The mountain fridge, whats that I hear you ask!
During the summer months when there is no snow around and the temperatures are soaring you need somewhere to keep your perishables such as butter, smoked moose salami :), and fish you have caught fresh for a few extra days. How do you do that then?
Its really quite simple. Up in the mountains you are often never too far from bogs and wet areas. The soft ground here is made up of mosses and soft earth. If you dig down 20-40cm without the hole getting filled with water you can use this as a fridge. Keep everything you have dug out next to the hole so you can fill it in again when you leave. Also keep the top layer of moss so you can use it as a lid. Place food (making sure its in a sealed bag) in the hole and cover with the moss lid and hey presto you have a fridge.
How does this work? The water in the bogs and wet areas never really manages to get warm during the summer. Temperatures range from just a few degrees up to maybe 10-15oC depending on where you are. Summer temperatures can reach up to the high 20s, so a fridge like this will make a huge difference to your trip.
Very important tip!! Mark the spot with a stick or stone or something, otherwise you’ll have a hard time finding it again!!
Remember leave no trace that you have been there!
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Monday, 22 August 2011
Fulufjällets Unique Wild Places
Its been a long summer as you may have noticed due to the lack of entries in the blog. Its mostly been work, but what would summer have been without a trip into some wilderness.
I wanted to go somewhere I hadnt been before and somewhere that doesnt take too long to get to. It was an easy decision really, Fulufjällets National Park in Dalarna regions mountains. Its not much of a sight from the main Malung to Idre road as it just pokes up out of the forest.
Fulufjället is known for a few things, its a large platue whith a couple of smaller rounded tops reaching up to 1000m with a number of good fishing lakes at the northern end if you dont mind the hike to get there. Here you can fish for both Arctic Char and Brown Trout, some of which reach impressive sizes if you know how to cath them.
Its also known for having Swedens highest waterfall, Njupeskär (93m) on the eastern slopes just outside the village of Mörkret (The Darkness). Its also got some very interesting geology due to the last ice-age not eroding away the mountain. The ice was frozen fast onto the rock and didnt move, so what you see is from before the last ice age. In fact what you see up on Fulufjället is an old equatriol seabed which is 900 million years old. You can still see the ripples in the sand in some places.
Perhaps the easiest place to access Fulufjället from is the Naturum on the eastern side where there is a large car park. Its only a couple of km walk up past the waterfall before you reach the top after a steep climb. From there there are paths stretching all over the mountain and at the nearest lakes there is accommodation available and boats to rent. This is where most people go to.
What I did was go a bit further, quite a bit actually, I was wanting to find some good fishing. As most people know the best fishing is often in places that other people cant be bothered going to. Thats where I went, even if it was pretty tough going towards the end over some quite marshy ground.
I set up camp on the western side of a good looking lake, collected wood for a fire (yes you are allowed to lights fires in some places in the park) and started fishing, or mostly sitting by the campfire taking in the scenery because I was fishing with worms.
The weather couldnt have been better, it was a fantastic night with little sleep which resulted in some good fishing. A 40cm Char, a 35cm Brown Trout (must be a lot of food for them here, fantastic looking fish) and a slightly smaller Trout (which was still large by my standards). Couldnt have been better. All were taken using a worm on a float.
I didnt have a lot of food with me, just the bare minimum to manage 3 days so the Char being over minimum size ended up in the pot and fed me for a couple of days.
I had minimum kit with me too, all of which fitted into my 65 ltr rucksack.
- 3 season sleeping bag.
- outer shell of my 3 man tunnel tent.
- light weight Primus gas burner and gas.
- a trangia kettle
- trangia frying pan
- one spoon
- my knife
- fishing kit (bare minimum)
- waterproofs
- hat & gloves
- spare socks
- spare warm top and trousers
- first aid kit
- map & compass
- sunglasses and suncream
- string and sliver tape if I needed to make repairs
Day 2 i decided to move and try something new. I spend the day fishing my way along a small river down into the Birch forest. Using worms on a float and a dry fly attached to a float I managed to catch a number of smaller river trout.
From a dry and sunny morning the weather soon turned for the worse with wind and constant rain, wet in other words. The main discovery for the day was that my long serving gore-tex trousers had holes in the knees and let in water, not too good when wading through very wet thigh deep grass.
In all I was really surprised at how wild Fulufjället is considering that’s its easily accessible for a lot of people, but as usual most people don’t go too far from their cars or from marked paths. So its easy to find your own little bit of wilderness.
