Todays topic is about smaller backpacks. The reason for this is that it can be a real jungle to figure out what to chose. First of all you of course need to think about what and how you will use it. From my point it is important if you are going to use it for Winter or summer tours, or for both. Because if it for both you will need a 40L, for just Summer 30L will be enough. So this means a 40L will be good to have and I really don’t like having a lot of stuff ”outside” hanging at the backpack. Next thing to think about is if how much top lid your going to need. With a small solution, you will get more space in the sack, but less stuff possibilities. Today the market can present a number of various of solutions and volume and details adapted to the activity. This one for example is one I use for the ice climbing. It is 35L and perfect for a day on the ice. With good and simple mounts for ice axes, equipment loops and even a compartment for crampons it is perfect and thought out for that particular activity. On the other hand if I want to go for a peak tour with randoneé skis, I would rather chose the Ortovox. This for compartment for the probe and shovel for example. The both mention so far, is technical ones for special usage. For a cabin tour I will have a bigger one with a real good frame for a bit of heavier weight, than this Lundhags will be my choice. This does not have any top lid, but a large pack space and with a frame for heavy weight. I will also mention that a tactical back pack can also be useful. This are often of ”heavy duty” structure, with lots of details and option for pack special equipment in different ways. Ok so now to the question, what to choose. I will recommend a 40-45L ”standard” backpack. this will be the most useable and flexible for all needs. If you get into a special activity, then you can by or borrow a special edition of backpack for that occasion.

Billy Idol – God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Official Audio)

See ya tomorrow…

In Sweden The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for the mountain safety as an authority. Due to that the Mountain safety council has been established.

Background: In the mid 70s it was it a low-key debate about mountain safety. During this period, there was a lot of homemade advice that was given to the general public on the subject. At this period, it was the Swedish Tourist Association and the Swedish outdoor association that somehow managed to keep it reasonably together. In the late 70s there was three significant accident in the mountains. These three accidents were the reason why more and more people asked the question of who really has the overall responsibility for preventing accidents and incidents on the mountain. The government chose to set up an investigation with the task of coming up with proposals on how the leadership should be resolved for mountain safety. The government decision to appoint an inquiry came on 9 March 1978. On 29 May 1979, the Riksdag decided to instruct the government to establish a special authority – the Mountain Safety Council – with the task of being the head of mountain safety issues. Pending the recreation investigation, the authority shall be directly subordinate to the government. The first meeting of the Mountain Safety Council was held on 15 February 1980 at Department of Agriculture. And that is the beginning of the council.

Today: Today The Mountain Safety Council is a part of the The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The member of the council is authorities and county boards and other important functions and other Interest organizations with mountain safety as an important area. The Mountain Safety Council of Sweden Information and protect and prevent from accidents will be the most important function of the board.

När du reser dig

See ya tomorrow…

Todays topic is one of my favorite’s, to find cabins that is seldom visited. Off the beaten track you will find some of the mountains hidden pearls. Todays first cabin will be the Vakkotavare mountain cabin. This is a cabin situated close to the road, but despite that its perfect. placed at the foot of the mountain and embedded in greenery. With a bathing place very close to the water collection point. It is easy to make a day trip up the calf mountain along the Kungsleden directly from the mountain hut. The climb is substantial and you have to expect a little sweat before you get paid for the effort – an almost devotional view of Akkajaure, Sarek and Áhkká’s snow-capped peaks. In Akkajaure, there is good fishing where the rapid has its outlet, just a couple of hundred meters from the cabin. Admittedly an abomination though also feel free to visit the Suorvamagasinet and the dam building which has made this Sweden’s largest regulating reservoir. The next is a specially one at Harads in between of Boden and Jokkmokk. This is the place for arctic experience. Why dont you try a fire and ice retreat?! This is a bit expensive, but I think you never have been in such a place with a number of opportunities  Welcome to Arctic Bath — Hotel, SPA, Cold Bath, Harads, Norrbotten, Swedish Lapland, Sweden

Today I alos will give christmas gift suggestion in the form of a book. This is a quite interesting book about the world war 2 and the activities around the border of Norway and Sweden.

