In March 2013 a man, in a deep depression and desperate to get away from his life, went to Oslo on what was meant to be a six day adventure.
The details of this trip are chronicled here: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106209
Three years have passed, I have accepted the issues I had then, learnt to cope, there are still times when I feel down, but it is manageable.
The events of that trip have preyed on my mind, choice of equipment, logistics, and performance.
I have researched, planned, reviewed and then repeated ad nauseam. I have purchased, made or modified equipment for a possible return trip, then discarded or replaced said equipment as new information, or the occasional epiphany / ooh, shiny moment arose.
In January of 2016 a chance conversation at work led to me committing myself to a short trip in February, a long weekend in the area I had been obsessing over for the past three years. What followed was repeated checking of the projected weather for the area, more equipment modification, selection and review, research and impulse purchasing.
Even after all this, there were a few things that, in retrospect, I would have done differently.
However, at no time, in my consideration, did I take a cavalier attitude to my safety, nor the environment I was in.
I write this account in part to excise my demons, and to provide what I hope to be useful information for others hoping to visit the area, and on the equipment used, a summary of which will be posted at the end.
Now that waffle is out of the way, Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, gather round and let the story begin ..
A long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Loading up the Land Rover at 01:00hrs on Friday 5th of February, I took a leisurely drive to Gatwick Airport, parking in the South Terminal Long stay car park, and taking the shuttle bus to the Terminal. I dropped my checked baggage and boarded a Norwegian Air Shuttle plane for an uneventful flight to Gardermoen.
After reclaiming my luggage, clearing customs and purchasing a train ticket, I arrived at Oslo Station. There I found the left luggage lockers, located near the Flytoget terminal. These are sign posted, but If you look towards the escalators leading to tracks 15-19, turn one hundred and eighty degrees and look for a staircase, go down these stairs and you are there. After paying the 60NOK fee, I left my Vulcan in a suitably sized locker and went hunting for my first target, a store called Gsport. During my research, I had looked for a place to get Rod Sprit, (meths, denatured alcohol, etc) near the station. After a lot of Googling I found they stocked a product called Fin Fyr (https://www.gsport.no/produkt/700469/arcus-fin-fyr-brennveske), equivalent to the Bio-Ethanol now stocked in places like Taunton Leisure and Gooutdoors in the UK. My research also turned up a Clas Ohlson next door to the station, but I will get to that in a minute.
I meandered my way up to the third floor, where the store had the Camping and Hunting section. One of the store assistants approached me, and after finding out he spoke excellent English, as everyone I encountered out there did, (I can just about say hello, goodbye and thanks without mangling the Norwegian language) he directed me to the Fin Fyr. I also spent a few minutes looking at the Helle knives, Gransfor Axes (not listed on the website) and Fjelldukens on display, with the original priced at 1140NOK, or £92 at the time of writing. I also saw a selection of plastic Kasa (also known as a kuksa) shaped like the one for the Swedish Army Trangia cookset, in a variety of colours, including a bright pink one for Mr Fenna.
After paying for the fuel, I went on to my second target, Clas Ohlson, located on the fourth floor of the shopping centre located between the station and the Gsport (write your smutty joke on a postcard, and send it to..) store. Before my trip, I had checked whether or not that particular store had any Rod Sprit in stock, using their website (http://www.clasohlson.com/no/Kemetyl-rødsprit/34-9841). The site said they were out of stock, so I only went in there to buy a cheap Mora 511 Basic to add to my collection, cheap at 49.90NOK. As I browsed I found out that they did have Rod Sprit in stock, priced at 49.90NOK, 40 NOK cheaper than the Fin Fyr I had just purchased
.
Moving on.
I returned to the station, retrieved and repacked my bag, storing the Osprey Airporter inside it, strapping my snowshoes, roll mat and Crazy Carpet toboggan to the appropriate points on the bag, and caught the metro to Sognsvann. By this point, I had considered leaving the snow shoes, toboggan and modified Sabre 30 in the lockers, because I had seen little to no snow on the trip from the airport, and would have lightened my load by around 3.5-4kg, but dismissed it, after all, last time I wished I had the foresight to bring at least the snowshoes.
Arriving at the lake, I saw my decision to bring these extra items had been correct, although the snow was only a few inches deep, it would be sufficient for my plans.
Pulling on my ice grippers, as the path was icy; I began marching along the path to the west of the lake, retracing the path of my previous escape. I passed several huge stacks of felled trees, pines with lots of needle laden branches still attached, perfect shelter material if needed, but I wondered at the legality of using any of it.
After half a mile the time was around 14:00hrs, with sunset being due before 16:00hrs, my having been awake for thirty hours, hunger, and needing to process drinking water to supplement the Nalgene I had filled at Gatwick, I decided to make camp in a quite spot on a hillock overlooking a fast flowing stream.
At this point, as I set up my tarp, bivy and sleeping bag, feeling a little cold as I stood there (the temp, according to the little Silva keychain thermometer, was around minus 3-4c) I had a mild panic attack.
I couldnt think of a way to tie down my tarp in the icy snow, this simple task making me buggy, question what was I doing this for, the general feeling of not being up to the task, every doubt about my ability coming to the fore.
I took a grip of myself. I had all the equipment, and more importantly, the skillset to do this simple thing. First things first, I told myself. I grabbed the Fjellduken original from my bag and put it on.
At first I was sceptical about this bit of kit; after all, it was a lot of money for a very simple thing, why would it be any better than a cheap survival blanket/bag or a boothy?
I was wrong.
This is a survival blanket on steroids, a boothy belted with gamma rays before being slapped whilst its mother is insulted. Within a few minutes I felt as comfortable as if I was in a heated room, even as it began to snow, I had a drink and ate some dried fruit, sitting in the bag on a small foam mat, then tied the tarp down on some partially buried sticks that were frozen to the ground. Unlike a boothy bag, you can work whilst wearing the Fjellduken, it is easier if you tie a belt or something around your waist to keep the fabric under control. The zips allow you to vent or seal yourself in, and the fabric is tough, and completely impervious to water, allowing it to be used as a shelter, a groundsheet, or as a poncho. Another benefit of the Fjellduken over a Mylar/PET blanket is that it drapes, and it doesn't sound like a chrisp packet.
Then I took the snow shovel and dug around to level out the surface I was to sleep on (unfortunately I didnt do a very good job, so I had to dig a little more and drag myself and the sleeping gear back under the tarp later that night, with the foot of my bivy bag covered in snow) set up my sleeping gear, a space blanket as a ground sheet, a Multimat Summit foam mat a Therm-a-rest Neoair X-therm, then my USGI bivy and Carinthia Defence 4 sleeping bag (did I mention that I am a cold sleeper?).
After that I dug a small pit in the snow near the corner of my tarp, put on my snow shoes and wandered down in the fine drifting snow to the stream to fill a still unused Nalgene, intended as a pee bottle, with water to boil. This was the first time I had used snow shoes, and while not absolutely necessary at this location, I thought I should try them before I really needed them. The toothed struts on the underside were very useful for going downhill in the icy snow.
Returning to my camp, I pulled out the Evernew burner, titanium windshield, the Fin Fyr and the Alkpit 1.3l MyTi pot. Two trips later, water boiled, I filled the steel canteen, popped it back into its cover and put it into the sleeping bag as a hot water bottle.
The excess water, as the canteen is 1.3 litres, I used to make instant mash and dehydrated Spam with bacon, a meal I can only described as intensely satisfying. This was done in the canteen cup. The time was now around 15:00hrs so I snacked on more dried fruit and read a little, sitting in my Fjellduken and letting the world pass me by.
A little later, with the sun now down, I lit the candle lantern, texted home to let my family know I was okay and changed into my sleeping clothes. These were some Helly Hanson thermals from Screwfix, and some Dutch Army wool pile tent socks, the same material as the infamous Helly Hanson fleece jacket. My day clothes were placed into a plastic bag and stashed next to me, my valuables (passport, cash, phone, knife, etc.) inside my sleeping bag. Into my boots I place some hand warmers, placed them on top of the foam sit mat and placed my Fjellduken over them, no frozen boots for me this time.
Getting into the bag, warmed by the canteen, was decadent. The snow was now falling quite fast, and I had to occasionally shake it off of the tarp. Awaking several times during the night, driven by some atavistic instinct, this was repeated, as well as dragging me and my sleeping gear back up the hill and digging in.
The following morning, I emptied my now cool canteen into the Nalgene cantene, a collapsible one and a half litre bottle, before collecting and boiling more water from the stream, this time in my pan and canteen cup. This was the plan from the start, as after last time I vowed never to be without at least a litre in reserve at all times. By this point, the pee bottle was unsuitable for drinking water collection.
The temperature had now risen to around 3-4c, my tarp was wet, my sleeping bag and the surface of my sleeping mats damp, the mats from snow melt and dew, the bag from condensation. The bivy bag, in this instance, was probably more of a hindrance than a help. The wet part of the bag was the foot, I ad kicked the snow off of it during the night, but even with the hot water bottle down there, or perhaps because of it, the sweat condensed on the interior of the bivy. However, the interior of the sleeping bag was dry. If any can comment on this, I would be grateful, as I am now redesigning my sleep system.
The snow of the previous night had turned to a cold fog,
and the weather report I had looked at before leaving home said to expect rain over the next two days. My next priority then was to dry my equipment off, as moisture transfer, and from the now damp environment, would make things uncomfortable, possibly dangerous if temperatures were to unexpectedly plummet. Returning to the road, heading towards Ullsvetter, in my snow shoes, I tested out the Crazy Carpet toboggan I had made.
A simple thing, a cheap roll up toboggan and some plastic gromits. The tow ropes were whoopee slings from my hammock, attached to the waist belt of the Sabre 30 with carabiners, hooking into the loops of webbing I had attached to it. This made toting the Vulcan, once again ensconced in the Airporter, a lot easier on the upward slope. After half a mile I took what appeared to be a less travelled path to the right, and spotted a nice level area, several dead standing trees (bark falling off, fallen against other trees and leafless) with flowing water a short walk away, and decided that here is where I would stop.
Tarp set up once again, more securely this time as with the deeper snow I was using the snow anchors I had made, I set about harvesting some wood for a fire. Initially I intended to use the Ikea Hobo, taking small branches and splitting a four inch by fifteen foot dead standing pine for fuel. After twenty minutes of sawing with a bahco and splitting with a Fallkniven F1, as the wood was damp, I realised I was getting very little heat in return for so much effort. Definitely insufficient for drying off gear in a damp environment. Originally my intention was to avoid open fires, the scars on the ground and the larger amount of fuel required making me uneasy. Enlarging the area I had dug for the hobo, I scrapped at the frozen detritus until I got to bare soil then prepared another dead tree, this time a birch that I didnt even have to cut down, I pushed it and the four inch base snapped. Finding two trees that were close together I used the as a fulcrum to break the birch into fourteen inch sections. I then took the remains of the twigs and the first tree, along with some wet fallen branches I had uncovered during my digging, to build a platform, on top of which I added the coals from the hobo stove, and then some split sections of wood until I had a reasonably hot fire. The rest of the afternoon was spent drying out my gear, with the aid of some lines and a Mylar blanket reflector and gathering some more wood. The wood gathering, as nearly everything was damp, and preparation would have been a lot faster with an axe or hatchet, something I had neglected to bring as I was trying to cut down on my carried weight, and did not think I would be using a fire in this manner. The fire I kept as small as possible without it dying out, no more than fourteen by eight inches, pushing longer sections in as they burned, with extra wood arranged around it to dry.
As I settled in for the night, candle again burning for light, fire burning down, it began to rain as I repeated my water and food prep from the previous evening. The days were getting wetter and I came to the realisation that however careful I was, my equipment would still get wet. My sleeping bag was again wet; the bivy bag saturated the following morning, despite being very careful to breath outside of the bag and bivy. The bag itself is supposed to a have a water resistant outer, which I should have trusted to negate the need for the bivy, it definitely would have improved the breathability of the sleep system.
Thinking ahead to my return flight, and spending most of the day moving in slush and drying my gear again, I decided to use my fall-back plan. Whipping out the phone, I booked a hotel room back in Oslo, packed my gear and walked back to Sognsvann to catch the Metro.
Walking down a steep incline covered in a sheet of ice was an interesting experience. There was a good 150 meters of surface like this:
It was here I lost a bolt on my snowshoes, and had to make a field expedient repair:
Messy, but it held up back on the walk back.
If I didnt have the snowshoes with claws, or some form of shoe spikes, I could easily have slid over the edge of the road to a twenty foot drop.
As it was, I unclipped the toboggan and held the reins in my hand, so if I lost my footing, or control of it, I could easily let go and not have to worry about the awkward mass dragging me.
Once I reached what I can only assume was some kind of volley ball court, the paths were heavily gritted.
