Friday, March 18, 2011 - Blog on a Log

Wild Adventures: Overnighter On Lake Winnipeg

Here at Wilderness Supply we love outfitting people with the gear to tackle their adventures--and we love hearing about those adventures afterward!  Ken Stojak recently sent us a great email about an overnight trip on Lake Winnipeg in his new The North Face Mountain 35 tent, complete with photos!  Reprinted here with permission.

Our original plan was to ski across the lake from Gimli to Grand Beach but we were unsuccessful in locating a shuttle to pick us up so we decided to ski out half way, camp and ski back the next day to where we left the car.

The weather was quite bad leaving Gimli at 14:00 Saturday. Strong winds from the NNW. We set out and at approx 6 km from shore we came along a huge ice ridge which we thought would provide ideal coverage against the elements. We decided to look for an ideal spot to set up the North Face Mountain 35 tent I recently purchased from you.

While I pitched the tent, Tony began carving out sections of hard packed snow to build more of a wind break. The tent set up easily - even in the strong winds (30km). We cooked/made tea in the front vestibule and vented thru the front and roof to ensure the condensation would leave. We got to bed early and would occasionally be woken with the ice shifting/cracking which actually sounded like thunder. Little did I know that Tony came across slush on the opposite side of the ice ridge!!!

The wind eventually died down somewhere around 22:00 and stayed that way until 08:00. We slept about 14 hours comfortably in the -31c wind chilled temperature. WHAT A GREAT TENT!!!!!!!

Have a story about your wild adventures?  We'd love to hear it!  Drop us a line at info@wildernesssupply.ca or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.