The Fiery Pants of Shame - Norwegian holiday/Arctic course report.
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Sounds good....
The course will have almost as many written accounts as 'Bravo Two Zero'.....
I may head over to interview the Norwegian Locals is a few years and then publish another account called the "Real BCUK Arctic course 2012".
The course will have almost as many written accounts as 'Bravo Two Zero'.....
I may head over to interview the Norwegian Locals is a few years and then publish another account called the "Real BCUK Arctic course 2012".
Ok point taken.....I may wait until the current media interest dies down and start with the local fishermen... You cannot have upset them that much.....
Ok point taken.....I may wait until the current media interest dies down and start with the local fishermen... You cannot have upset them that much.....
Wouldn't be to sure about that; if someone half filled my new 'longdrop' and used all the bog roll I wouldn't be best pleased...
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Ha, I knew there had to be more to that trip than the northern lights and worn pulk runners.....
With a deed a henious as filling another mans long drop I'm surprised you boys are planning a return trip...
With a deed a henious as filling another mans long drop I'm surprised you boys are planning a return trip...
I'd assumed it an homage to Pete :yikes:
I don't think Pete was alone from what he told me
It must have been cosy in there! :yikes:I don't think Pete was alone from what he told me
You'll soon be able to relive those memories, I'll be posting the story before the morning.
With snow and 'new to science' lifeforms blowing out of the toilet, the ol' nether regions didn't think so!
So where to start? Best to start at the beginning I suppose. As soon as I saw the course dates published I booked my leave at work. I then started to review my kit, as a winter mountaineer I had most of the kit needed but that didn't stop me from buying more kit.
As soon as I had my final kit choice sorted I learnt that the first week's course was cancelled. I needed to fill the time with suitable activities so I asked other attendees about their plans in the hope that something could be planned. This was like herding cats so I booked a week's skiing instead. This meant that I had to take kit that would be suitable for skiing and the advanced course. This is the kit I ended up taking:-
Sleeping kit - I replaced my RidgeRest kipmat with an Expedown 7 mat. The downmats had proved popular on previous courses. My dual sleeping bag system comprised of a PHD Baltoro 800 and a PHD Minim 500 bag. A 3/4 length inflatable mat plus a sheet of 3mm kipmat foam was also packed. Bivibag was a 15 year old Army MVP bag.
Initial sleep system
Updated system with downmat inside bivi. A tight fit.
Sleeping kit in stuffsacks
My boots were Chippewa Arctic boots however I tended to use the Sorel Cariboo as the snow was wet.
Socks were mainly Bridgedale, thin socks were various makes of merino wool.
Some socks were a size larger than normal as they were to be worn over thick socks.
Cooking kit was a Primus Omnifuel and an Evernew meths stove as backup. Food was 3x compo meals per day plus dried food as a backup.
My pot was a Primus Etapower 1.2L.
Main knife was a Mora, penknife didn't get used and the folding saw was replaced with a Bahco 21" saw. The UCO candle holder was a pleasant surprise and now a trusted bit of kit.
The small axe was replaced with a 2lb/18" splitting axe that I made. It was an effective splitter but a trifle unweildly
From my selection of trousers I took my Paramo Aspira salopettes and Brenig fleece/pile salopettes. It wasn't cold enough for the Brenigs so I lived in the Aspira for 2 weeks.
Merino tops were used for the course, synthetic tops for skiing.
Can't have too many pairs of glasses.
Buffalo mitts were great, the only gloves I took were leather Soldier 95 gloves.
The final selection of upper body kit included the Buffalo shirt and the Buffalo Arctic Parka, a 600gm Woolpower jacket and a merino/possum pullover. Waterproof top was a Paramo smock.
The kit was fitted into a Pod Xpod sack (80L) and a 70L holdall. Handluggage was a 40L Pod Alpine sack.
The rucksack was carried in a large tote sack as some airlines don't like rucksacks.
I wore a lot of kit too, but not the Buffalo Superbag which got left behind.
More later...
As soon as I had my final kit choice sorted I learnt that the first week's course was cancelled. I needed to fill the time with suitable activities so I asked other attendees about their plans in the hope that something could be planned. This was like herding cats so I booked a week's skiing instead. This meant that I had to take kit that would be suitable for skiing and the advanced course. This is the kit I ended up taking:-
Sleeping kit - I replaced my RidgeRest kipmat with an Expedown 7 mat. The downmats had proved popular on previous courses. My dual sleeping bag system comprised of a PHD Baltoro 800 and a PHD Minim 500 bag. A 3/4 length inflatable mat plus a sheet of 3mm kipmat foam was also packed. Bivibag was a 15 year old Army MVP bag.
Initial sleep system
Updated system with downmat inside bivi. A tight fit.
Sleeping kit in stuffsacks
My boots were Chippewa Arctic boots however I tended to use the Sorel Cariboo as the snow was wet.
