Solo across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Brooks Range, Alaska

[Stephanie Jordan]

Companion forum thread to:

Solo across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Brooks Range, Alaska

[Ken Thompson]

Excellent read. Really enjoyed this one. A fantastic dream come true.

[David Noll]

Wow! Incredible journey and very well written.

[Paul Magnanti]

Let me add to the accolades.

No guidebook, apps or trail angel network. :)

Just a beautiful area and an incredible adventure.

[Richard Nisley]

Epic adventure combined with GREAT story telling; thank you!

[Nico .]

Excellent read. One of the better articles on BPL in a while. I greatly enjoyed the story and photos.

I also appreciated you describing the mishaps you encountered and the various ways you overcame them. Such an important part on any extended trip is being able to keep your wits about you and find a solution with the tools at hand. Good stuff.

[Kattt]

What a great story and accomplishment. Thanks for taking the time to write about your journey and include bits about your family history. Impressive.

[todd]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Thank you so much.

I love peering into you feelings brought on by the challenges of such an endeavor.

[Barry Cuthbert]

An epic trip and a great read, thanks for sharing it.

[Nick Gatel]

It is quality content like this that makes a paid membership to BPL a worthy investment. A great adventure, wonderful pictures, and well written. Thanks for submitting this.

[W I S N E R !]

Serious trip, I enjoyed this. Certainly inspired to step up my game after reading this.

[Jörgen Johansson]

Thank you very much for the accolades. You are of course much too kind, but I cannot honestly say that I mind :-)
And I am going back to the ANWR this summer…

[Roger Caffin]

> And I am going back to the ANWR this summer…
Maybe this time you could take 50 m of 50 lb Spectra string, for lowering packs?
(I do.)

Cheers

[Inaki Diaz de Etura]

Stop and think, such a valuable skill. The coffee is just the bonus.
A great read, thanks for sharing

[Steven Nelson]

Wonderful writing and inspiring story. Thank you, Jörgen!

[Jörgen Johansson]

Roger, others have suggested the same thing, so there might be a point :-)
Actually 2 meters would have been enough in the situation I describe. I have about 3,5 meters attached to the Trailstar, which is something that could be used for lowering packs.
In the particular situation where I lost (control of) my pack, however, there was no time. I was sitting on a slanting rock with the friction not being enough to keep me in place and no handholds. So I needed to get the pack off quickly,slide it down and then clamber down myself on a slightly different route.
The situation was not as dangerous as it sounds, but I would probably have scraped myself considerably, had I slid down the 10 feet of rockface where I tried to lower my pack.
The whole situation is described much more in detail (as is the entire trek)on my blog:http://www.fjaderlatt.se/2014/10/brooks-range-vacation-beginning-i.html

[James Marco]

Fantistic! An understatement. Thank you.

[Bob Moulder]

I got up early this morning so that I could read it without distractions and uninterrupted.

It was well worth the time — incredibly inspirational! A great adventure well done and well told.

[Peter Boysen]

This was an excellent read. The mishaps make for great stories, although I'm guessing none of them were quite so nice at the time. Very well written overall.

[Manfred]

Joergen,

Thank you for your fantastic article. It describes amazingly well the experience in the Brooks Range. Walking through tussocks, hip deep water crossings in ice cold water, gravel bar walking with an endless number of crossings from one side to the other side, scrambling up steep mountain sides without knowing whether it is even steeper on the other side, making decisions and living with the consequences, making mistakes and working through them. You describe it all so well, that I want to go right away back to the Brooks Range. My twin sons and I spent a month last summer out there and your report brings back all those fond memories.

Best Regards,

Manfred

[Jörgen Johansson]

My gear list is now in place and since I am going back this summer I would welcome some advice on how to shave weight without losing function.

[Buck Nelson]

I enjoyed your writing and the photos. Congratulations on your adventure!

[Lincoln Turner]

Lots of memories for me reading this. I walked from Arctic Village to Kaktovik in the summer of '78.

[Steve Bremner]

Loved your report. I'm inspired.

[Billy Ray]

Great trip! I envy you for having done that trip.

billy

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