I wanted to go somewhere I hadnt been before and somewhere that doesnt take too long to get to. It was an easy decision really, Fulufjällets National Park in Dalarna regions mountains. Its not much of a sight from the main Malung to Idre road as it just pokes up out of the forest.
Fulufjället is known for a few things, its a large platue whith a couple of smaller rounded tops reaching up to 1000m with a number of good fishing lakes at the northern end if you dont mind the hike to get there. Here you can fish for both Arctic Char and Brown Trout, some of which reach impressive sizes if you know how to cath them.
Its also known for having Swedens highest waterfall, Njupeskär (93m) on the eastern slopes just outside the village of Mörkret (The Darkness). Its also got some very interesting geology due to the last ice-age not eroding away the mountain. The ice was frozen fast onto the rock and didnt move, so what you see is from before the last ice age. In fact what you see up on Fulufjället is an old equatriol seabed which is 900 million years old. You can still see the ripples in the sand in some places.
Perhaps the easiest place to access Fulufjället from is the Naturum on the eastern side where there is a large car park. Its only a couple of km walk up past the waterfall before you reach the top after a steep climb. From there there are paths stretching all over the mountain and at the nearest lakes there is accommodation available and boats to rent. This is where most people go to.
What I did was go a bit further, quite a bit actually, I was wanting to find some good fishing. As most people know the best fishing is often in places that other people cant be bothered going to. Thats where I went, even if it was pretty tough going towards the end over some quite marshy ground.
I set up camp on the western side of a good looking lake, collected wood for a fire (yes you are allowed to lights fires in some places in the park) and started fishing, or mostly sitting by the campfire taking in the scenery because I was fishing with worms.
The weather couldnt have been better, it was a fantastic night with little sleep which resulted in some good fishing. A 40cm Char, a 35cm Brown Trout (must be a lot of food for them here, fantastic looking fish) and a slightly smaller Trout (which was still large by my standards). Couldnt have been better. All were taken using a worm on a float.
I didnt have a lot of food with me, just the bare minimum to manage 3 days so the Char being over minimum size ended up in the pot and fed me for a couple of days.
I had minimum kit with me too, all of which fitted into my 65 ltr rucksack.
- 3 season sleeping bag.
- outer shell of my 3 man tunnel tent.
- light weight Primus gas burner and gas.
- a trangia kettle
- trangia frying pan
- one spoon
- my knife
- fishing kit (bare minimum)
- waterproofs
- hat & gloves
- spare socks
- spare warm top and trousers
- first aid kit
- map & compass
- sunglasses and suncream
- string and sliver tape if I needed to make repairs
Day 2 i decided to move and try something new. I spend the day fishing my way along a small river down into the Birch forest. Using worms on a float and a dry fly attached to a float I managed to catch a number of smaller river trout.
From a dry and sunny morning the weather soon turned for the worse with wind and constant rain, wet in other words. The main discovery for the day was that my long serving gore-tex trousers had holes in the knees and let in water, not too good when wading through very wet thigh deep grass.
In all I was really surprised at how wild Fulufjället is considering that’s its easily accessible for a lot of people, but as usual most people don’t go too far from their cars or from marked paths. So its easy to find your own little bit of wilderness.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Fire Lighting with Resin
Heres a tip to help get your fire going in difficult conditions.
Where the trunk has been damaged on coniferous trees such as Spruce or Pine thick resin starts to leak out. The hardened resin burns very well even in damp conditions once you get it burning.
You can normally pull bits off and store them in your fire lighting kit for later use. Its an excellent backup. In this case the resin is on a log which has been chopped up. Theres a lot of resin which can easily be chopped away with an axe.
Its the volatile terpenes (turpentine to you and me) in the resin which makes it burn so well. But try not to breath in the smoke as it probably isnt that good for you.
Where the trunk has been damaged on coniferous trees such as Spruce or Pine thick resin starts to leak out. The hardened resin burns very well even in damp conditions once you get it burning.
You can normally pull bits off and store them in your fire lighting kit for later use. Its an excellent backup. In this case the resin is on a log which has been chopped up. Theres a lot of resin which can easily be chopped away with an axe.
Its the volatile terpenes (turpentine to you and me) in the resin which makes it burn so well. But try not to breath in the smoke as it probably isnt that good for you.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Campfires in the Wild
It’s an important skill to know and can be a life saver out in the wild. Fire isn’t just a source of heat, it also means you can cook food and boil water which means that you don’t have to take as much fuel for a stove giving you a lighter rucksack. The third advantage is the psychological one after a hard days walk or in a survival situation.