I dragged the toboggan as far as the snack shack near the entrance, keeping to the ice where possible, before reconfiguring my gear as a rucksack. The toboggan had held up well, the last hundred or so metres on the grit causing deep scoring to the underside. Prior to this the snow and ice had caused no damage.
My last night was spent in a Citybox hotel room a short walk from the central station, having a shower, drying gear in the shower room, catching up on emails and planning a visit to XXL, a sports store a short walk away for the following day. It seems that with the exception of the ubiquitous 7 eleven stores and fast food outlets, shops are closed on Sundays, and open at 10:00hrs during weekdays. I finished of the ready to eat food I had packed, with the exception of Monday's breakfast, pre-cooked Smoked Turkey rashers, oat and treacle bars and some home made trail mix.
On Monday, after eating breakfast, I visited the Tourist information centre, next door to the entrance of the Station, and asked how to dispose of the unused Fin Fyr. The Lady at the desk suggested returning it to the store I purchased it from, as they at least should be able to tell me how to dispose of it. Walking into the Gsport (stop sniggering) I went to the front desk and asked, after a short conversation the Chap agreed to take it, either a member of staff would use it or the store would dispose of it.
While there I saw this poster, and thought that while they had Glampers bang to rights, it probably isn't a brand that would take off in the UK or USA.
Seriously though, please check out their website, I think the name is intentionally humorous, just look at some of the product titles and stories.
(if this offensive, please let me know and I will remove it)
Resisting the temptation to buy anything, I made my way over to XXL, and went to the top floor where the Camping and Hunting goods were. If you ever go to Oslo, make sure you have either lots of money, or an understanding partner, you could be very easily bitten by the "ooh, Shiney, need" bug.
After that sweat inducing exercise in self control, I returned to the hotel, got my gear, checked out and walked in the rain back to the station. catching the train back to the airport and checking in. The time was now 13:20 or so hours, and my flight was due at 18:10. I had decided to get to the airport early, since the checkout time for the hotel was 12:00hrs, and if I had to wait it might as well be somewhere warm. So I waited, caught up with the news via the airport wifi, and the waited again, giving in to temptation and buying a tasty but very expensive sandwich, and a packet of overpriced crisps, at least this time the water fountains were working, as the flight was delayed by Storm Imogen. Finally, at 19:30hs the flight took off, and by 21:00hrs I was back in the UK.
Kit list and breakdown to follow:
The details of this trip are chronicled here: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106209
Three years have passed, I have accepted the issues I had then, learnt to cope, there are still times when I feel down, but it is manageable.
The events of that trip have preyed on my mind, choice of equipment, logistics, and performance.
I have researched, planned, reviewed and then repeated ad nauseam. I have purchased, made or modified equipment for a possible return trip, then discarded or replaced said equipment as new information, or the occasional epiphany / ooh, shiny moment arose.
In January of 2016 a chance conversation at work led to me committing myself to a short trip in February, a long weekend in the area I had been obsessing over for the past three years. What followed was repeated checking of the projected weather for the area, more equipment modification, selection and review, research and impulse purchasing.
Even after all this, there were a few things that, in retrospect, I would have done differently.
However, at no time, in my consideration, did I take a cavalier attitude to my safety, nor the environment I was in.
I write this account in part to excise my demons, and to provide what I hope to be useful information for others hoping to visit the area, and on the equipment used, a summary of which will be posted at the end.
Now that waffle is out of the way, Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, gather round and let the story begin ..
A long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Loading up the Land Rover at 01:00hrs on Friday 5th of February, I took a leisurely drive to Gatwick Airport, parking in the South Terminal Long stay car park, and taking the shuttle bus to the Terminal. I dropped my checked baggage and boarded a Norwegian Air Shuttle plane for an uneventful flight to Gardermoen.
After reclaiming my luggage, clearing customs and purchasing a train ticket, I arrived at Oslo Station. There I found the left luggage lockers, located near the Flytoget terminal. These are sign posted, but If you look towards the escalators leading to tracks 15-19, turn one hundred and eighty degrees and look for a staircase, go down these stairs and you are there. After paying the 60NOK fee, I left my Vulcan in a suitably sized locker and went hunting for my first target, a store called Gsport. During my research, I had looked for a place to get Rod Sprit, (meths, denatured alcohol, etc) near the station. After a lot of Googling I found they stocked a product called Fin Fyr (https://www.gsport.no/produkt/700469/arcus-fin-fyr-brennveske), equivalent to the Bio-Ethanol now stocked in places like Taunton Leisure and Gooutdoors in the UK. My research also turned up a Clas Ohlson next door to the station, but I will get to that in a minute.
