Some thoughts on selecting clothing for subarctic climate

[Martti]

Are snowmobiles superior? They are noisy, require fuel/servicing and and cost in the thousands. Skiis cost in the low hundreds and I've never broken a pair. A more realistic comparison would be the old fashioned skiis with single cordage bindings:

Maybe not for an average trekker but the reindeer herders tend to think so as they have all switched from skis to machines. It is more cost effective from them and enables them to have more reindeers. I bet you are referring to modern plastic or fiberglass skis as you said you've never broke a pair of skis. Personally I mostly do not use skis (modern or traditional) but snowshoes which also have their small niche in Finland.

 

[susi]

Personally I mostly do not use skis (modern or traditional) but snowshoes which also have their small niche in Finland.

We're on common ground there I also prefer snowshoes (modern ones I should add). In the right conditions they're great fun. The only thing to avoid is forest that has been thinned of small trees, as the snowshoes get tangled in the branches and sticks.

 

[Martti]

The Finnish sissitakki or sissi coat (officially "overcoat, sissi-") is rather interesting piece of clothing that I would like to own. It is a knee-length coat first used in 1983 or 1984 in the easternmost and northernmost units. It is to be used while resting or even when sleeping without a sleeping bag. The shell is made out of polyurethane treated 5 oz 50 % CO and 50 % PE ripstop fabric (see the swatch) printed in m/62 or m/91 camouflage. The reverse side is white. Inside the shell is polyester wadding.

The coat has two slanted pockets, a hood and the coat length can be shortened to 3/4 length with snap fasteners. Issued but unused coats are not available and a used one will fetch around 100 €, if available. There is a seamstress in Eastern Finland who manufacturers copies of them with her own pattern. I have no idea how much would one cost from her.

A fabric swatch from the shell.

A copy of the coat from the seamstress I mentioned.

Used one from Swat-Team online store.

 

[Martti]

I found a great review of traditional and modern winter footwear from an old Finnish Partio magazine printed in 1964. Each pair of footwear was tested for waterproofness, amount of insulation and the other qualities (fit, price etc.) were evaluated by the authors. The footwear they tested wear plastic, rubber and leather boots, rubber-tipped leather boots, leather-tipped wool felt boots, three different sets of traditional Finnish "moccasins" and a pair of rubber sneakers. Apart from their durability, the "moccasins" fared the best. They were followed by the felt boots, rubber-tipped leather boots and rubber boots and lastly by plastic boots.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Goodness! As a wyrd-wool-worker the one thing I've never been into is felt, you've given me a reason to try felting! These boots no good in the wet presumably or can you nikwax them or summat?

 

[Martti]

These boots no good in the wet presumably or can you nikwax them or summat?

As I wrote on the first few pages on this thread, they are not recommended to be used when the temperature is closer to zero than minus ten degrees centigrade. I know only a few manufacturers who still manufacture them, either from felt or quilted wool fabric.

 

[Martti]

Double post.