504 bars, 232 envelopes of soup mix, 35 pounds (16 kg) of dried fruit, 524 tea bags, 25 pounds (12 kg) of sugar, 156 cups of pasta, and 1,088 ounces of gorp (trail mix). Those are just some of the items that were packed during this week’s food pack-out event. Gorp is short for “good old raisins and peanuts,” but we admit our version is a bit fancier. Plus, it’s probably the most fun to pack – getting out the huge bowl to mix bags and bags of almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips, dried
cranberries, sunflower seeds and a pinch of raisins!

		Watch Mikkel mixing yummy gorp. Each team member eats 24 oz. of gorp in a week.
		Watch Teacher Explorer Chris chewing off the butter!

CorbornsDelivers.com arrives with totes and totes of food.

Packing the right amount of food is obviously a very crucial part of planning for an Arctic dogsled expedition. We really do not want to be carrying too much food when the mighty Polar Huskies haul the sleds up and over the mountains. At the same time, we cannot be in a situation where we are running out of food, given the danger that would put us in. If we are not carrying the right amount of supplies, when we are out of powdered milk we are simply out of powdered milk! One cannot just make a quick dash to the nearest store, because there is no store within a hundred miles or more to go pick up some more milk! Or toilet paper! Yes, really - if you run out of toilet paper while on the trail... You are out of toilet paper! Imagine that☺!





[right: Everything is packed in ziploc bags and carefully labeled]



On that note, it's not just any toilet paper. Basecamp Manager Tiffany Simonsen, who headed up this year's food pack notes with a smile, "Of all the items on the list, the kind of toilet paper is what the team seems to be most particular about: double-layered and soft!”

		Explore “food-pack-out-headquarters.”
		Watch Mikkel explain why some food is “double-bagged. Oatmeal is a favorite for adding a hunky chunk of melting butter on the expedition!”

The Arctic is a polar desert – hydration is important, flavor is needed!

Eating enough food is essential to be successful when traveling on an expedition, and that means that packing the right amount of food is obviously a very crucial part of planning for an Arctic dogsled expedition. We really do not want to be carrying too much food when the mighty Polar Huskies have to haul the heavy sleds. At the same time, we cannot be in a situation where we are running out of food, given the danger that would put us in.


Each team member on the expedition should eat 5,000-6,000 calories a day. That's a lot of food! Actually, it is about two to three times the amount recommended for adult human beings. Sleeping in the tent at minus 40° degrees—then skiing next to the sled for eight hours a day, pushing and lifting, and working in frigid temperatures—makes our bodies require a lot of energy in the form of calories.

	Jeff cuts 87 pounds of cheese into 5 oz   blocks - one per team member a day.
		Watch Jeff busy at work sorting energy bars keeping things fair and square on his watch.

The way our bodies function in the cold, like staying warm, is by burning calories. When living outside in the Arctic environment, the best kinds of calories are those we can get from fat. The traditional diet of the Native Inuit people of Nunavut is very heavy in animal fats such as blubber from seals or other fatty parts of animals. Since we do not hunt while traveling, we do not eat much seal blubber while on the expedition, beyond what the local people might generously share with us. But, we will surely eat a great deal of cheese—and butter. Each team member will eat at minimum a stick of butter a day. Mostly this is eaten as "a-big-chunk-of-butter-in-pretty-much-everything-you-eat," like oatmeal, soup, and with the pasta. "But, at times, some team members can actually be so hungry that they sit and eat it like it is ice cream," says Aaron.

Polar Huskies on a training run.
	Watch Mille “the Ramen cruncher” setting up lunch for the team on the trail.

So, yes we packed 65 pounds (about 30 kg) of butter! That equals 320 sticks of the butter you might use at home; each stick equals four ounces or eight tablespoons, making for a total of 2,080 tablespoons. Get the picture?! Every item going on the expedition has to be carefully measured into the correct daily amounts. In total, we each get about 1.5–2 pounds (.68–.91 kg) of food a day. Most of that weight is indeed cheese and butter—not least because these are two items we can share with the Polar Huskies should we start running low on food supplies (perhaps because we are delayed by sitting in the tent through a long snowstorm or because we are having to navigate around thin ice and open water, thus not making the mileage in the direction as planned).


All the food is then re-packed into Ziploc bags to make sure we carry the exact amount of food necessary. It is also repackaged so that we can get rid of as much unnecessary packaging as possible. We try to limit the amount of bulky trash we accumulate while on the expedition since the team must carry all its trash in the sled, not leaving anything behind as we travel on the land.

	...and after: rows and lines of neatly labeled   food is to be loaded into boxes for shipping   it out to the re-supply communities
		Listen to Mille talk about the portions, rationing and resupplies!

After two days of packing we owe a huge "thank you" to the pack-out crew of Jeff Abuzzahab, Tiffany Simonsen, and Teacher Explorer Chris Ripken and his daughter Aubrey for a job well done! As we set out over the ice with perfectly loaded sleds and just the right amount of pancake mix, we will thankfully be thinking about you all.


This week’s chat expert is one who can really appreciate this fact as he once traveled with loaded sleds pulled by the mighty Polar Huskies, 5000 ft up and over the Brooks Mountain Range during the GoNorth! Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 2006 adventure learning expedition! Make sure to join our own GoNorth! Cool Scientist Henry Huntington in this week’s chat – the last on the topic of Arctic Exploration – on Thursday, March 26 at 2 PM.

Polar Husky Superstar Kodiak

This week’s first Polar Husky Superstar Kodiak was on that expedition with Henry. Actually, it was Kodiak’s first expedition! Loving to eat even when the going gets tough is an important characteristic for a Polar Husky. With a stocky build and every pound strong, ever since Kodiak was a tiny little puppy he has loved to eat! However, Kodiak has always had a very different eating habit as he loves to eat lying down! Kodiak preferably eats on his side, just lifting his head up to put it in the bowl and grab another bite. This is actually very much Kodiak in a nutshell. Super-cool and different, Kodiak prefers to do things his very own way and is never one to follow the pack. He has always been very independent, laid-back and never seeking much attention. But don’t let that fool you. Kodiak loves attention, is quite playful and is super-charged! A great point dog, he is an extremely hard worker who will throw himself into the air and bark commands over his shoulder to make ’em move!

	Charged with energy and a healthy appetite, Luna is this week's second Polar Husky Superstar.

	Happy Spring from the Polar Husky Dog Yard!

One youngster that rarely needs any sort of barking commands is Luna. On the contrary, being one of the noisiest squirmiest Polar Huskies in the Kennel, Luna is simply just crazed. Already training to be point dog, ever-happy Luna is no doubt one of the dogs that loves to be fed the most! Luna is not necessarily the “biggest eater,” but she is definitely one of the happiest when food time comes around. She just loves people so much that when we feed her, she is really happy! Slender and very athletic, this will be little Luna’s first expedition, but she already knows how to make every ounce of her body weight count. Pulling takes a lot of energy, so Luna is, indeed, always ready to eat—and she loves butter!