I don't think it will happen this season, but if next winter (2025/26) produces a lot of cold weather without snow, I think it would be cool to do a 4 day, three night nordic skating trip. Ideally, I'd choose a route, skate 5-6 miles during the day, set up camp on the ice by the shore, then wake in the morning, have breakfast, pack up camp, and head out.

I would envision pulling my gear in a pulk (sled). Biggest question is would I try and cold camp, which is a ligher load, or do a hot tent?

Additionally, I don't have nordic skates, which are supposedly easier to skate in than hockey skates, especially when skating 5-6 miles a day, or even more. Skating, even when pulling a sled, is faster than canoeing.

Has anybody done anything like this?

mnboy68: "I don't think it will happen this season, but if next winter (2025/26) produces a lot of cold weather without snow, I think it would be cool to do a 4 day, three night nordic skating trip. Ideally, I'd choose a route, skate 5-6 miles during the day, set up camp on the ice by the shore, then wake in the morning, have breakfast, pack up camp, and head out.

I would envision pulling my gear in a pulk (sled). Biggest question is would I try and cold camp, which is a ligher load, or do a hot tent?

Additionally, I don't have nordic skates, which are supposedly easier to skate in than hockey skates, especially when skating 5-6 miles a day, or even more. Skating, even when pulling a sled, is faster than canoeing.

Has anybody done anything like this?"

Have you ever skated while pulling a heavy sled? I would probably do some trial runs of that this Winter somewhere to see if that's even something you want to attempt. It's a novel idea but seems like it opens up more opportunity to get injured than anything. If 5-6 miles is your plan, just strap on some spikes and walk the ice. On bare ice, you could cover that distance in 2-3 hours. Maybe pack the skates in your duffel and bring them out once you make camp.

Yes. Good Idea. I'm a bit older, but a strong skater. Will probably go to Bda Mka Ska (Lake Calhoun) this weekend and give it a go. On ice, I'm hoping the friction is minimal.

Fun idea, but I agree with Alex and you should do some preliminary testing in a controlled environment. Just thinking through the idea, I think the hard part (if on ice skates) would be to get the momentum up to pull the sled. I have a hard enough time doing it with skis on. So if I were doing it, I would lean to doing a cold camp and having everything packed in a backpack and skip the sled.

But, a trip like this really hinges on the lakes being clear or nearly clear of snow. If your only aid in transportation is the ice skates (no skies, no snowshoes) what happens if it snows while you are out camping? Can you walk back all the distance you have already skated?

As far as if anyone else has done this thing, I can only imagin the Norwegians have done this pleanty of times. Might wanna see if there are any trip reports from that neck of the world that do what you want to do.