I meandered my way up to the third floor, where the store had the Camping and Hunting section. One of the store assistants approached me, and after finding out he spoke excellent English, as everyone I encountered out there did, (I can just about say hello, goodbye and thanks without mangling the Norwegian language) he directed me to the Fin Fyr. I also spent a few minutes looking at the Helle knives, Gransfor Axes (not listed on the website) and Fjelldukens on display, with the original priced at 1140NOK, or £92 at the time of writing. I also saw a selection of plastic Kasa (also known as a kuksa) shaped like the one for the Swedish Army Trangia cookset, in a variety of colours, including a bright pink one for Mr Fenna.
After paying for the fuel, I went on to my second target, Clas Ohlson, located on the fourth floor of the shopping centre located between the station and the Gsport (write your smutty joke on a postcard, and send it to..) store. Before my trip, I had checked whether or not that particular store had any Rod Sprit in stock, using their website (http://www.clasohlson.com/no/Kemetyl-rødsprit/34-9841). The site said they were out of stock, so I only went in there to buy a cheap Mora 511 Basic to add to my collection, cheap at 49.90NOK. As I browsed I found out that they did have Rod Sprit in stock, priced at 49.90NOK, 40 NOK cheaper than the Fin Fyr I had just purchased
.Moving on.
I returned to the station, retrieved and repacked my bag, storing the Osprey Airporter inside it, strapping my snowshoes, roll mat and Crazy Carpet toboggan to the appropriate points on the bag, and caught the metro to Sognsvann. By this point, I had considered leaving the snow shoes, toboggan and modified Sabre 30 in the lockers, because I had seen little to no snow on the trip from the airport, and would have lightened my load by around 3.5-4kg, but dismissed it, after all, last time I wished I had the foresight to bring at least the snowshoes.
Arriving at the lake, I saw my decision to bring these extra items had been correct, although the snow was only a few inches deep, it would be sufficient for my plans.
Pulling on my ice grippers, as the path was icy; I began marching along the path to the west of the lake, retracing the path of my previous escape. I passed several huge stacks of felled trees, pines with lots of needle laden branches still attached, perfect shelter material if needed, but I wondered at the legality of using any of it.
After half a mile the time was around 14:00hrs, with sunset being due before 16:00hrs, my having been awake for thirty hours, hunger, and needing to process drinking water to supplement the Nalgene I had filled at Gatwick, I decided to make camp in a quite spot on a hillock overlooking a fast flowing stream.
At this point, as I set up my tarp, bivy and sleeping bag, feeling a little cold as I stood there (the temp, according to the little Silva keychain thermometer, was around minus 3-4c) I had a mild panic attack.
I couldnt think of a way to tie down my tarp in the icy snow, this simple task making me buggy, question what was I doing this for, the general feeling of not being up to the task, every doubt about my ability coming to the fore.
I took a grip of myself. I had all the equipment, and more importantly, the skillset to do this simple thing. First things first, I told myself. I grabbed the Fjellduken original from my bag and put it on.
At first I was sceptical about this bit of kit; after all, it was a lot of money for a very simple thing, why would it be any better than a cheap survival blanket/bag or a boothy?
I was wrong.
This is a survival blanket on steroids, a boothy belted with gamma rays before being slapped whilst its mother is insulted. Within a few minutes I felt as comfortable as if I was in a heated room, even as it began to snow, I had a drink and ate some dried fruit, sitting in the bag on a small foam mat, then tied the tarp down on some partially buried sticks that were frozen to the ground. Unlike a boothy bag, you can work whilst wearing the Fjellduken, it is easier if you tie a belt or something around your waist to keep the fabric under control. The zips allow you to vent or seal yourself in, and the fabric is tough, and completely impervious to water, allowing it to be used as a shelter, a groundsheet, or as a poncho. Another benefit of the Fjellduken over a Mylar/PET blanket is that it drapes, and it doesn't sound like a chrisp packet.
Then I took the snow shovel and dug around to level out the surface I was to sleep on (unfortunately I didnt do a very good job, so I had to dig a little more and drag myself and the sleeping gear back under the tarp later that night, with the foot of my bivy bag covered in snow) set up my sleeping gear, a space blanket as a ground sheet, a Multimat Summit foam mat a Therm-a-rest Neoair X-therm, then my USGI bivy and Carinthia Defence 4 sleeping bag (did I mention that I am a cold sleeper?).