See ya tomorrow…

SANTA

Todays question is quite relevant. What we can see is that the interest of the mountain environment increase over time. The result will be that the environment will be affected and also the locals living at the or close to the mountains. First we have the Sami, who live from reindeer husbandry and hunting and fishing. We also got the locals who also live of hunting fishing and the tourism. Then we got the tourist business who lives of the tourism and also the tourist’s as well. Now you might start to understand the complexity of the the question. The ”new” tourist also have more demands and a bunch of new kind of activities that develops over time. Kiting, mountain biking, trail running, randoneé skiing, climbing, mountaineering and stand up paddle just for mentation a couple of activities. If we look into the problem in detail, it can be like this: At the Blanktjärnarna close to Vålådalen the number of visitors has explode. Between 2014-2018 the number quintupled. The turquoise colored  water might has lost its color for all time…

So is it possible to make everyone satisfied? On one side we got the right of common (Sv. allemansrätten) and on the other side we have all requirements from different traders and the Samis. First of all, for solving the problem it will be a need of understanding, and a will of negotiation from all sides. If one means that no one other should be there it will end the discussion. I also think that all actors need to take there responsibility for making people to move or visit other or less visit places. This by offer alternative to the places that has been to crowded today.  The tourism in Jämtland got 5.5 milj in turnover and gives 4 900 year round works and almost every forth inhabitant in Åre  municipality works in tourist related  business. So my answer will be we all can stay in the mountain environment, but we all have to take responsible for it.

The Mavericks – Santa Wants To Take You For A Ride (Official Music Video)

See ya tomorrow…

We all probably would like to do more adventure and explore more then we are doing in our life. So today I might can get you a bit more closer of being able to do so…So the first question will be -do you really want to spend more time within the outdoor activity? If the answer is yes you can continue to read now:-) First it comes to attitude, you must be willing and to prioritize what you want to do. The next thing will be to plan for what your goal will be. The planning must be realistic due to your situation. My experience is also that (Getvalen Wins shelter, lots of night spend here)

the abbreviation K.I.S.S will be good here: Keep It Simple Stupid. This meaning it will be more  more to focus of the question WHEN rather than Were, What and how. Because when you have set the time plan you can start the other planning. One other experience I got, is that the more people you involve the more komplexibilitet you add. So I think it sometimes it can be an advantage to complete adventures yourself. And as I said before; if you can spend 48 hours with yourself, than you can be all other peoples company:-).  And one more thing, keep up the shape. Always be prepared for all upcoming adventures. This will also keep the cold away as well…

Christmas Eve – YouTube

See ya tomorrow

Being out in the outdoor, the fluid balance will be one of the most important things for the body. The basic advice is to drink about one deciliter every ten to fifteen minutes. Drink more if it’s hot and if the hike is strenuous because you sweat more then. That means about half a liter per hour and it will be a lot to carry. The best is, of course, to find drinking water along the way, but which water do you dare drink? Well, the advice for the Swedish mountains will be if its running clear water. But on the other hand, if you have been Sick to your stomach after drinking water from a stream in the mountains, you will choose to purify your water.

First of all avoid glacier water, cloudy water, smelly water and Salt/brackish water. Today there is a lot of ways of purify the water. The easiest will be to boil the water. Boil it at least 2 minutes with plenty of bubbles. If you don’t can do that use a buff or a piece of cloth to pure the water trough. It is also recommend to bring purification tablets. (if you don’t have any other purifier to bring) all this advice can help you from a disaster during your activity in the mountains. Todays tablets does not have the test of chlorine.

I been written a couple of times about the difference between Technical gear and tactical gear. Here comes a in between boot that I really like. The Lowa Combat Boot MK2 GTX. This is a military boot, but work very good for all type of adventures. With a high shaft and build for hard core, it is really nice.  With a heavy back pack for long hikes or used with snow shoes, it fit perfect and will support you. So this is a really (NNNNN) boot from my perspective. Been used in both warm and cold condition with the same result-nice one.

Pentatonix – Hallelujah (Official Video)

See ya tomorrow…

One of the most important skills you needed in the mountain environment will be the navigation skill. In the summer a ”white out” can be tough to get trough. But in Winter condition it will be really tough to manage. But, here the knowledge and skill should be your partner. In your mind you shall always bear in mind how to develop this skill. Use all possibilities to train it. In the special forces, the mind set is like this: have I been in this situation before or a similar situation. Can I use my experience and knowledge from that. So this is important, the more experience you got, the easier you will be handled new or complex situations. So when it comes to a situation where you are lost, well first thin first. Do not panic, do not rush. Now its time for slow down and do a small research. If the cloud base is rising you can use the window for taking  a bearing. You can now ”back track” where you are with help of the 4 D’s. Distance, duration, direction and description this together with your last known point will help you to figure out your position. You can also figure out if you have passed or observe any distinctive points, such as gully’s or river etc. You can also use the aspect of slope technique as well. So what is that then?

