Finse Hardandgervidda Norway , Trip planning thread ....

[Janne]

In areas where the snow gathers because of wind action it is usually more compacted.
If you have to put the tent up in powder, a couple of shovelfuls with foot compacting will anchor the snowbags . If very cold, wee on them.
Reason - more difficult to melt very cold snow (- using precious fuel) and urine freezes well and quick in real cold.

if you find a nice, deep snow drift, make a "grotto' !

 

[Twodogs]

Love live web cams

Finse now

http://www.bt.no/tv/#!/video/100521/finse-stasjon

 

[Mesquite]

Love live web cams

Finse now

http://www.bt.no/tv/#!/video/100521/finse-stasjon

That's a lot of snow

 

[bopdude]

Looking good

 

[Twodogs]

TENT UPDATE

In a bid to make things easier for me I have changed my tent choice .

Lighter and easier to pitch on my own plus it looks so old school

Its a unissued 1986 two man arctic tent made for the military ,

About the same size as a Vango force ten mk111 but with all the arctic tent bits added .









White fire proof nomex liner , drying line and a velcro removable cover so that you can cook in the tent



Venting front and rear



The tent all rolled up with the poles still in place so it can be strapped to the top of the pulk for easy pitching also the straps are snow shoe toe straps that can be useds for any repairs .



I have changed most of the old guy line with a more modern system just for ease ,

Still need to sort out pegs and snow anchors ,,

Here is some history of these tents ,

http://www.smhc.co.uk/objects_item.asp?item_id=32201

Plus a bit of utube from Finland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avVVl-wL_Xc



Still loads to sort out but its getting there

More soon

Twodogs

 

[decorum]

Very nice

When you say same size as a Vango MkIIII ... finger stutter on MkIII?

 

[Janne]

Excellent choice of tent. As it is old stock, I eould manually check all the stitching by pulling.

Also I would personally want more lines to stabilize it in strong winds.

 

[Twodogs]

Yep Phil your right mk111 its more likely to of been copied from a Blacks ventile mountain tent that was the state of the art at the time .



Janne, fair point a bit of pre trip checking and an extra set of guys is a easy and light mod to carry.

Thanks for the input folks

Twodogs

 

[Janne]

It is a properly designed tent, will work 100% for you in all situations!

Some forummers might wonder why it has the long skirt on the sides, those are to shovel and compress snow on to keep it becoming a bird and fly away in strong winds.

 

[decorum]

Is the internal billow an aid to slowing heat loss?

(I keep forgetting just how ORANGE the old mountain tents were :yikes: )

 

[Twodogs]

Heat barrier and a aid with condensation it is a big problem with arctic tents

 

[decorum]

Ah, so it allows the air to cool a bit more slowly than 'WAP!' as it hits the fly

 

[Twodogs]

Yarp ......

 

[Twodogs]

OUTER CLOTHING LAYER ....

Finished my Snow-Dogs anorak today .

As most will know a snow anorak is just a big windproof outer layer that needs to be able to vent heat in use ,

I started with looking around the net to see whats been done before and making a list of wants and needs in my trip planing note book ,



I went with US MTP fabric in the end as I have it to hand therefore keeping the cost down ,,,also its good enough for Empire canvas in the US its good enough me .



It is lined with a lightweight tight weave cotton just to add to the windproof factor



The front kanga pouch has a map pocket and other pockets stiched on for compass, emergency cylume , whistle and zips on the pockets .





The hood has a velcro adjuster fitted plus velcro for the fur ruff ,



I long zip for venting ,





SASS used to call them double D ring these were fitted on the kanga pouch ,



Covers over the zips ,



Front finished there is also a double pocket behind the kanga pouch



Onto the fur ruff ,

Stainless steel wire was used to give the ruff some stiffness



Velcro so the ruff can be removed





Hand stiched the fur to the liner



Marrti in Finland supplied the fur some time ago



The finished Snow-Dogs















Time to start thinking about a mothership coat next

thanks for looking

Twodogs

 

[Mesquite]

That's really the dogs sloblocks Cliff

 

[MartinK9]

That is a thing of beauty.

 

[CLEM]

Super impressive work as usual Mr Dogs 👍🏻

 

[bilmo-p5]

Handsome job, Cliff.

 

[TinkyPete]

WOW !!!!!!!!

That is awesome mate

 

[Twodogs]

LINED SURVIVAL BAG ,,

How I see it one of my main problems with being in the snow on the " Vidda " in winter will be wind if my tent blows away it would be good to have a back up ,

At RTI surplus a few weeks ago with K9 and we spotted a US made winter tent liner end section white waterproof rip stop fabric sandwiching a insulating layer ...hmmm

Cost £10 ...



Here is the label and a bit of info



http://www.camelmfg.com/products-ewl.php

So here it is , to get the most out of the fabric its a bit patched but it will work and will make a good floor liner in the tent as well as a safety item .

Its 80" by 38"



I added a couple of zips left from an other project ,



Opened up



Loosely rolled its about karrimat size but will compress a lot smaller



Rocky is putting a piece though extensive testing