Socks were mainly Bridgedale, thin socks were various makes of merino wool.
Some socks were a size larger than normal as they were to be worn over thick socks.
Cooking kit was a Primus Omnifuel and an Evernew meths stove as backup. Food was 3x compo meals per day plus dried food as a backup.
My pot was a Primus Etapower 1.2L.
Main knife was a Mora, penknife didn't get used and the folding saw was replaced with a Bahco 21" saw. The UCO candle holder was a pleasant surprise and now a trusted bit of kit.
The small axe was replaced with a 2lb/18" splitting axe that I made. It was an effective splitter but a trifle unweildly
From my selection of trousers I took my Paramo Aspira salopettes and Brenig fleece/pile salopettes. It wasn't cold enough for the Brenigs so I lived in the Aspira for 2 weeks.
Merino tops were used for the course, synthetic tops for skiing.
Can't have too many pairs of glasses.
Buffalo mitts were great, the only gloves I took were leather Soldier 95 gloves.
The final selection of upper body kit included the Buffalo shirt and the Buffalo Arctic Parka, a 600gm Woolpower jacket and a merino/possum pullover. Waterproof top was a Paramo smock.
The kit was fitted into a Pod Xpod sack (80L) and a 70L holdall. Handluggage was a 40L Pod Alpine sack.
The rucksack was carried in a large tote sack as some airlines don't like rucksacks.
I wore a lot of kit too, but not the Buffalo Superbag which got left behind.
More later...
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I arrived in Oslo on Thursday 1st March. I was booked into the Raddison hotel for 2 nights. Due to the high prices of food I had a duty-free supper.
Drambuie, Haribo and chocolate for supper, the food of kings.
On the Friday I purchased an Oslo Pass which permits free or discounted entrance to museums and allows travel on public transport. First I went to the Viking Ship Museum.
The museum houses 3 ofthe best preserved longboats.
Viking knife and plate
Wayland's next pulk
Next door to the boat museum is the Norwegian Folk Museum which has a large open air site with traditional buildings
Birch bark is used for weatherproofing
Don't think they've got the hang of the wheel yet!
Old petrol station
Farmhouse interior
Inside the museum is a nice selection of axes
A couple of old knives
Drambuie, Haribo and chocolate for supper, the food of kings.
On the Friday I purchased an Oslo Pass which permits free or discounted entrance to museums and allows travel on public transport. First I went to the Viking Ship Museum.
The museum houses 3 ofthe best preserved longboats.
Viking knife and plate
Wayland's next pulk
Next door to the boat museum is the Norwegian Folk Museum which has a large open air site with traditional buildings
Birch bark is used for weatherproofing
Don't think they've got the hang of the wheel yet!
Old petrol station
Farmhouse interior
Inside the museum is a nice selection of axes
A couple of old knives
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Inside the museum was a load of old clothes, much like those that Wayland wears:
Felt hat
Thermals
Carving features heavily in Norway
Views from inside a Norwegian house of the 1950's (reminds me of Wales in the 1980s)
Village gunsmith display
Felt hat
Thermals
Carving features heavily in Norway
Views from inside a Norwegian house of the 1950's (reminds me of Wales in the 1980s)
Village gunsmith display
On Saturday I travelled to a X-country skiing area north of Lillehammer:
The start of a day's skiing
The end of a day's skiing
A summer house
Skiing in the woods
On the Thursday the weather turned nasty so we went snowshoeing. Nuturally somebody went **** over tit
We shoed out to this waterfall
At the end of the day I was knackered, snowshoes are what you use to wear when you need to fetch your skis from the garden shed.
So after a weeks skiing I returned to the hotel in Oslo via Lillehammer
Lillehammer
I had a few hours to kill so I sorted my kit to suit the next week's relatively warm weather conditions i.e. I substituted cold weather gear for waterproofs.
One last kit sort-out, from this
to this. The yellow holdall was left in storage at the airport for the week.
Later that night I met C da C at the airport. After dropping his bags off in the room we went back to the airport looking for food. We also went looking for more course members. We eventually found Ted, or more accurately, he found us. We had spotted him earlier but he was sitting next to a dude in jeans and a leather jacket (not course clothing) and we thought that they were a 'pair' so decided that he probably wasn't a BCUKer. Ted obviously realised that Chris and I were dressed for the course so he came over and asked if we were on the course. We set off together looking for (cheap) food but realised that this was a fruitless task so we bought some crisps and went back to the hotel, 3 of us in a double room.
We feasted on crisps and Drambuie.
The 3 of us Chris, Bob, Ted; Chris and I were ming monged
The start of a day's skiing
The end of a day's skiing
A summer house
Skiing in the woods
On the Thursday the weather turned nasty so we went snowshoeing. Nuturally somebody went **** over tit
We shoed out to this waterfall
At the end of the day I was knackered, snowshoes are what you use to wear when you need to fetch your skis from the garden shed.