After that I dug a small pit in the snow near the corner of my tarp, put on my snow shoes and wandered down in the fine drifting snow to the stream to fill a still unused Nalgene, intended as a pee bottle, with water to boil. This was the first time I had used snow shoes, and while not absolutely necessary at this location, I thought I should try them before I really needed them. The toothed struts on the underside were very useful for going downhill in the icy snow.
Returning to my camp, I pulled out the Evernew burner, titanium windshield, the Fin Fyr and the Alkpit 1.3l MyTi pot. Two trips later, water boiled, I filled the steel canteen, popped it back into its cover and put it into the sleeping bag as a hot water bottle.
The excess water, as the canteen is 1.3 litres, I used to make instant mash and dehydrated Spam with bacon, a meal I can only described as intensely satisfying. This was done in the canteen cup. The time was now around 15:00hrs so I snacked on more dried fruit and read a little, sitting in my Fjellduken and letting the world pass me by.
A little later, with the sun now down, I lit the candle lantern, texted home to let my family know I was okay and changed into my sleeping clothes. These were some Helly Hanson thermals from Screwfix, and some Dutch Army wool pile tent socks, the same material as the infamous Helly Hanson fleece jacket. My day clothes were placed into a plastic bag and stashed next to me, my valuables (passport, cash, phone, knife, etc.) inside my sleeping bag. Into my boots I place some hand warmers, placed them on top of the foam sit mat and placed my Fjellduken over them, no frozen boots for me this time.
Getting into the bag, warmed by the canteen, was decadent. The snow was now falling quite fast, and I had to occasionally shake it off of the tarp. Awaking several times during the night, driven by some atavistic instinct, this was repeated, as well as dragging me and my sleeping gear back up the hill and digging in.
The following morning, I emptied my now cool canteen into the Nalgene cantene, a collapsible one and a half litre bottle, before collecting and boiling more water from the stream, this time in my pan and canteen cup. This was the plan from the start, as after last time I vowed never to be without at least a litre in reserve at all times. By this point, the pee bottle was unsuitable for drinking water collection.
The temperature had now risen to around 3-4c, my tarp was wet, my sleeping bag and the surface of my sleeping mats damp, the mats from snow melt and dew, the bag from condensation. The bivy bag, in this instance, was probably more of a hindrance than a help. The wet part of the bag was the foot, I ad kicked the snow off of it during the night, but even with the hot water bottle down there, or perhaps because of it, the sweat condensed on the interior of the bivy. However, the interior of the sleeping bag was dry. If any can comment on this, I would be grateful, as I am now redesigning my sleep system.
The snow of the previous night had turned to a cold fog,
and the weather report I had looked at before leaving home said to expect rain over the next two days. My next priority then was to dry my equipment off, as moisture transfer, and from the now damp environment, would make things uncomfortable, possibly dangerous if temperatures were to unexpectedly plummet. Returning to the road, heading towards Ullsvetter, in my snow shoes, I tested out the Crazy Carpet toboggan I had made.
A simple thing, a cheap roll up toboggan and some plastic gromits. The tow ropes were whoopee slings from my hammock, attached to the waist belt of the Sabre 30 with carabiners, hooking into the loops of webbing I had attached to it. This made toting the Vulcan, once again ensconced in the Airporter, a lot easier on the upward slope. After half a mile I took what appeared to be a less travelled path to the right, and spotted a nice level area, several dead standing trees (bark falling off, fallen against other trees and leafless) with flowing water a short walk away, and decided that here is where I would stop.
Tarp set up once again, more securely this time as with the deeper snow I was using the snow anchors I had made, I set about harvesting some wood for a fire. Initially I intended to use the Ikea Hobo, taking small branches and splitting a four inch by fifteen foot dead standing pine for fuel. After twenty minutes of sawing with a bahco and splitting with a Fallkniven F1, as the wood was damp, I realised I was getting very little heat in return for so much effort. Definitely insufficient for drying off gear in a damp environment. Originally my intention was to avoid open fires, the scars on the ground and the larger amount of fuel required making me uneasy. Enlarging the area I had dug for the hobo, I scrapped at the frozen detritus until I got to bare soil then prepared another dead tree, this time a birch that I didnt even have to cut down, I pushed it and the four inch base snapped. Finding two trees that were close together I used the as a fulcrum to break the birch into fourteen inch sections. I then took the remains of the twigs and the first tree, along with some wet fallen branches I had uncovered during my digging, to build a platform, on top of which I added the coals from the hobo stove, and then some split sections of wood until I had a reasonably hot fire. The rest of the afternoon was spent drying out my gear, with the aid of some lines and a Mylar blanket reflector and gathering some more wood. The wood gathering, as nearly everything was damp, and preparation would have been a lot faster with an axe or hatchet, something I had neglected to bring as I was trying to cut down on my carried weight, and did not think I would be using a fire in this manner. The fire I kept as small as possible without it dying out, no more than fourteen by eight inches, pushing longer sections in as they burned, with extra wood arranged around it to dry.
