Is it a pack? Is it a pulk? No! It’s the Incredible Rulk! – Ski touring northern Norway

[joe newton]

It's been a while since Jorgen's first article here on BPL singing the praises of combining the best attributes of pack with those of a traditional pulk for lightweight winter backcountry travel:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_rulk.html

Well, the Incredible Rulk got rebooted and last month Jorgen invited me to join him on a week long ski tour of Finnmarksvidda, a huge mountain plateau inside the Arctic Circle in northern Norway. We endured Arctic storms, falling in a river, whiteouts and changes to our original plans but the experience was profound and I learnt a lot about myself and coping with winter conditions. We carried and towed our gear on our Incredible Rulks.

My trip reports start here:

http://thunderinthenight.blogspot.com/2011/04/thunder-on-tundra-day-1-2.html

while Jorgen's version of events can be found on his blog here:

http://www.fjaderlatt.se/2011/04/finnmarksvidda-day-1-slow-going.html

There are subsequent day reports, gear discussions and lists on both blogs so have a look at how we're backpacking light in Scandinavia during winter.

Joe

Founding member – Nordic Lightpacking

[Jim Colten]

Thanks for the fabulous trip report!

Searching for a word that can sum up my reaction, this might do it … YOUSA!

Jorgen knows how to turn a phrase, my favorite snipet (one of several good ones) … "So, somewhere after an hour of skiing … we passed over the edge of the detailed map. Little did we know that there would be dragons."

[joe newton]

Jim,

Jorgen is one of the most quotable people I know! He has a famous quote for every situation and then weighs in with a few of his own.

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip reports. We'll be back next year for the re-match!

[Author]

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