Light fires with consideration for the local environment and other people who visit the area. In popular areas lighting fires can cause a few problems. Firstly the demand for wood means that there wont be much left over for you or others, this also means that people start chopping down trees that should really not be touched. Secondly all the fires leave scars in the landscape which lessen the wilderness experience for other visitors.
Take also into consideration the local fire regulations. Many wilderness areas are nature reserves, Natura 2000 areas, or national parks. These areas have restrictions on where you are allowed to light fires, if you are allowed at all. Find out about any restrictions before you go. Many areas with restrictions also have special places for lighting fires, often with their own supply of wood. In prolonged dry periods lighting fires can be banned because of the obvious risks (called Brandförbud in Sweden).
If you are the type of person who likes to get off the beaten track and discover areas which few others visit then lighting fires is usually no problem.
If you can light a fire depends on where you are and where you've been. Above the tree line in Scandinavia it’s often hard to find anything to make a fire with. All you may find is a few dried branches from some low growing bushes which you might find now and again. An idea is to collect wood along the way. It won’t be much, but will be enough to cook your food or boil water for coffee.
We won’t go into lighting fires in different environments at this time, but what we will do is to go through the basics of lighting a fire in the wild.
Example: Was out today with my daughter who is only 3 years so we weren’t going to be walking very far and I wanted a place which would also offer us a little shelter, so I opted to use a lean-to (wooden wind shelter) with a place for lighting a fire. I could have relied on using the wood that was there and I am glad I didn’t because it was almost fresh and couldn’t be used. I brought my own wood which I had prepared earlier. So this is how I made a fire to boil my coffee and grill some sausages:
1) I used old charred bits of wood which had been left as a base for my fire.
2) I placed a piece of spruce which I had cut into with my knife to make a lot of feather like shavings which are still connected to the wood at the bottom end. This is what I will light a little later.
3) Around this I placed some dry birch bark and a few very small pieces of wood.
4) On this I then placed thin pieces of wood to form an airy tepee around the initial wood.
5) On the outside of the thin strips I then placed a few slightly thicker pieces of wood. Remember not to pack the wood too tightly, you still want a lot of air to get in.
6) The next stage was to light the fire by setting fire to the initial piece of wood with the feathery shavings cut into it. Hold the match under this until you are sure it’s properly alight.
7) Let this burn for a while and add more thin pieces of wood in order to keep the fire burning. Should still have a rough pyramid form to the fire.
8) After a while you can put a few slightly larger pieces of wood on and let them burn down a bit then add a few more.
9) Once a good bed of embers has been made you can then think about cooking food or boiling up some coffee as I did. Note that I have placed a few pieces of wood around the coffee pot, this encourages the flames to spread up and around the pot making it boil quicker.
10) Sit back, relax and enjoy.
Sorry about my coffee pot, it's not really that good for this. What you really want is an all metal pot with a handle over the top which you can use for hanging the pot over the fire with help of a stick. Muurikka amongst others have coffee pots for use over open fires, or you could search around 2nd hand shops especially in Sweden (Loppis they're called, find them all over). I would recommend a pot which takes 1,5 - 2 litres, that’s a good multi purpose cooking instrument (excuse the technical jargon)which can be used for all cooking purposes.
For the fire I had good seasoned wood (well dried) which made things a lot easier. I also had dried Silver Birch bark just to help get things going a bit quicker. Birch bark is relatively easy to find out in the forest. Look on the south sides of Birch trees, you will see where the papery bark is starting to peel off. You can rip this of using only your fingers this wont damage the tree (no knife needed and this avoids scaring the tree). Take the white bark and try to avoid bark with lichen on as this is most often damp. Birch bark has a lot of oils in making it easy to light.
Out in the wild it’s not always quite as easy to find wood to burn. I always try to take my own wood whenever possible. I’ll cover types of and where to find wood at a later date.
// Scandinavian Wilderness
Light fires with consideration for the local environment and other people who visit the area. In popular areas lighting fires can cause a few problems. Firstly the demand for wood means that there wont be much left over for you or others, this also means that people start chopping down trees that should really not be touched. Secondly all the fires leave scars in the landscape which lessen the wilderness experience for other visitors.
Take also into consideration the local fire regulations. Many wilderness areas are nature reserves, Natura 2000 areas, or national parks. These areas have restrictions on where you are allowed to light fires, if you are allowed at all. Find out about any restrictions before you go. Many areas with restrictions also have special places for lighting fires, often with their own supply of wood. In prolonged dry periods lighting fires can be banned because of the obvious risks (called Brandförbud in Sweden).
