Throwing all the gear in a pile and then staring at it doesn’t actually make it get smaller or lighter.

On the current trip to the Arctic, we will be taking advantage of the endless daylight to ski and kite as much as possible.  But as always, the weather will determine whether. And in case we get tent bound the following luxury items will be nice to have.

Expeditions can quickly turn into spring reading camp. I usually take along at least two books.

And a travel version of this is indispensable.

And that means you’ll want one of these to keep score and record the journey.

Music soothes the savage beast and the savage man that’s been crammed in a tent for days.

However, this trip I’m borrowing an Ipad and replacing all of the above items. It’s packed with 7 audio books, 2 digital books, a dozen movies, hundreds of songs and several games. With it I’m able to shave 4lbs of weight and a ton of space. Plus have the added bonus of wi-fi in transit.

Recommended operating temp is 32F so we’ll see how well it works in the cold. I may be stuck with Andrew reading to me every night. I wrapped up some closed cell foam with duct tape to provide some insulation.

I’m already taking along a Brunton Solar Roll and the Impel storage unit to charge cameras so power shouldn’t be an issue.

Another cool toy I found is this universal battery charger from Radio Shack. The prongs slide and adjust so it works on everything with visible positive and negative poles. It works on rechargeable A-AAA, cell phones, video cameras, SLR cameras, etc. It’s nice to eliminate all those cords and chargers and just pack one light unit.

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