Kolmen vuodenajan teltta

Viimeisimmässä Latu ja Polku -lehdessä oli juttu uusista kolmen vuodenajan teltoista. Asia on sinällään varsin hyvä mutta mulle herää aina kysymys siitä mitkä kolme vuoden aikaa.

Jos ajatellaan meidän omia neljää vuodenaikaa niin sanoisin, että retkeilyn kannalta pahin on syksy; vettä sataa, tuulee ja voi olla kylmäkin. Yleisesti kuitenkin kolmen vuodenajan teltat ovat tarkoitettu käytettäväksi keväällä, kesällä ja syksyllä jotka ovat kuitenkin sään monipuolisuuden kannalta kaikkein hankalimmat. En ole löytänyt mistään vielä hyvää perustelua sille miksi talvi on luokiteltu vaikeimmaksi vuodenajaksi retkeilyn kannalta. Jos perusteluna on kylmyys niin varmaankin kaikki teltassa nukkuvat ovat varautuneet makuupussilla lämmön pitämiseksi eikä itse sitä telttaa. Jos perusteluna on tuuli niin suurimmat myrskyt kuitenkin sattuvat keväälle ja syksylle joten sekään ei oikein puolla ajatusta. Talvella (siis pakkasaikaan) ei sada vettä jolloin teltta ei kastu ja lumen peittämään maahan teltan saa hyvin kiinni ja lunta voi vielä käyttää reunojen suojaamiseenkin jos haluaa. Itse pidän talvea kaikkein helpoimpana retkeilyaikana telttaa ajatellen. Harvoin valmistajien pienet tekniset yksityiskohdat kolmen ja neljän vuoden ajan telttojen välillä ovat niin ratkaisevia, että ne puoltaisivat eron tekemistä.

Liekö tässä myyntimiesten puheesta kyse ja siitä ajatuksesta, että ihmisille pitää myydä useampi teltta samalla kun tehdään tasoisia telttoja jolloin voidaan myydä aina se parempi ja kalliimpi kun tulee talvesta puhe. Teltta itsessään on varsin low-tech ja todellisten erojen tuominen esiin muutoin kuin materiaalivalintoina on hankalaa. Kyse on kuitenkin tuotteesta jota harva käyttää edes paria viikkoa saatikka kuukautta vuodesta jolloin kannattaa miettiä millaisia ominaisuuksia tarvitsee.
Itse olen retkeillyt vanhalla Fjällrävenin Akka -teltalla kesät-talvet vaikka kyse on kolmen vuodenajan teltasta. Teltta on vanha ja siinä on puutteita mutta oikein käytettynä sillä on pärjännyt aina ja kaikessa. Viimeisillä reissuilla on mukana ollut neljän vuodenajan teltta joka on ehdottomasti ajanut asiansa mutta on silti vaikea sanoa todellista eroa vanhaan telttaan.

The unassisted problem of South Pole route

A lot of people are again starting their expeditions to South Pole this season and are at the moment counting days to get on skiis and start the arduous journey through the icy wastelands. Some of them might be team expeditions and some solo.

As the Explorersweb defines assistance: "Assist refers to the outside help received by an expedition." (www.adventurestats.com). I think the definition mostly means that you should not be in direct contact to other expeditions or other persons or to pick up any extra gear, food, fuel or other things after you've started your expedition... Yet everyone who started their expedition to South Pole from Hercules Inlet knows that 95% (a fair guess) of the expeditions take the same route up through the Nunataks before heading to south.

During the 2008-2009 season 5-7 expeditions, of which some were solo expeditions, were flown to Hecrules Inlet during 24 hour time period and mostly everyone started their expedition going up though the Nunataks. Those who left first left clear tracks to where ever there was soft snow and those who came behind followed them. As the visibility was good on that particular day you could see the expedition ahead of you and behind you quite clearly. Now the first question is how close to other expeditions do you have to be to lose the unassisted status after passing 80th parallel? Can you be within speaking distance or do you have to maintain a hundred yards between you and the other expeditions? Or perhaps even a mile...

