Fjällräven Winter Classic 2015

It’s not often I get the urge to do a group event like this. In fact besides Coast 2 Coast Sweden it’s never happened before. I am starting to enjoy the company of other like minded hikers. Or atleast hikers that like being out and enjoying the beautiful landscape – that is after all the most important factor of being outdoors. With that said, I stuck out like a sore thumb on this event. Not too many people who understand the idea of trekking with lighter gear. It’s funny how not wanting to carry 30 kilos on my back makes me the weird one 🙂 In anycase I understand rather quickly why I stood out – during the “courses” the guide suggested we carry more weight as it creates “strength”. (No I am not joking – heavy equipment is the same a good equipment)

I guess there is some kind of logic there – forget about what you have in your pack, just make sure it’s heavy and you will be fine. Of course I have all the respect in the world for the organisers and the structure and everything else, I just find it fun to question the logic. In anycase the trip was a ton of fun and I met a lot of nice people whom I’m sure I will have a lot of contact with in the future.

When I first read about this trip being “only” 30-40 kilometers, and in some cases if your feeling lazy 20 – I couldn’t understand how or why it would be a three day event. One and a half should do. Basically that is what it is a 2 day trip as there are courses and an after hiking party. I can say this much: Don’t be fooled by the distance, these are some serious inclines that take a lot of energy. In other words it was a pain in the ass at times and it really kicked my ass in certain sections. With that said my hiking buddy was carrying closer to 30 kilos on his back (I was carrying the tent and had a lot more clothes on.. more on that later) He made it, with a lot of breaks – but he made it.

You can see from my gear list down below that I wasn’t too focused on ultralight – I simply don’t do enough winter hikes to make the extra investments, at least not this season. My puffy pants for example weigh 550grams, my puffy jacket weighs closer to 500grams and so on. All in all I am very pleased with my equipment and was very warm and felt very safe besides the temperature dropping to around -9 on the first night.

As for my hiking buddy Michael: Not so much. He brought closer to 30 kilos in his bag and I thought it was insane. I told him to leave his tent in my car and we can share my MLD Supermid, which worked out fantastically well. His gear list looked something like this:

Fjällräven Kajka backpack 3,5kilos (great bag for treks to the arctic?)
Older Marmot synthetic sleeping bag 2,1kilos
Sleeping mat self inflating – 1 kilo
Jetboil Sumo – 453grams (granted he did cook a lot of water even for me)
fjällräven parka – 2 kilos maybe 3

Thats just what I remember now a couple weeks later. In anycase what can be said is that he didn’t have a lot with him, in fact I had a lot more clothing and luxories with me… His stuff was just a hell of a lot heavier.

To clear things up, I am not totally against having a heavy pack – I just don’t see the point. To each his own. But What i have realised during my years of hiking is that most people don’t realise there are alternatives to what you can get at your typical outdoor gear shop. What is usually missing is knowledge – and the certainty that lighter gear can mean safer, funner and smarter backpacking. By the way, I do love fjällräven gear – I just wouldn’t use it backpacking.

Now unfortunately because I didn’t take too many notes during the trip I really can’t write too much now so I will just include my gear list to kid you into thinking this post has “substance” and a few pictures 🙂

Total weight excluding consumables and worn clothing including Camera and lenses: 9.55 kilos – 21.05lbs ( keep in mind I was carrying a tent for the both of us 🙂

For more pictures you can check out my flikr page.

Gear List: