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An exciting trip to be sure! You are wise to start the process a year early so you can acquire and test your gear in less committed conditions.
Suggest you look at two resources for planning information and suggestions. The first is THE SNOW WALKER’S COMPANION by Garret and Alexandra Conover. Great source for planning and traveling for long distances in very cold environments. These folks have a strong bias towards “traditional” methods and will advise mukluks for footwear—not too useful for skis. They also talk about Egyptian cotton tents traditionally suspended with spruce poles. I have done this and it takes tons of time. Although not mentioned in their book they have recently been using tents such as these www.empirecanvasworks.com . Look at the stoves and sleds available at that site as well. Note that the pole pulling systems for sleds popular in NE are unnecessary when traveling over flat terrain.
The kite option is interesting, but how do those folks transport gear that way? Andrew McLean did a monster traverse up north a few years back using kites.
Skis vs. snowshoes. Most traditional snow walkers use snowshoes and I am not sure but they might be more useful in that environment. You’ll probably need skins on the skis so they won’t glide much and they are much heavier than snowshoes. Probably won’t do as well on ice either.
Suggest you look at two resources for planning information and suggestions. The first is THE SNOW WALKER’S COMPANION by Garret and Alexandra Conover. Great source for planning and traveling for long distances in very cold environments. These folks have a strong bias towards “traditional” methods and will advise mukluks for footwear—not too useful for skis. They also talk about Egyptian cotton tents traditionally suspended with spruce poles. I have done this and it takes tons of time. Although not mentioned in their book they have recently been using tents such as these www.empirecanvasworks.com . Look at the stoves and sleds available at that site as well. Note that the pole pulling systems for sleds popular in NE are unnecessary when traveling over flat terrain.
The kite option is interesting, but how do those folks transport gear that way? Andrew McLean did a monster traverse up north a few years back using kites.
Skis vs. snowshoes. Most traditional snow walkers use snowshoes and I am not sure but they might be more useful in that environment. You’ll probably need skins on the skis so they won’t glide much and they are much heavier than snowshoes. Probably won’t do as well on ice either.
