Bundle up!
Let’s look at the equipment we have used in the past when running in cold climates.
We have run several times in Artic / Antartic settings. See the posts about our races below:
- The Polar Circle Marathon in Greenland
- The Frozen Lake Marathon in Norway (post coming soon)
- The Antarctica Marathon in Antarctica (post coming soon)
- The Artic Marathon in Lapland, Finland (post coming soon)
Based on Albatros adventure marathons’ recommendations, our experience, and a lot (and I mean, a lot 🤯) of searches on the internet, we ended up with the following:
List of equipment:
- Body base/inner layer: needs to transport sweat away from your body. We picked Helly Hansen’s dry stripe crew.
- Body mid layer: needs to insulate, provide warmth and breathability. We picked Salomon’s explore seamless half zip.
- Body top/outer layer: weather protective. Needs to be wind-proof. We went for Arc’teryx shoft shell jackets.
- Legs outer layer: needs to be wind-proof. We picked Salomon’s ones.
- Legs inner layer: winter thighs. Salomon’s thighs as well.
- Gloves: inner and outer gloves. Our internal gloves we bought from Gorewear, the external ones were Salomon. We also bought Salomon’s mittens, which I highly recommend!
- Goretex running shoes: In our case, Brock’s Ghost.
- Spikes – we have a more light ones and a heavy ones. The heavy ones are mandatory for races like the Frozen Lake Marathon or the Polar Circle Marathon, as you need to run over ice during long distances. For the Artic Marathon in Lapland, light spikes will suffice.
- Shoe protectors
- Socks: two pairs of winter socks (to be able to change them if they get wet). Ours were smartwool.
- Winter hats/caps. A winter hat is always necessary! For me, a ponytail one 👩🦰
- “Cold Avengers“: masks to work/do sport in extremely cold weather that made us look like “star wars” villains.
- Sunglasses
- Neck protectors: Ours were from Buff.
- Backpack: A 5-10 liter goretex backpack. We bought a Salomon 10 liter one.
- Trekking boots: For trekking / before and after the race, it’s important to have good trekking boots. Ours were Meindl’s solden.
Notes
🚨 No cotton in arctic climate!
🧊 Bring all-round wind protection and remember that the “less is more” does not apply: if you get cold, it is difficult to get warm.
⚠️ For some races, spikes are mandatory, and the race officials have the right to stop you if you are not dressed properly.
In the Polar Artic Circle, we ended up running on a bad day: it was windy and the sky was clouded; we did not see the sun. The equipment proved worthy of the feat: without it, we would have not been able to finish. Special mention to my Salomon mittens: it was the first time in my life that my hands would not get cold.
In the Frozen Lake Marathon, however, we ran on a very sunny day. The sunglasses became necessary!