Polar Preparation Training
Expedition skills courses to prepare for polar expeditions, run by Pasi Ikonen, the first Finn to ski unsupported to the South Pole.
Our Polar Preparation and Polar Training Courses build the skills, judgment and confidence you need in the polar environment. Most participants are planning a Greenland Ice Cap crossing or a last-degree trip to the North or South Pole. The 'Arctic Survival Skills' course is open to anyone.
- Prep for Greenland crossings and last-degree pole trips
- Modular: navigation, kit, cold injury, risk management, comms
- Advanced course is an intensive mini-expedition
- Led by Pasi Ikonen - first Finn to ski unsupported to the South Pole
Polar Expedition Preparation & Skills Development
Much of the course is spent in the field, navigating, skiing with loaded sleds, setting camp protocols and practising crevasse rescue, with classroom sessions on fundraising, equipment and expedition planning. The week ends with an overnight mini-expedition survival challenge, which most complete solo. The course is modular. We recommend navigation, kit and clothing, cold-injury prevention, risk management and polar communications at minimum.
Advanced Polar Training Course
The training courses assume your basics are honed. Each is an intensive mini-expedition across the Arctic tundra. You look after yourself and handle survival challenges and emergency scenarios along the way, with expert advice to hand. Recommended for the confident and fit.
Arctic Survival Course
Described in our bushcraft and survival section, this course is the opposite of the advanced training. You cover little distance and instead build bushcraft-style survival skills for Arctic terrain. Move by ski or snowshoe. Ski technique is not critical, but you must be comfortable outside with minimal shelter or equipment for days at a time.
Why train with CAPE Lapland?
Courses are run by Pasi Ikonen, who has traversed Greenland, was the first Finn to ski unsupported to the South Pole and sits on the board of Survival Guild Finland. He is supported by at least one guide with Arctic or Antarctic experience and by Anna, who led an inclusive traverse of the Greenland Icecap in 2006. Finland's high tundra plateaus mimic polar conditions more closely than anywhere else in mainland Europe.
Ready when you are
Real wilderness, 200+ huskies, eighteen winters in.