So after a weeks skiing I returned to the hotel in Oslo via Lillehammer
Lillehammer
I had a few hours to kill so I sorted my kit to suit the next week's relatively warm weather conditions i.e. I substituted cold weather gear for waterproofs.
One last kit sort-out, from this
to this. The yellow holdall was left in storage at the airport for the week.
Later that night I met C da C at the airport. After dropping his bags off in the room we went back to the airport looking for food. We also went looking for more course members. We eventually found Ted, or more accurately, he found us. We had spotted him earlier but he was sitting next to a dude in jeans and a leather jacket (not course clothing) and we thought that they were a 'pair' so decided that he probably wasn't a BCUKer. Ted obviously realised that Chris and I were dressed for the course so he came over and asked if we were on the course. We set off together looking for (cheap) food but realised that this was a fruitless task so we bought some crisps and went back to the hotel, 3 of us in a double room.
We feasted on crisps and Drambuie.
The 3 of us Chris, Bob, Ted; Chris and I were ming monged
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After 4 hours kip we arose, had breakfast the went back to the airport for our flight to Bardufoss.
Bardufoss Airport, a military base.
We arrived in Bardufoss before midday on a flight that was full of soldiers. Apparently there was a military exercise happening. The course members got together for the first time at the arrivals lounge, our kit was placed in a van and we boarded a bus for the training area. 40 minutes later we debused in the training area at Odd Knut's farm.
The Firehouse
Adam gets a brew on
Dumping gear in the firehouse
Pete having a brew and sorting his kit
The fire in the firehouse
Once we got together we realised that there were only 10 of us, Greg was not there and he has not posted on the forum since late last year.
We were all expecting to have an easy day sorting our kit and having a chin wag and numerous cups of tea however things turned out differently. After having a brew we went across the farm to an area with 3 pointy tents. We made the flooring for the tents out of fir branches and twigs from beech trees. It took forever.
Chris and Gary strip the branches off a pine tree
Ian prepares some beech twigs for his frosty tent
Me in the pointy tent
Here you see the thickness of the twiggy flooring, it was about half this thick in the bit of the tent I was 'allocated'.
Chris Da Cat strikes a pose outside the tent
Chris sitting by the fire near the pointy tents, Ted is standing, Fun Boy Three in the background.
A somewhat pensive C Da C
We went back to the firehouse were we had lectures on kit, rucksack packing and a few other subjects too. After being briefed on what to pack and what to leave behind we made our final kit selection. All our selected kit had to be hauled up the road to the final training area so we were quite ruthless in leaving kit behind to save on weight. We then had our evening meal.
Me looking really happy having my first of 20 rat packs that week. Though expensive, rat packs are still cheaper than shopping in Norway.
After tea, Woody took us shopping to the local supermarket. As Norway is a Catholic country we found the shops closed bar one small corner shop which sold meths and moose sausage. We returned to the camp with our meagre haul.
That's the end of my night shift, I'm going home (via the gym). More later including the Fiery Pants of Shame...
Bardufoss Airport, a military base.
We arrived in Bardufoss before midday on a flight that was full of soldiers. Apparently there was a military exercise happening. The course members got together for the first time at the arrivals lounge, our kit was placed in a van and we boarded a bus for the training area. 40 minutes later we debused in the training area at Odd Knut's farm.
The Firehouse
Adam gets a brew on
Dumping gear in the firehouse
Pete having a brew and sorting his kit
The fire in the firehouse
Once we got together we realised that there were only 10 of us, Greg was not there and he has not posted on the forum since late last year.
We were all expecting to have an easy day sorting our kit and having a chin wag and numerous cups of tea however things turned out differently. After having a brew we went across the farm to an area with 3 pointy tents. We made the flooring for the tents out of fir branches and twigs from beech trees. It took forever.
Chris and Gary strip the branches off a pine tree
Ian prepares some beech twigs for his frosty tent
Me in the pointy tent
Here you see the thickness of the twiggy flooring, it was about half this thick in the bit of the tent I was 'allocated'.
Chris Da Cat strikes a pose outside the tent
Chris sitting by the fire near the pointy tents, Ted is standing, Fun Boy Three in the background.
A somewhat pensive C Da C
We went back to the firehouse were we had lectures on kit, rucksack packing and a few other subjects too. After being briefed on what to pack and what to leave behind we made our final kit selection. All our selected kit had to be hauled up the road to the final training area so we were quite ruthless in leaving kit behind to save on weight. We then had our evening meal.
Me looking really happy having my first of 20 rat packs that week. Though expensive, rat packs are still cheaper than shopping in Norway.
After tea, Woody took us shopping to the local supermarket. As Norway is a Catholic country we found the shops closed bar one small corner shop which sold meths and moose sausage. We returned to the camp with our meagre haul.
That's the end of my night shift, I'm going home (via the gym). More later including the Fiery Pants of Shame...
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