The freezing temperatures were unbearable and they had to sleep with chocolate bars under their arms, but the group of Maltese adventurers who took part in the Arctic Survival Challenge expedition in aid of charity are back and all in one piece.

It was back to basics for a group of 17 Maltese adventurers who braved the elements for a whole week and attempted to survive out in the open, in northern Sweden, just 150 km south of the Arctic Circle.

The participants had to make do with all the things that we tend to take for granted such as tap water: “We had to get water, every morning, from a frozen lake. First you have to pick the ice to dig a hole, then pail out the water, boil it, wait for it to go tepid, and only then quench your thirst,” said Winston Pirotta, 37, one of the participants taking part in the Arctic Survival Challenge expedition in aid of SPCA.

In temperatures of at times -25°C, they had no central heating luxuries. Instead they had to fell dead trees and cut them into logs for fire: “We soon learnt how to recognise which trees are good for woodfire – from the bark, the texture, the smell. And then of course we had our movie moments, when we called out ‘Timber!’ each time we axed a tree,” said Mr Pirotta.

The calls of Mother Nature were also executed in the middle of the glorious outdoors: “The toilet was, um, a hole in the snow, dug behind a tree and covered with two planks.” Comfortable? “Well, let’s just say that you adapt so much that after a couple of days you’re not embarrassed anymore.”

The challenge to survive in the wilderness of the Arctic Circle was no mean feat. The cold was such that there was no need for fridges or freezers – anything left outside froze within a matter of seconds. “One of us left her boots outside during the night and in the morning found the shoelaces all frozen,” said Mr Pirotta.

The adventure, which took place in the wilderness, 160km away from the nearest town, started out in a traditional log cabin with no electricity – just a wood burner – to give the participants time to acclimatise to the cold.

From there, with just a 25-litre rucksack containing all their needs, they moved out to the survival phase of the expedition where they had to build their night shelters from scratch. This involved shovelling snow, raising tents, cutting down dead trees to build roof covers and building a snow-hole.

In between, the participants tried their hand at cross-country skiing, snow-mobiling and husky sledging. “The husky sledging was something out of this world. You have these four slight-but-so-strong dogs, pulling a weight of over 200 kg of weight, and yet you have to keep pressing the break as otherwise they’d just fly off,” said Mr Pirotta.

On one of their area-reconnaissance expeditions, the team went on a reindeer farm in Lapland, inhabited by the native Sami. There, Mr Pirotta spoke to one of the herdsmen, who told him how he had heard of mobile phones and the internet but he didn’t need them: “He kept explaining to me how he was simply very happy with his reindeers out there in the scenic landscape. What impressed was the fact that he was 36-years old, my age, and he looked so much at peace and happy.”

Letting go of technology was another challenge faced by the participants: “This conversation with the Sami gentlemen really put things into perspective. I mean, there I was, with the mobile battery under my arm to make sure it didn’t freeze, fearing that I’d lose contact with the world,” he said.

Food was not exactly gourmet. “We lived off vacuum packed, military-style rations. The taste was horribly foul but they contained all the necessary proteins and vitamins needed for survival. And of course, because they were bean based, they did compliment the heating power at night time,” he joked.

Their energies had to be boosted every now and then with chocolate bars. At night time, the Mars chocolate bars had to be tucked in the most awkward of places for body warmth, in order to prevent their freezing: “Well you know, like under the arms, and err, other warm spots, to ensure that by the morning they’re still edible,” he said.

At night time, they took it in turns to tend to the fire so as to ensure that the temperature inside their tepee and ice-hut did not fall to precarious levels.

The only sour note of the whole challenge proved to be the construction of a snow-hole. As reported in The Sunday Times yesterday, this ended with a near-fatal accident, when the snow-hole collapsed and one of the participants digging inside at the time was trapped under three feet of compact snow.

“It was something which could have gone terribly wrong but luckily didn’t. We were completely shocked, and in fact the expedition leader suggested we retreat back to the log cabin for that night. But even though the morale was low, we wanted to go keep on going – and for that night we slept outside under the cover of tree branches, at -25°C,” said Mr Pirotta.

The tears, the stress and the shock of the trauma took a turn for the better when the injured participants came back from the hospital after having been given the all-clear. On their last night they were even lucky enough to see the Northern Lights: “We were treated to an hour of nature’s spectacles. It was unbelievably surreal,” said Mr Pirotta.

To take part in the challenge, each participant had to raise some €3,000 in order to qualify to take part, which Mr Pirotta collected thanks to sponsors Computime, STL computers and Bowline Ltd. With the money being fundraised the SPCA Malta would be able to start carrying out a much needed refurbishment of its Floriana quarters, as well as plan new premises in Ta’ Qali.

In the meantime Mr Pirotta claims he can’t get enough of the little comforts which we take for granted, like a cup of steaming hot cappuccino: “We really live in such luxury don’t we?” he grinned. Any other adventures on the horizon? “For now, I just plan to surprise my wife and take her on a husky-sledging holiday,” he said. Clearly he still has not had his fill of the Arctic Circle.

For more information check out www.wix.com/wpirotta/arctic-challenge. Donations to the SPCA Malta can be made through www.spcamalta.org or SMS 5061 8199 €4.19 or 5061 9299 €10.49.