Winter training

Being prepared for the expedition is really, really important for us. Preparations can get pretty involved on an expedition like this: you need planning, equipment, food, finances, communications, maps, flights, accommodation, freight, etc… but nothing gets more involved than the physical training. It takes time, and there are no shortcuts.

We started our training for this trip in the autumn of 2019. The following winter was snowless, and we continued pulling our tire on unfrozen soil. Luckily for us winter 2020-21 was awesome even in Southern Finland, and the following winter 2021-22 was almost as good. This allowed us - regardless of COVID-19 travel restrictions - to do plenty of proper winter training.

Our winter training is just as purposeful as our summer training: we simulate expedition workloads and movement as closely as possible. Nothing gets closer than using identical equipment we’ll be using in Antarctica: skis, skins, ski poles, clothing, and sleds. And most importantly enough weight in our sleds: we started the winter season with 110 kg of gravel in the sled (which simulates our starting load at Antarctica), and towards the end of the season we increased the weight all the way to 150 kg.

We varied our training from 2-hour “sprints” to four-hour basic training to two-day full expedition simulations. We started in darkness at the first snow and continued until the snow literally melted away from under us in late spring.

With this setup some days were more, some less exhausting. Some days were cheerful, some utterly dull. The pace was mostly really slow. All of this is exactly like on an expedition. We felt the training effect, both mental and physical, was spot on for us and our goal. Now we have way more confidence in doing the same effort in Antarctica.