How to Camp in the Arctic

Nate Zoller carries a red shortboard and a rolled-up sleeping pad through snowy terrain near a beach. Bright-colored tents are visible in the background, along with the ocean.

If you’re considering surfing in the arctic, you had better come prepared. Our crew spent months prepping for this journey into the ice. Multiple packing lists, considering every scenario and weatherbound cold snap. Our groundwork got us to point A, but it was the expedition towards point B where the real challenges began.

A flat-lay arrangement of essential winter surfing gear on a wooden dock. Includes a bright orange sleeping bag, wetsuit, surfboard, winter clothing, and various camping tools.

Packing List

Layering is essential when the air is in the 20's and you're active. Hiking, setting up camp and time spent in a thermal tent change your core body temp, requiring different types of clothing that are synced.

Necessities

Two pairs of gloves in case one tears or is lost. No glove, no love (usage of hands).
Water/electrolytes: dehydration happens fast when your body is fighting to stay warm all day.
Arctic Ice Muck Boots with wool socks: These insulated boots will save your feet from freezing and will prevent slipping on black ice. The only shoes you will need.
Satellite phone: Your lifeline in case of emergencies.
Arctic Beer: When morale is dipping, send a round of beers among the crew and see what happens.
Gore-Tex shell pants: When you are sitting on the beach in the Arctic, your normal insulated pants won’t cut it. Put a Gore-Tex shell over your pants and the difference in warmth is astounding.
Face Buff: hide behind this when the going gets tough, your face will thank you later.
Wet/Dry bag: Keep your towel and clothes bone dry while you surf.
First Aid Kit: When you go this far outside of your comfort zone sometimes the road fights back. Be prepared with a safety kit.
Camping gear: Arctic level sub-zero sleeping bag. Insulated sleeping pad. Blow up pillow. Arctic “hot tent.”

A surfer in a wetsuit carves across a cold wave, with a snowy coastline in the background.

Wetsuits

6/5mm with hood, 8mm booties, 7mm crab claw gloves. New wetsuits preferred for maximum warmth. Try everything on before you leave for your trip. Bring an extra full suit if you have enough room in your boardbag (helps to have one dry suit at all times).

Surfboards

You will weigh around 7 pounds more with the full wetsuit kit on. Plain and simple, you need more volume in your boards when wearing this much rubber. The couple extra liters of volume counteracts the stiffness of your paddle and the board-sinking weight of your neoprene. General rule of thumb: 1 small wave board (fish), 1 shortboard, 1 step up. Bring Solarezfor small ding repairs.

You might not make it through the night without a stove tent in the arctic tundra. These insulated “hot tents” are built to endure some of the harshest conditions on earth. Make sure to bring plenty of dry firewood and kindling inside the tent for the night. Once the stove is filled with embers, the room transforms...

Inside a snow-covered tent, a person rests in a bright orange sleeping bag. Surrounding items include snow boots, layers of clothing, and gear for cold-weather camping.

With wetsuits now capable of withstanding below-freezing temperatures, the scope of the surf trip has expanded dramatically. We now find ourselves looking for waves in the far reaches of the globe—regions that most would doubt even have surf. This year we ventured North of Nord. Well into the depths of the Arctic Circle.

Three surfers in cold-weather gear gather around a small campfire on a rocky, snow-patched terrain.

From the moment we landed, the weather was the trip’s main character. We strapped our boards to the roof of our guide Carlos’s Jetta wagon, outside this tiny, remote airport, with teeth chattering under a sky lit by the aurora borealis. Bitter, subzero wind gusts sent a clear message that this would be no ordinary surf mission.

A lone surfer walks across a snowy landscape, carrying a white surfboard. The backdrop showcases rugged, snow-covered rocky terrain under a cloudy sky.

A snow-covered marina with fishing boats docked on either side. A person dressed warmly holds a surfboard, gazing upward, surrounded by icy conditions and a calm harbor.

A surfer in a full wetsuit and holding a bright red surfboard leaps off a boat into icy water, with another person watching from the boat. The background features a snowy shoreline.

Two people approach a coastline blanketed in snow, each carrying a surfboard. In the distance, gentle ocean waves roll towards the shore, with a small red cabin visible on the side.

Two surfers walk across snow-covered ground with surfboards under cloudy skies. One carries a red shortboard, while the other has a white longboard.

We drove hours across Norway’s largest fjord to get to reach our base, a small village where we spent nine days scouring the coast for surf. Battling snow, sleet, and howling winds, we sledded our gear into surf zones too rugged for vehicles, camped on windswept beaches, and navigated the highs and lows of hunting waves in an unpredictable sea.

Although we’re not one to point it out on a map, it felt right to share some essential insights from the arctic. Hard earned truths born out of the darkest corners of adventure. That’s the reality of life on the road: you live, you learn, and hopefully you find yourself getting barreled in remote places, thousands of miles from the nearest surf shop.

A winding road stretches through a vast snowy landscape, with mountains in the distance under a dramatic sky. A car carrying surfboards travels the road.

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