I will spend around 4 weeks in far-north Scandinavia. I am wondering what I should take there. I am expecting freezing weather and little daytime. I will do some outside work, also in the snow, e.g. some builsing maintainance and cleaning snow.
I have not been that far north yet, so what kind of clotting should I bring specifically? Also, are there some general things I should consider?
Extra mittens and gloves. If you’re working otdoors, you’ll appreciate keeping your hands warm.
When I worked in circumstances like that, I used super large mittens, and they were worth it. You should pick up mittens that have a leather outer shell, removable soft inner mittens and enough space for you to also use extra gloves inside. In cold weather (-25 °C), I used all three layers. When it was warmer (-10 °C), I just used the outer two layers.
When the temperature begins to approach zero, sunshine can melt some of the snow during the day, which will make your mittens wet and your life miserable. For situations like that, you should make sure the outer layer of your leather mittens can deal with water. If that’s not an option, you should bring some spare mittens with you. When the mittens and gloves get wet, you need to try to dry them during breaks. After work, hang them to dry in a warm place, so that they will be ready for the next day.
If all of these fail, you’ll be working with wet hands all day long. Doing that for a few days is annoying, but not a huge deal as long as you keep your hands warm enough. However, prolonged exposure to wet gloves began to dry my skin, so I had to get some hand lotion to fix that. If you have sensitive skin like that, buy some hand lotion from the nearest supermarket.
On the topic of hand lotion, if you’re wondering what to buy, I can recommend CeraVe, their hand cream smells neutral and is the only one I’ve found that doesn’t leave my hands feeling greasy.