As some expeditions go by different day and night cycles you might pass someones tent a few times during the long days before the difference in travel speed finally breaks the cycle of you going past someones tent while they sleep and then they going past yours as you sleep. When you wake up and start going again you might find a glove or a hat, lost by an expedition that went by you while you slept, and pick it up to return it to it's rightful owner. By picking up a lost hat do you lose the unassisted or unsupported status? Or do you lose your unassisted status by returning it to it's owner next time you go pass his tent? Everyone knows that these acts are acts of kindness as losing a glove or a hat might prove to be enoung to stop your expedition and to have severe frostbites at later parts of your expedition. Would you not do this to help the next person...? What if you yourself had lost a glove or a hat and found a replacement that again someone else had lost ahead of you. Would you then lose you status as an unassisted or unsupported expedition? If you told anyone that is...

In practice, again a fair guess, 95% of the expeditions starting from Hercules Inlet take the same path and even see other expedition and their tents on their way. Sometimes closer and sometimes farther. Sometimes you're in speaking distance and sometimes you even stop at someones tent to say a word or two. Does it mean that you're giving or recieving assistance? Strictly saying the answer is yes but by saying that do you make the possibility to have an unassisted expedition impossible?

Well, I don't know... I'm just wondering...

Things on the bottom of the list

Life is full of lists and rankings which help you to sort out you life priorities. With the help of these lists and rankings you can define yourself, find a meaning and place for yourself. Socially you might feel that it's important that you know who you are, and that you can find yourself from the right spot. "I am a police officer so I have an important job". "I have friends in high places so I am important too". "I am fat so I have failed to stay healthy". "I am..."

Do you need help to define yourself as a person? Write a list of all the things in your life; work, money, love, friends, health and so on and rank them. Rank every single bit of your life. If you feel like it, rank your friends, family, food and even your clothing to get to the bottom of it. Then... perhaps the things on top of your list do not define you as person but the things on the bottom. Things you've listed on the bottom, the little things, which are about to drop off from your table of life as other bigger things are filling up your life might be the things that really define you as a person. Or are the things on the bottom of your list the dark, scary things that you list on the bottom everytime eventhough other things in the list change?

But is it the same how you define yourself as a person and how others define you? Would you like to know how you are defined by others and would it matter? If you are a good and honest person, does it give you a place on the top of the list or on the bottom?

Think of the single most important thing that defines you as a person... height, weight, looks, health, character, sexuality, family, friends, work... and think what you would be without it. Does one single thing define you and are you dependent on that? And... is that a good thing?

Who says we have to find our own place and that we have to be able to define ourselves as a person? Who says we are not important unless we have a meaning or a definition? And if we want to be free, do we have to be without a meaning, without a definition... no time, no place? And... how do we get there?

No, my priorities are just fine, thank you. I have already found my unessential definition. Have you?

Kuukausi lähtöön - kiirettä pitää

Viimein kuukausi menossa ennenkuin kone nousee Helsinki-Vantaalta.

Jännitys kasvaa päivä päivältä ja suunnitelmien viimeistely pyörii mielessä hetki hetkeltä kiivaampana.

Paljon on kuitenkin vielä tehtävää ennen lähtöpäivää; ruokien pakkaus, varusteiden lähettäminen etukäteen, viimeisten pienten varusteiden hankkiminen, leipätyön valmistelu jne. Kolmen vuoden valmistelun ja suunnittelun tulos on käsillä ja jostain syystä aina tässä vaiheessa tuntuu siltä, että aika ei riitä.

Varsin moni asia selviää vasta hieman ennen lähtöä ja viimein kuukausi on aina vauhdikas. Osa tavaroista jää aina viimetinkaan kun vielä on "ne yhdet hanskat" mitkä pitää muistaa hankkia tai "se yksi juttu" mikä pitää muistaa hoitaa.

No, onneksi tässä on vielä tämä kuukausi aikaa...

Jerry's Top Ten Expedition BS Countdown

Finally someone said these things out loud...

Jerry's Top Ten expedition BS

1. Faking an accomplishment
2. Claiming something is a first, when it's not
3. Pretending that an expedition is all about something socially relevant
4. Claiming that an expedition proves something it doesn't
5. Hiding the fact that an expedition is guided
6. Making an expedition sound harder than it is
7. Motivational speaking
8. Telling your audience that all it takes to live this life is the courage to follow your dreams, when you're sitting on a trust fund
9. Doing one or two expeditions, then retiring and affecting the pose of an elder statesman
10. Erecting plaques in the wilderness in honor of your own expedition

Read the complete story from Jerry Kobalenko's webpage.