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Our Polar Preparation and Polar Training Courses have been designed to develop the skills and techniques you'll need during a polar expedition and to give you greater confidence in your judgment and decision-making in the polar environment. Most participants are planning either a Greenland Ice Cap crossing or a last-degree trip to the North or South Pole. Our 'Arctic Survival Skills' course is open to anyone wanting to hone their wilderness skills.
- 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
A significant part of the preparation course is spent in the field — navigating, moving on skis whilst dragging sleds, establishing camp protocols and crevasse-rescue techniques — alongside classroom sessions on fundraising, equipment selection and expedition planning. There is an overnight mini-expedition survival challenge towards the end of the week, which most people choose (but do not have to) complete solo. The course is modular, with navigation, kit & clothing selection, cold-injury prevention, risk & safety management and polar communications recommended at minimum.
Advanced Polar Training Course
We assume those opting for the Polar Training Courses have already honed their basic skills and want to test themselves and their equipment in an accessible polar environment with expert advice to hand. It is essentially an intensive mini-expedition across the Arctic tundra, where you look after yourself and handle survival challenges and emergency scenarios along the way. Recommended for those confident in their expeditionary skills and fitness.
Arctic Survival Course
Described in more detail in our bushcraft and survival section, this course is almost the opposite of the advanced training course: participants don't cover large distances but rather develop bushcraft-style survival skills for the Arctic terrain. You can move by ski or snowshoe, so ski technique isn't critical, but you need to be comfortable being outside with minimal shelter or equipment for days at a time.
Why train with CAPE Lapland?
Our courses are run by Pasi Ikonen, a highly experienced Arctic guide and polar survival expert who has traversed Greenland and was the first Finn to ski unsupported to the South Pole; he is a board member of Survival Guild Finland. Pasi is supported by at least one additional 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 expeditionary conditions more closely than anywhere else in mainland Europe.
