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Notes:
 Tent:
It is a good idea to prepare your tent
before departure. The tent should be
semi-assembled, folded on top of your sled as you
travel and you’ll be able to pitch it in minutes,
which is very helpful in a snow blizzard. Tape
your tent poles in position with electrical or
duct tape so they don’t slip out of the tunnels.
Tie the snow flukes (4-6 pcs) permanently to the
lines. Attach a 4 m long and 4 mm thick line to
the windward front of the tent with a loop at the
end for fast attachment in a ski or a sled.
Attach big handles to the zippers. You’ll need
snow flaps for Antarctica, but not for the
Arctic.
Anchor the tent with skis and poles. A tunnel
tent with a large abside work best for
 Antarctica, but several expeditions have been
using dome tents.
Sled:
Round the edges of the runners with a
file (only NP). Tape the pulling lines where they
make contact with the sled. Check the cover (not
too short as you will top load high). The cover
should have strong Velcro. Bungee cords to strap
over the entire sled after it’s packed, to
prevent stuff from falling out when the sled
turns over.
 SP: 210 cm long. NP: Two sleds; 210 cm + 150 cm,
leave the small one behind. Scratches on the
runners could add many kilos to the perceived
load. Protect runners carefully. The North Pole
sled should float, and you need to water proof
the pull line holes. Antarctica sleds should be
as light as possible and low. Arctic sleds need
to be more torpedo shaped to twist through ice
rubble. The Arctic sled needs to be extremely
durable and strong.
Harness:
A few people use full body harness. We
used waist harness from Acapulka and a
lightweight backpack. Pull in a waist harness (or
for Antarctica; straight from the back pack).
Pulling system:
Two separate pulling lines with
end carabiners hooks up to your harness. The
pulling line should be 2,5-4 meters long, light
twinned plastic, and 7-8 mm thick for the North
Pole. At Antarctica the pulling line could be
longer – up to 7 meter – but 3-4 meter works
fine. The lines could be crossed to give a more
defined pulling force, or separated to pull the
sled through rubble.
At Antarctica you could use bungy cord tied in to
the rope to make your pull more dynamic. Take a
3-4 mm cord and fold it 4-6 times. Tie of loops
with electrical tape in both ends of the fold.
When folded the cord should be app. 1 meter. Put
one end of the fold in the pulling carabiner. Now
tie a knot on the regular pulling rope app 65 cm
down the rope from the pulling carabiner. Hook
the other end of the bungy cord into this knot.
You will now pull from the folded bungy cord,
except when the sled gets stuck and the cord will
get help from the rope.
Skip the rubber cord for the North Pole. Make
instead several stop knots at the pulling line
 for easy pull over ridges.
Skis, bindings and poles:
There are variations but the
binding listed (3 pin) have proven very
successful. We didn’t brake one single binding or
ski in three +60 day polar expeditions. Beware of
other types of shoes, bindings and skis as they
break very easily.
Asnes skis from Norway are used by most of the
expeditions. Length NP - 180 cm. SP - 180-200 cm.
Attaching skins to the skis: Clean with acetone
or the equivalent, sandpaper slightly, glue on
with super glue (or skin glue) and screw in place
with flathead screws. A hatch should fit the skin
to the front part of the ski. Remove (cut off)
part of the front and end of skins at
Antarctica’s last degree and around mid April at
the North Pole.
The ski poles should be sawed to fit your height;
they should end below your heart level to prevent
low blood circulation in the hands and subsequent
frostbite. Attach enlarged handles and reinforce
the handles by taping them over.
Mark skis, ski poles and other stuff with bands
of differing colors if members of expedition use
identical brands and gear.
 Dry suit (NP):
Helly Hansen Norway custom made.
Order in time and try it in water, the suits
occasionally leak water.
Shoes:
The Mordre Alfa Extreme shoes might look a
bit vintage as they are a reproduction of
Amundsens shoes, but they do their job. The shoe
soles sometimes cracks up on travel. This is best
avoided by using cable bindings. Check the soles
daily! Should a crack occur, mend immediately
with super glue (or sow with a thick needle and
parachute thread). The woolen socks “Katanker”
that come with those shoes will get worn fast,
patch them over the heel with some skin or goretex fabric before the expedition. Bring a
spare patched pair. Sturdy grocery store plastic
bags will multi function to store your daily food
portions and then as vapor barriers between the
sock liner and the other socks when on travel.
Instead of this arrangement you can also use
vapor barriers – bring two pairs.
 Foot system:
The arrangement is as follows: Thin Polyprene sock (coolmax), Vapor barrier, Wool
sock, Katanker, Shoe, Gator. Fixate the gator to
the shoe (all around, just above the sole) with
Velcro. The gator need to be custom made. RAB
Bivouac shoes for camp.