If you are the type of person who likes to get off the beaten track and discover areas which few others visit then lighting fires is usually no problem.
If you can light a fire depends on where you are and where you've been. Above the tree line in Scandinavia it’s often hard to find anything to make a fire with. All you may find is a few dried branches from some low growing bushes which you might find now and again. An idea is to collect wood along the way. It won’t be much, but will be enough to cook your food or boil water for coffee.
We won’t go into lighting fires in different environments at this time, but what we will do is to go through the basics of lighting a fire in the wild.
Example: Was out today with my daughter who is only 3 years so we weren’t going to be walking very far and I wanted a place which would also offer us a little shelter, so I opted to use a lean-to (wooden wind shelter) with a place for lighting a fire. I could have relied on using the wood that was there and I am glad I didn’t because it was almost fresh and couldn’t be used. I brought my own wood which I had prepared earlier. So this is how I made a fire to boil my coffee and grill some sausages:
1) I used old charred bits of wood which had been left as a base for my fire.
2) I placed a piece of spruce which I had cut into with my knife to make a lot of feather like shavings which are still connected to the wood at the bottom end. This is what I will light a little later.
3) Around this I placed some dry birch bark and a few very small pieces of wood.
4) On this I then placed thin pieces of wood to form an airy tepee around the initial wood.
5) On the outside of the thin strips I then placed a few slightly thicker pieces of wood. Remember not to pack the wood too tightly, you still want a lot of air to get in.
6) The next stage was to light the fire by setting fire to the initial piece of wood with the feathery shavings cut into it. Hold the match under this until you are sure it’s properly alight.
7) Let this burn for a while and add more thin pieces of wood in order to keep the fire burning. Should still have a rough pyramid form to the fire.
8) After a while you can put a few slightly larger pieces of wood on and let them burn down a bit then add a few more.
9) Once a good bed of embers has been made you can then think about cooking food or boiling up some coffee as I did. Note that I have placed a few pieces of wood around the coffee pot, this encourages the flames to spread up and around the pot making it boil quicker.
10) Sit back, relax and enjoy.
Sorry about my coffee pot, it's not really that good for this. What you really want is an all metal pot with a handle over the top which you can use for hanging the pot over the fire with help of a stick. Muurikka amongst others have coffee pots for use over open fires, or you could search around 2nd hand shops especially in Sweden (Loppis they're called, find them all over). I would recommend a pot which takes 1,5 - 2 litres, that’s a good multi purpose cooking instrument (excuse the technical jargon)which can be used for all cooking purposes.
For the fire I had good seasoned wood (well dried) which made things a lot easier. I also had dried Silver Birch bark just to help get things going a bit quicker. Birch bark is relatively easy to find out in the forest. Look on the south sides of Birch trees, you will see where the papery bark is starting to peel off. You can rip this of using only your fingers this wont damage the tree (no knife needed and this avoids scaring the tree). Take the white bark and try to avoid bark with lichen on as this is most often damp. Birch bark has a lot of oils in making it easy to light.
Out in the wild it’s not always quite as easy to find wood to burn. I always try to take my own wood whenever possible. I’ll cover types of and where to find wood at a later date.
// Scandinavian Wilderness
Monday, 28 February 2011
Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National Park, Norway
The Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National park is one of the largest national parks in Norway. Here you can experience humid and majestic "fairytale" woods and high alpine mountains. This is how Visit Norway describes this area and i'd tend to agree judging by the pictures i've seen!
Picture: naturkontakten, Panoramia.com
Also nearby is Lierne National Park just to the east.
Skjaekerfjella is linked to Skräckerfjällen on the other side of the border in Sweden. Its a vast area with old growth forest and high mountains. Whats interesting is that certainly from the Swedish side this area is quite remote and unknown to many.
This is what I would call real wilderness and would be an amazing area to explore. Unfortunately i've never been in this area. I've been a bit to the north and south but never here. Its in an area which most people including tourists ignore as the mountains aren’t really that high and Kungsleden does not pass through here (there have been plans to do this but so far nothing has happened). Another bonus is that this is real Bear country and the chances of seeing tracks or even the animals themselves are considerable.
Why am I writing about this area? Simple, because its an area I would really like to visit!!
Picture: naturkontakten, Panoramia.com Also nearby is Lierne National Park just to the east.
