Afterthought

The first few days of this ski tour was a bit of a shock to me.

It wasn't the cold, but the fact how much energy, effort and time even simplest things take. Sleeping one night in a tent in winter cannot really prepare you for what it requires to keep going for five straight days in freezing conditions.

The tent can be and will be hard to set up with gloves on and in heavy winter clothes even if you know your tent inside out and have set it up hundreds of times.

You wanna pee? Well start first by thinking which gloves you will still have at your hand. Can't take them off.

You sure that with the amount of clothes you have on you are able to squat? Or get up from squatting?

Don't leave peeing to the last moment and don't plan too long or you might pee your pants. 😄

Wanna remove skis? Well are you really sure that with heavy winter clothes you are actually able to reach the ski bindings?

Cannot really remove gloves off at all because it's really hard to warm the hands again. Try to live five days with gloves on and see how easy it is.

The amount of time and effort it takes to melt water from snow is just crazy. Also as you need to cook lunch ready in the morning it's an extra effort.

Washing dishes is never fun, but in freezing conditions it's a nightmare. Try to wash dishes so that you don't get your gloves wet.

The list just goes on and on. I've participated in several winter hiking courses and I've heard and read all above several times in advance, but still actually experiencing it for the first time was a bit of a shock.

But of course people are good at adjusting to changing situations and so did I after a few days of being out there and especially now after a few days from the end of my first ever ski tour I wanna go again! And I definitely will!

I'm pleased with my equipment. There wasn't a moment where I was really cold and I still had clothes in reserve to wear that would have been even warmer. So I'm definitely confident in my clothes and sleeping bags.

The one thing that I will definitely need before next ski tour is a bigger winter tent. My current tent is really good for Spring, Summer and Autumn but for winter it's really poor even when rated for winter.

I knew this in advance and our guide gave me permission to use it even when far from optimal.

The problem is that it's small and bulky winter sleeping bags and jackets are in constant contact with the tent walls from where they suck moisture. The end result is that they start to lose insulation quality and it's just not nice that everything is wet in the morning. Then you go outside and the moisture freezes. I could actually feel ice inside my heavy winter jacket!

For the next time!Read more