Clothes system:
South Pole
2 thin wool/synthetic inner layers. 1 medium
wool/synthetic middle layer “Ullfrotte”. Middle
weight Fleece layer for camp. Gore tech Shell
pants and jacket. Oversized thick Down jacket and
oversized down west. Attach wolverine or wolf
skin to shell jacket hood (inside brim).
Head: Thin fleece balaclava. Neoprene face mask.
Scott (off road bikers) goggles and face
 mask.
Turbo flow lens, color of lens yellow. Sunglasses
with UV glaze and side cover. Wind proof fleece
hat with ear flaps. Hood with fur, reinforce hood
by the ear section.
Hands: Fleece wrist band. Extremities thin finger
glove. Wool finger glove with cut off tips. Wool
or thick fleece mittens. Gore tech shell.
North Pole
1 thick and one thin layer of Brynje
underwear top and bottom. I medium weight fleece
middle layer. Marmot Armstrong stretch jacket and
pants outer shells. Heavy weight oversized
synthetic west and jacket. No need for hood skin.
Head: Thin fleece or polyprene balaclava. Scott
goggles, no lens. Attach neoprene loosely to
goggles for face cover. (Matti at Northwind
customizes. LINK Hat and hood.
Hands: Make fleece wrist bands by cutting off the
hand part of some warm, high gloves. Much heat is
lost from your wrists and they need extra
protection. Extremities finger gloves. Fleece or
wool mittens. Cotton or breathable custom made
outer mittens. Goretex will ice up.
Sleeping bag:
SP: Heavy weight extra long down (Marmot).
NP: Heavy weight extra long synthetic (Ajungelak
or North Face).
Sleeping system for the North Pole:
Vapor barrier attached to inside Sleeping bag.
Another Vapor barrier outside sleeping bag. Big
fiber outside Fleece cover. Nylon cover. (Sjur
Mordre customizes). Remove fleece cover mid
April.
Sleeping pads:
SP: Three thick extra long ridge rest and two
heavy weight Thermarest (between 2 people).
NP: 4 Thick extra long ridge rest and 2 thin
ridge rest (between two people). Place cross each
other, bottom layer diagonal, top layer
horizontal.
Kitchen:
It’s a good idea to have a sturdy, light
plastic container for the kitchen gear at the
South Pole. Store burners attached to fuel
bottles, a plywood base to go under the burners
(so they don’t melt through the ice or tent
floor), the pots, mugs, brush, oil, spices and
other kitchen stuff. In a blizzard it’s very
convenient to just lift the entire kitchen box
out of the sled. Fixate the stuff in place with
the plywood base as a lid, held in place by
bungee/shock cord.
The North Pole doesn’t suffer the blizzards of
Antarctica and you’ll carry the kitchen stuff in
thin bags to save weight. Protect burners by
storing them inside the pots, lids secured in
place with thin bungee cord.
Pots and utensiles:
 Titanium pots with lids that double for
plate. Titanium spork. Lightweight plastic
thermos mugs. Dish brush (cut of handle) for
scraping of dishes with snow. Several pot
handlers. Heat exchangers (modified for larger
pot) use only for SP. NP use windshield. Several
Thermoses and water bottles. Pee bottle cross
marked with black tape (permanent marker pen
fades).
Burner and fuel:
You might experience problems
with the burner if you don’t clean it out
regularly. Be sure to shake the burner after each
usage and bring spare parts. In severe cold, the
burner can be stripped down to the essential part
(burner and nozzle) and extra preheated before
igniting by warming it over a metal cup holding a
small amount of burning fuel. Essential procedure
for the North Pole.
 As you gain altitude at the South Pole, it will
be important to ventilate well while cooking as
the lack of oxygen in the air will affect the
fuel’s burning ability.
The fuel consumption will vary with the cold. In
extreme cold you can count on using up to two
liters of fuel a day on a two person expedition,
whilst a few hundred of centiliters will be
enough for warmer temperatures. Keep that in mind
at the beginning of the expedition, as you will
travel into cold on Antarctica as opposite to the
North Pole.
Bring at least 30-32 liters for Antarctica and
45-50 liters for the Arctic (2 person
expedition). It will be enough but only if you
are extremely strict with consumption. The weight
of one liter of white gas is 700 gr.
Store fuel away from food and carry it in fuel
bottles and plastic containers. The metal fuel
canisters provided by the operators have cracked
open on several expeditions, contaminating the
food. To carry the fuel all divided in fuel
bottles is too heavy. The optimal is to carry 8
Titanium MSR 0.7 liters bottles filled up and the
rest in 5 liter (cold rated!) plastic containers.
Check gas stations for good fuel canisters. Bring
a funnel to help filling up between container and
bottle. Never allow fuel to touch your skin in
severe cold as it causes frostbite.
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