Skjaekerfjella is linked to Skräckerfjällen on the other side of the border in Sweden. Its a vast area with old growth forest and high mountains. Whats interesting is that certainly from the Swedish side this area is quite remote and unknown to many.
This is what I would call real wilderness and would be an amazing area to explore. Unfortunately i've never been in this area. I've been a bit to the north and south but never here. Its in an area which most people including tourists ignore as the mountains aren’t really that high and Kungsleden does not pass through here (there have been plans to do this but so far nothing has happened). Another bonus is that this is real Bear country and the chances of seeing tracks or even the animals themselves are considerable.
Why am I writing about this area? Simple, because its an area I would really like to visit!!
Geijersdalsmossen Nature Reserve
As with several other bogland areas in the SE corner of Värmland Geijersdalsmossen has a real wilderness feel to it. Its not a huge nature reserve and I dont really know if you could officially call it wilderness, but it has that special feel that only wilderness areas have.
Its also a very interesting area geologically as this represented the southern border for the ice cap over northern Sweden at the end of the last ice age. Just south of here is where the Baltic Sea at one time flowed into the North Sea. Whats left now gives use an insight into what it was like here.
Was here the other week snowshoeing with a group from the Netherlands and to them this was real wilderness. Just the silence alone was enough to amaze them. We were also lucky and were able to track Lynx, Elk (European Moose), Black Grouse and even Pine Martin which I have not earlier seen in this area.
All in all its an excellent place to visit. Close by there are many other nature reserves and interesting places which make this area perfect for a walking holiday!
Its also a very interesting area geologically as this represented the southern border for the ice cap over northern Sweden at the end of the last ice age. Just south of here is where the Baltic Sea at one time flowed into the North Sea. Whats left now gives use an insight into what it was like here.Was here the other week snowshoeing with a group from the Netherlands and to them this was real wilderness. Just the silence alone was enough to amaze them. We were also lucky and were able to track Lynx, Elk (European Moose), Black Grouse and even Pine Martin which I have not earlier seen in this area.
All in all its an excellent place to visit. Close by there are many other nature reserves and interesting places which make this area perfect for a walking holiday!
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Equipment review: Primus Express Spider stove
Bought this stove last summer because I wanted a lighter gas stove which would even work when its a bit colder.
Have to say i'm pretty happy with the Express Spider after using it on a number of trips over the last 6 months.
Plus:
- Folds away to a very small size and can be stored away easily.
- Very light.
- Stable.
- Good quality feel.
- The pre heating pipe which goes over the burner does actually improve performance i colder temperatures.
- Comes with a small pouch to store the stove in while folded up.
- Gas is easy to get a hold of in Scandinavia (one of the main reasons for me buying the stove).
Minus:
- Was some sort of coating on the burner which I had to scrape off in order for it to burn cleanly. Small bits fel down into the burner causing a few problems. But after the coating was removed i've had no more problems.
- Smaller burner gives a smaller more concentrated spread of flame giving an uneven heat on larger pots and kettles.
- The round aluminium ground protector was of no use, was unstanble and cracked after the first use. Would be better providing a small wind breaker with the stove.
Score out of ten:
8/10
Good to have on trips where space and weight are issues. Also good as a backup on wilderness trips where most cooking is done over a fire.
Link to product:
http://www.primus.eu/templates/pages/3_cols_white_middle.aspx?sectionid=5888
Have to say i'm pretty happy with the Express Spider after using it on a number of trips over the last 6 months.
Plus:
- Folds away to a very small size and can be stored away easily.
- Very light.
- Stable.
- Good quality feel.
- The pre heating pipe which goes over the burner does actually improve performance i colder temperatures.
- Comes with a small pouch to store the stove in while folded up.
- Gas is easy to get a hold of in Scandinavia (one of the main reasons for me buying the stove).
Minus:
- Was some sort of coating on the burner which I had to scrape off in order for it to burn cleanly. Small bits fel down into the burner causing a few problems. But after the coating was removed i've had no more problems.
- Smaller burner gives a smaller more concentrated spread of flame giving an uneven heat on larger pots and kettles.
- The round aluminium ground protector was of no use, was unstanble and cracked after the first use. Would be better providing a small wind breaker with the stove.
Score out of ten:
8/10
Good to have on trips where space and weight are issues. Also good as a backup on wilderness trips where most cooking is done over a fire.
Link to product:
http://www.primus.eu/templates/pages/3_cols_white_middle.aspx?sectionid=5888
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)