Using slope aspect can be a very useful tool to help you relocate. In its simplest form just use the points of the compass – north, east, south and west – to work out which direction the slope you are on is facing and then look at the map to find the slope which faces this way.

Slope aspect can be used more precisely by taking a bearing of the direction in which the slope faces. Let’s imagine we have become disorientated somewhere within the area shown here.

We know we haven’t gone far and we’re somewhere within this circle of map.

We’ve taken a bearing of the direction in which the slope we are on drops away.

There can be slopes of very different directions all located within a small area. The task is to find out which slope you are.

Let’s assume the bearing we took of the slope on the ground was 30. This would mean that you are looking roughly down the NE aspect of this small knoll. This information should help you plan which way to travel next

So this can also help you out to defined your position

Feliz Navidad Reggae Christmas, Irie Christmas by Marlon Clarke

See ya tomorrow…

The global heating has hit the Mountains, and we can hear about it. When being in the mountain environment the change can not be missed. The world is fighting for the 1,5 temperature target, in the Swedish mountains the target is already missed. In the winter season it is already three degrees more that for forty years ago. During millions of year the plants and animals have adopted, but were the Mountains ends there is no way left. One of the first observation is that after the millennium there has been very few lemming years. The result is that the Barn owl (sv. Fjällugglan) seldom or not breeds.

The small lemmings is the Swedish mountains engine. So how come this? Well, the easiest explanation will be the snow. The snow does not behaves as before, the winter has overall became warmer and with recurring rain. The rain frees and be laying as a crust over the ground. The lemmings use the snow for building passages, and the snow also protect them from cold and predator’s. When there is snow they can use the ”subnival room” to raise several litters in one winter. So when the mountains engine stops, all the others become affected. The barn owl, peregrine falcon the arctic fox will be direct affected but also other birds and due to the fact that predators will hunt them instead of the lemmings. The extreme weather has also been a factor you must count with. In the summer 2018 it was so hot in the mountains as it was hard to find water in same areas. In 2020 the snow layer was 5 meter at Riksgränsen i June. with reindeer calves not surviving, the peregrine falcons missed nesting as a result.

It takes several years for the ice ranunculus to gather enough energy to be able to bloom. But now that the climate is getting warmer, it has nowhere to go. It cannot move higher up. The mountain runs out and the ice ranuncle is out-competed by other plants.

So we really have to take a common responsible for our environment…

Mando Diao – Christmas Could Have Been Good

See ya tomorrow..

One of my favorite place to start from, is Funäsdalen. Situated just below the Funasdalsberget and between the Funasdalssjon and Ljusnan.

The history begun in 1882 when the first boarding house was founded. Today there live 1050 permanent residents. The exciting with the area is that it contains eight different areas Funasdalen, Tanndalen, Ramundberget, Bruksvallarna, Ljusnedal, Masslingen, Mittadalen och Tannas. You will have a lot of options of nice adventures here. Peak tours on skies in untouched mountain environment. I can also suggest a tour towards Andersborg and a evening with alp fondue. In the village you got restaurant’s and coffeeshops so you really don’t need to go hungry. While your in the area I also recommend a tour towards Helags or Storviglen.  Both really nice peak tours.

Sofia Jannok – Ii leat ivdni mus

See ya tomorrow

Todays door is three, and it about the Swedish Mountain Leader standard it will be..

Since the beginning of 2000 the current standard has been used, and not been updated or reviewed. So that’s why the Mountain Leader Council was founded in 2023. Todays standard contains 16 different steps that must be completed in at least 24 days. So now FLR (Mountain Leader Council) together with the educators has started the journey of develop and adept it of todays need and requirements. So how and what will be changed then? Well, that is something the work ahead will result in, but due to sustainability for example it will be a part and also about the environment changes due to ice and winter trails and avalanche parts etc. Is what I can se will be handled. But now I go the event in advance…

The Mountain Leader standard is one out of many parts for the mountain Safety. The history has shown that with a clear ownership and awerness of leading in Mountain environment will be a good platform for safety.

Alice Cooper – Santa Claus is coming to town

See ya soon…