim: it is nice to see that if you present two people with a problem (what to eat if you want a light weight, cheap dinner), the outcome is likely to be the same. Dinner with soup poured onto pasta or rice is great as a meal. And with extra nuts you have something to chew aswell.
What are oatcakes?? Is this the same as we call "muesli bar" in Holland?
Oatcakes are a traditional Scottish biscuit eaten with cold meats and cheese. The most readily available outwith Scotland is probably Walkers, but if you can't find them, you can also make your own