As I settled in for the night, candle again burning for light, fire burning down, it began to rain as I repeated my water and food prep from the previous evening. The days were getting wetter and I came to the realisation that however careful I was, my equipment would still get wet. My sleeping bag was again wet; the bivy bag saturated the following morning, despite being very careful to breath outside of the bag and bivy. The bag itself is supposed to a have a water resistant outer, which I should have trusted to negate the need for the bivy, it definitely would have improved the breathability of the sleep system.
Thinking ahead to my return flight, and spending most of the day moving in slush and drying my gear again, I decided to use my fall-back plan. Whipping out the phone, I booked a hotel room back in Oslo, packed my gear and walked back to Sognsvann to catch the Metro.
Walking down a steep incline covered in a sheet of ice was an interesting experience. There was a good 150 meters of surface like this:
It was here I lost a bolt on my snowshoes, and had to make a field expedient repair:
Messy, but it held up back on the walk back.
If I didnt have the snowshoes with claws, or some form of shoe spikes, I could easily have slid over the edge of the road to a twenty foot drop.
As it was, I unclipped the toboggan and held the reins in my hand, so if I lost my footing, or control of it, I could easily let go and not have to worry about the awkward mass dragging me.
Once I reached what I can only assume was some kind of volley ball court, the paths were heavily gritted.
I dragged the toboggan as far as the snack shack near the entrance, keeping to the ice where possible, before reconfiguring my gear as a rucksack. The toboggan had held up well, the last hundred or so metres on the grit causing deep scoring to the underside. Prior to this the snow and ice had caused no damage.
My last night was spent in a Citybox hotel room a short walk from the central station, having a shower, drying gear in the shower room, catching up on emails and planning a visit to XXL, a sports store a short walk away for the following day. It seems that with the exception of the ubiquitous 7 eleven stores and fast food outlets, shops are closed on Sundays, and open at 10:00hrs during weekdays. I finished of the ready to eat food I had packed, with the exception of Monday's breakfast, pre-cooked Smoked Turkey rashers, oat and treacle bars and some home made trail mix.
On Monday, after eating breakfast, I visited the Tourist information centre, next door to the entrance of the Station, and asked how to dispose of the unused Fin Fyr. The Lady at the desk suggested returning it to the store I purchased it from, as they at least should be able to tell me how to dispose of it. Walking into the Gsport (stop sniggering) I went to the front desk and asked, after a short conversation the Chap agreed to take it, either a member of staff would use it or the store would dispose of it.
While there I saw this poster, and thought that while they had Glampers bang to rights, it probably isn't a brand that would take off in the UK or USA.
Seriously though, please check out their website, I think the name is intentionally humorous, just look at some of the product titles and stories.
(if this offensive, please let me know and I will remove it)
Resisting the temptation to buy anything, I made my way over to XXL, and went to the top floor where the Camping and Hunting goods were. If you ever go to Oslo, make sure you have either lots of money, or an understanding partner, you could be very easily bitten by the "ooh, Shiney, need" bug.
After that sweat inducing exercise in self control, I returned to the hotel, got my gear, checked out and walked in the rain back to the station. catching the train back to the airport and checking in. The time was now 13:20 or so hours, and my flight was due at 18:10. I had decided to get to the airport early, since the checkout time for the hotel was 12:00hrs, and if I had to wait it might as well be somewhere warm. So I waited, caught up with the news via the airport wifi, and the waited again, giving in to temptation and buying a tasty but very expensive sandwich, and a packet of overpriced crisps, at least this time the water fountains were working, as the flight was delayed by Storm Imogen. Finally, at 19:30hs the flight took off, and by 21:00hrs I was back in the UK.
Kit list and breakdown to follow:
