Fjällräven Polar 2023 Expedition: Challenge 2.
Swedish brand Fjällräven’s Polar 2023 300km dog-sledding journey across the Scandinavian Arctic is open to 20 selected participants. For three weeks the applicants are given “challenges” to answer that showcase why the jury should choose them. I’m one of the ones trying and hoping.
In this blog I’ll take you through Challenge 2: how will I prepare for this winter adventure where conditions will be constantly shifting?
“This challenge is about getting closer to nature in your own way. If you earn a spot on Fjällräven Polar, you’ll be living completely on nature’s terms. How close can you get to nature in your ordinary life to prepare for this expedition?”
Ok, so, I live in London. I’m only partially employed (on contract two days a week as a food grower, and the rest freelance self-employed), I no longer drive (and don’t have a car), we’re having unpredictable rail strikes, we’re in a Cost of Living Crisis where there’s uncertainty over bills, and frankly because I’m partially unemployed it is not only difficult financially, but time-wise too, to go gallivanting across to wintery places.
However, resilience comes from extenuating circumstances. You make do with what you have. And we should be living with less anyway, not only to reduce resource use and curb emissions, but because the time may come when we have to survive off only the things we can carry. I’m grateful that so far I have not experienced being homeless or a refugee. Yet, I have still (in a privileged way) put myself in situations where I’ve needed to be resilient, adaptive, calm under pressure.
One of my motivations to applying for this expedition (see the Challenge 1 blog post here) was because I like to test how comfortable I can be in challenging situations. It builds me up mentally because I feel strong, and then I get even more physically strong because I’m pushing myself. So it’s a win-win. It’s also because I like control, and because I like ensuring things are efficient so that everyone is comfortable. It means I’m a good planner (I’m working on being better at boundaries for work life), able to see the start and finish and inbetween bits so that there is control and an action plan.
But this expedition is slightly more involved than going off for an ultra trail run where the course is marked, or being able to come home quite quickly to get warm and clean.
So here are some ways that I would like to prepare, should I be selected. Some things I’d probably do anyway as I’ve gotten into the headspace where it makes sense to stop putting them off.
Embedding discipline back into my life.
Having a full-time job meant that I simply didn’t have the time to not work out in the gym before or after, and I could spend my weekends running or whatever. These days my schedule is fairly unpredictable, I don’t really take a day off (simply because I don’t give myself the structure to do so), and frankly I’ve gotten into the habit of sleeping as much as I need on that given day.
I’ve also been particularly blasé when it comes to training for races; I’ve made it through them, and I’m never in it to race anyway, so no point being so regimented in training.
But this whole lifestyle has gained me a fluctuating 9kg since late 2019. Even though I do still have physical strength, I’ve lost muscle mass and I fatigue much quicker and recover more poorly. I used to go to the gym, work all day in the garden doing heavy maintenance tasks or otherwise be running around a shop floor lifting rolls of fabric, then do another type of workout in the evening. I felt strong physically, and that made me feel strong mentally.
I am goal-oriented, though my work-life balance is so intermingled - because my work is my life - that I’ve fallen into a messy trap of just doing what’s possible on the day or week. Thinking ahead feels too much. And then I don’t train properly, I don’t make proper meals, I don’t recover proficiently when I do work out.
So, really, being selected for this expedition gives an absolute reason to get fit again. Yes I know I would be able to endure - and maybe the additional fat is useful anyway? - partly because I do work all day in a garden pushing and bending and lifting where it’s cold or wet or way too hot, and partially because I have had so much time on legs running ultras. But it goes back to feeling mentally and emotionally strong. I want to feel without a doubt confident in my abilities, not only so that I’m more comfortable, but so that I can look after other folk (and the dogs) too.
Building discipline with:
⇾ having a bedtime routine that allows me to get up early and strong to start the day with movement.
⇾ continuing with cold water swimming through the winter, sans wetsuit for as long as possible.
⇾ not shrugging off the gym as more hassle, because working out at home simply isn’t the same.
⇾ getting my body full of nutrition (which does involve getting a nutritionist due to gastric issues).
⇾ running, so that even if I don’t have races, it’s still perfect for cardio endurance.
⇾ journalling so that I’m properly keeping track each day rather than remembering six days later to chart.
Images: 1. easing into the day with movement of some sort and ensuring there’s a range (this one is getting back into bouldering); 2. open cold water swimming at the West Reservoir Centre; 3. enjoying the accomplishment of warrior 3 movement on a Bosu in my local gym; 4. home-grown organic winter salad mix; 5. getting into the forest for running (with friends so there is accountability); 6. journalling, whether that’s reflections, planning or recording notes, but all to have awareness.
Getting close to nature.
I had fun making a reel about getting close to nature in my ordinary life. As a gardener I’m always finding toads, frogs jump out of salad leaves, the fox makes an appearance (including the one sleeping in my garden), I love a pomeranian or chow chow, insects will crop up, spiders will freak me out, and there’s always chatter with the birds.
Wildlife was actually a big worry of mine, before I started camping, before I became a gardener. Slowly I’ve built up an enjoyment of being surrounded by all sorts of beings - though I still don’t want a mouse in my house no matter how cute it is, and I’ll never not find maggots the creepiest.
Taking myself into the outside has given me the opportunity to make connections. Growing up I had a hamster (and someone else’s hamster) but they died without love. I simply didn’t know how to nurture. I have a great time everyday now seeing what the garden, the urban environment, and the countryside can teach me - about the beings themselves, yet also about myself in overcoming what I was never really taught to do or given experience in. I even swam in the sea where purple jellyfish were.
Next step is Borrow My Doggy. I’ve gotten better with being close to dogs, too, but there is still trauma there from being attacked as a five-year-old by my neighbour’s bichon frisé, and as a fifteen-year-old by a drug-induced alsatian. I’m also going to include here getting whiplashed from two pointers on a split lead at the starting line of a trail race. So getting close to nature in terms of being out in the elements I don’t feel phased by at all. Again, being a gardener means I get it all and still have to work through it. But being comfortable around large excitable shouting dogs, who I essentially have to rely on, is quite something else.
Preparing for getting close to nature with:
⇾ Facing a discomfort and borderline fear of big and yappy dogs.
⇾ Continuing to chat with all the wildlife, plants, moons, stars, planets.
⇾ Embracing winter (as if I have a choice with my work).
⇾ Being a gardener and not complaining that I’m cold or wet and just getting on with it.
Images: 1. Martha is a soft soul, but being comfortable anyway with approaching a dog and asking for permission to enter their space to give them some care and attention; 2. lichen on a brand in a SSSI in the Lake District; 3. a frog in stand-up stealth mode amidst winter salad leaves; 4. Helvellyn range including Red Tarn from the summit in a snowy March; 5. being a gardener in winter doing maintenance work on a bed.
Being confident with winter skills.
I’ve tried a few times to do a winter skills course, but I’ve either broken my ankle or there’s been train cancellations. So I’ve only experienced harshy snowy conditions I believe 5 times - and 2 of those occasions were simply a patch of snow in a cold spot of a mountain. I’ve never used crampons, or an ice axe, or worn snow shoes. I’ve never skied - not even fake skiing - because at school when we went to the dry ski slope it was either one ski run or unlimited bum-boarding. I grew up in the North East of England in a place close enough to the sea that meant the climate was fairly mild and snow wouldn’t last too long, and now I’ve lived in London for 13 years where snow isn’t even allowed.
A way I’d really like to prepare then is by booking onto winter skills courses in a place where it does get snowy - Lake District, Cairngorms or the Pennines. No way can I afford to go overseas (and I’ve already mentioned in my “motivations” that I’d consider my environmental footprint of flying, which I haven’t done in 10+ years). And actually, we wouldn’t be mountaineering in this expedition but going overland, so being comfortable with the basics of winter skills is what I would focus on: walking in deep snow, arresting, moving in lots of layers, using snow shoes/skis, navigating in the fog, considering your teammate, keeping hydrated, how to urinate.
I would also find it useful camping out somewhere over winter. I’ve camped in cold temperatures, though never in the snow, and never with specific knowledge (like I gained from this Fjällräven video on how to prepare your tent for a winter camp). As one night of the expedition is camping open, there’s a discomfort around this. I like being in a tent so that I’m not crawled on by animals (see point above where I don’t want a mouse in my house, same for a tent, and I have experienced this). I wouldn’t go solo bivvy in winter, that seems unsafe for many reasons, but perhaps there are groups who would go out, like Adventure Queens.
And continuing with winter swimming comes in here too, because that would aid in breathing. It would also give me greater awareness of my body in cold situations; watching out for signs of hypothermia, recognising my breathing patterns, the time it takes me to get warm, what foods and drinks I need to recuperate.
Lastly, I want to be able to build a fire without someone else getting involved. Though I know the premise of building and maintaining a fire, I’ve never actually done it myself. And that’s ridiculous for someone who goes out running or hiking alone around mountains and moorland.
Becoming confident with winter skills by:
⇾ Continuing winter swimming so that I both experience harsh temperatures while building further awareness of my body in such extreme cold; safety for me and for others.
⇾ Building a fire (or a few) on my own.
⇾ Attending winter skills courses in snowy mountainous areas of the UK.
⇾ Camping overnight during deep winter, either bivvy in a group or a solo camp.
Images: 1. Suzanna Cruickshank winter swimming in the Lake District; 2. a roaring fire (not built by me); 3. a Cairngorms winter skiing/overland course; 4. a Lake District winter skills course; 5. micro-adventurer Karl Wait winter camping in the Cheviot Hills.
The Cost of Living Crisis.
I also had a thought that the cost of energy would probably help me prepare, because I’m not going to be able to put the heating on. I live in a single-glazed house that gets condensation so moist clothes don’t even dry. I made a reel where I dress in a bunch of clothes as a statement for this, and while posting it realised that it’s also a comment on how much we need or don’t need to survive - something I mentioned in my “motivations” regarding interest in materials for Arctic winter.
It’s quite ridiculous that a lot of our warm clothes come from synthetics, which are made from oil, which is expensive because of a war, which fuels an energy crisis, where we consequently have to put on all our clothing because we can’t afford heat. I do own a lot of wool garments and accessories, but it isn’t always windproof and it isn’t fully waterproof. Buy preloved everyone!