Canada Goose Sverige…..warning/varning!!!

I was looking for a down jacket for Teres on the internet when I found a site called
http://www.canadagooseisverige.com
who I believed were having a sale and had some good deals on down jackets including a Fjallraven.  With a name like Canada Goose I believed this to be a reputable site and with such a good price on the jackets, we ordered two.

Teres had some problems with the payment system, and unsure if both payments had been accepted she emailed the company in Swedish.  It was only when they replied that my suspicions were aroused and they replied in English and with a lot of Chinese writing in the email.  The email address they use is sales04youlian@gmail.com

We immediately contacted them again saying we wished to cancel both orders, but after a few days we received a reply saying the items had already been dispatched (the dispatch date on the parcels when they arrived were in fact 5 days after we had emailed).

The jackets are actually quite good copies as you can see;

they even have the plastic sachet showing the quality of down used

but the amount of down insulation in the jacket is significantly less that in the real thing and so although the label states to -35, I wouldn’t want to use it below about -5!!

The quality of stitching is also not good with the lining stitched into the out jacket

The key feature that convinced me that this is a fake jacket was the washing label which is only in English and Swedish (the real Fjallraven labels have washing instructions in many languages)

The company wanted pictures to show what was wrong with the jackets  (which I provided) and then blamed the Delivery company EMS to delivering the wrong jackets and are refusing to allow us to return the jackets or get our money back.

I contacted Canada Goose by email about the company but they did not respond and Fjallraven are aware of this company trading in Sweden.  I’m convinced this jacket is made in the same factory as Fjallraven clothing is produced but unfortunately there not much more I can do to get my money back.

Please circulate this information to others via your blogs and website so others do not make the same mistake!!!!

Solberget quinzee

Two people at Solberget wanted to sleep in a quinzee, so we built one.

We began by clearing snow from an area and then piled snow on to the cleared area.

We made a pile of snow that was two metres high and three metres in diameter.  We compressed the snow using skis and snowshoes and then inserted 20cm long sticks over the whole quinzee.

When hollowing out the snow, the sticks are used as a guide to provide a even wall thickness.

I always make a raised sleeping platform so that the cold air sinks below the level where you lay.

Here is the completed quinzee with a reindeer skin door

 

A few photographs

To coincide with starting my new photographic blog;
http://naturallorephotos.wordpress.com/

I thought I would put up a few pictures taken recently.

First a couple of sunrises as I have driven to work

In this next picture I am heaping snow up around a cabin to act as additional insulation.

Here is one of the seven reindeer we have at Solberget Vildmarksbyn

This next picture (for me) provides lots of  interesting information once you understand how to interpret it….

This picture shows spore from a Black Grouse landing in the snow.  From the right lower corner of the picture you see first where the Grouses tail mark in the snow, then above it you see the tip of the right wing and then marks from the whole of the right wing and at the same time, the body coming into the snow.  Then you can see footprints as the bird lands and the impact point as it lands into the snow (with left and right wing marks).  Finally the bird turns around and runs away out of the top right hand corner of the picture.

The next picture is of the tipi at Solberget, with a glowing fire inside

and finally here is a picture of a cabin at Solberget at dusk, with a the full moon behind it.

A brief visit to my cabin

Last year I failed to reach my cabin during the winter because the snow was so deep and powdery, but this year I had no problem……..because my friend Erik (who has a cabin near to mine) was there to plough the track to our cabins with his Swedish Military Valp.  He has built an hydraulic plough attachment that fits on the front and is very effective at clearing the snow.

Erik ploughed to about 1km from our cabins and Erik’s family and I drove behind the plough

The final kilometre was not ploughed (making it impossible for others to drive there), we all climbed into the valp and drove through the snow to the cabins

There was 80cms of snow on the roof

and it was dark by the time I had finished removing snow.  I was working following morning so unfortunately could not stay at the cabin.

Jokkmokks Marknad 2012 part 2

I returned to the marknad on the Friday.  It was a very cold day with a temperature of -38 degrees c.  I had not been there long when I started noticing people with what I first thought was zinc oxide cream on their noses, but it was in fact people showing the early stages of frostbite.  Later in the day I met a German girl who’s nose and cheeks were completely white, but when I suggested she needed to go somewhere warm or seek medical treatment, she just laughed and walked away!!

I did not spend much time looking around the marknad because I had no money, but I did watch the reindeer racing

Just after I took this next picture,

the reindeer on the right ran into the reindeer on the left and then kicked the guy laying on the ackja in the face.

To stop the reindeer when they have raced around the circuit a rope is put across, and when the reindeer and ackja run into the rope, the Sámi grab the rope and hold on as they get dragged behind the reindeer, until they stop running.

On Friday evening I attended a Joik concert by Anja Storelv and her band.

It was a great evening with some really good music

Jokkmokks Marknad 2012 part 1

Last week I spent two days at Jokkmokks Marknad as part of my job as a wilderness guide at Solberget Vildmarks Byn.

My first day at the marknad was on Tuesday at the old, traditional market where I was fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time with John Stokke, a Sámi reindeer herder who has his own chapter in the Sámi book of fire “Eld, Flammor och Glod – samisk eldkonst”.  The chapter is about the “Nuorssjo” and it was this fire that he was demonstrating at the market (he is in the centre of this picture).

Photographs by Mike Lenzner

The Nuorssjo is a fire used for two people to sleep next and will burn for 14 hours with very little maintenance.  20cms of Spruce branches are put on the ground as insulation to lay on.

In addition to translating his life as a reindeer herder for our German guests, I also spent a lot of time discussing fire making with him. He even cooked coffee  for our guests to drink.

He wanted me to return the next day to talk more and show him how to make fire with the bow-drill but unfortunately this was just not possible, but I have promised to do it next year.

Fire making with flint and steel was also being demonstrated, and visitors were able to try for themselves.

TOG 24

TOG 24; have you heard of them?…I hadn’t.

While in the UK I wanted to buy a down jacket and while in TK MAX in Newmarket I found a jacket made by a company called TOG 24 for £90.  Not familiar with the company I decided not to buy one.  I asked friends about this company but no one seemed to know much about them, but coincidentally while visiting my aunty in hospital in Peterborough, my cousin informed me that TOG 24 had a store about 2 minutes drive from the hospital, so I decided to pay them a visit to find out more about the jacket.

The jacket is called an “Everest” and has 80% Duck down, 20% Feather and 500 fill power.  Their temperature rating for the jacket was to about -30 degrees C.

When I told them I was thinking to buy from TK MAX they even offered a jacket at a slightly cheaper price, so I bought one.

The coldest temperature I have warn the jacket at so far is -22 with just at-shirt underneath and I was warm and comfortable.  The jacket is a little thicker than other more expensive makes and does not pack down so small, but for the price I am very very pleased!!