Recognizing the importance of furthering expertise in prehistoric heritage interpretation,

Nordic Winter Camp offers a truly immersive opportunity for advanced ancient skills practitioners, reenactors and anybody involved in prehistoric heritage interpretation, to take their involvement to a new level.

As a  dedicated group of prehistory enthusiasts, we will set up a winter base camp in a traditional Sami earth lodge, in the remote boreal landscape of southern Lapland. 

Joining together we form a clan to celebrate and explore the age-old wonders of winter living. 

In this unique setup, we will be living in a purely prehistoric way (no modern gear, metal, plastic or sanitary products etc.) 

For ten days, we are experiencing many aspects of prehistoric  mid-winter living,  based on archaeological data and traditional nordic crafts and life skills. 

This immersive format requires, wearing prehistoric clothes, working with authentic tools, eating unprocessed foods free of grains, sugar, alcohol or coffee. 

There will be no modern showers or sanitary facilities available. 

We will be practicing ancient crafts, share knowledge and skills, process reindeer meat,  go ice fishing and as a final highlight, take a multi-day trek on foot through the snowy Jämtland mountains. We will be travelling with snow shoes, wooden skis and sleds, camping and sleeping in the open under the stars. 

Are you interested in applying for this program? 

Then, please continue reading about conditions and details.

Warum lese ich hier alles nur auf Englisch?

Roots Camp findet in Spanien statt und wird international beworben. 

Es werden also auch nicht deutschsprachigeTeilnehmer mit von der Partie sein werden,

daher sprechen wir im Lager Englisch. 

What you need to be aware of:

If you come from outside of Scandinavia be aware that Jämtland Län offers remote and sparsely populated areas with marvellous nature, abundant wildlife and a truly wonderful winter landscape.

Nevertheless, this experience is not for the squeamish, as the climate can be extreme. It is characterized by subarctic temperatures  reaching minus 35 Celsius. Snowstorms occur regularly, especially in the Fjäll above the tree line, but on occasion there can also be warm spells with melting temperatures and rain.

A true challenge, to the mind and body, your skills and gear.

For this exclusive event, you need to bring your own, complete and functional prehistoric winter gear! (Costume and gear from the periods oft he Late Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age are applicable)

No modern materials will be allowed.

A complete list of what gear is admitted and necessary, will be available for download)

Certain items like sleeping mats and furs, snow shoes, wooden skis and burden sleds can be rented from the organizer. There will also be the opportunity to participate in a separate in-person preparational workshop on crafting winter equipment (on a weekend to be announced, which is also open to non-participants of Nordic Winter Camp) Furthermore telephone and video support can be given to participants

while assembling their gear for the project.

Furthermore you should also provide stone age food (reindeer meat will be supplied) for our common stock of supplies. A list of what is acceptable  food stuff will be available as download.

If you can not supply your own fare, there will be an additional fee.

You are thinking about joining our prehistoric living experience?

The following should give you all the information you need –

Anything left unanswered? Then contact us!

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To participate, you need to be at least 18 years of age, physically in good shape, be able to work in a tight group setting and take full responsibility for your own actions.

Apart from being a skilled ancient craft practitioner, you need to have outdoor camping experience and be familiar with winter conditions.  In camp we will have a relatively safe setting to experiment and test our gear before going on the trek. Your full participation will depend upon your skill and gear. Conditions are subject to change on site and the trek or your participation can be cancelled if conditions are extreme.

The safety of the group and each participant comes first.

The project will be documented by photo, video and text to be shared via lectures, presentations and other channels.

What will be happening at the Stone Age Winter Camp?

The Nordic Winter Camp format is laid out to be a varied and rich experience, offering many opportunities to really immerse yourself in a prehistoric winter situation and experience life as it would have been for our ancestors during this very special time of the year, thus furthering your knowledge of nordic skills enriching your scope for realistic heritage interpretation. Generally, the interpretation of history happens on an intellectual and academic level, while being important, this approach is lacking the level of direct and physical experience necessary for in-depth apprehension.

We will be discussing as well as practically applying experimental clothing, gear and ancestral skills to authentic winter conditions.

Nordic winter camp provides the opportunity to conduct specific experimental projects under immersive conditions and creates opportunity for participants to formulate and test hypothesis in a authentic real life scenario, thus enriching your knowledge of traditional nordic crafts and life skills and applying them to a prehistoric scenario.

We will be living together in a secluded shelter in the middle of the boreal forest. This is a so called Gohati,

a small cone shaped structure made of logs and covered with bark and earth, as it has been used by the local Sami for centuries. This single room lodge is simply furnished and rustic but provided

with a wood burning stove. 

We will process reindeer meat, provided by the local Sami and go ice fishing with our host Richard from wildspirit.se in order to stock up supplies for the trek.

High light of the camp will be an extended (3-5 days) back country trek into the mountains. On foot and equipped with snowshoes or wooden skis and sleds, we will travel above the tree line and get some marvellous views of those vast and pristine wild areas of Lapland.

During this trek we camp without shelter in the snow and get a real feel for what it means to be outdoors in winter equipped only with self-made stone age gear.

Nordic Winter Camp is organized by primitive skills practitioner Markus Klek (56) from Germany.
“After having spent decades studying indigenous and prehistoric winter living and crafting experimental gear,

I set out for the first time in 2023 to put my equipment and skills to a first severe and prolonged test by crossing the Black Forest (Germany) in mid-winter. Two more such extended solo-trips followed in swedish Lapland. Those were all amazing experiences. Nordic Winter Camp is a first launch to share these experiences in a group setting.  "

Markus has been practicing prehistoric technology and ancient crafts for over thirty years.

Starting out in the field while living in the USA during the early 1990`s, joining the early Rabbitstick and Wintercount primitive skills gatherings.

Today, he works together with various archaeology museums and other institutions around Europe in the field of prehistoric heritage interpretation. He also is the author of books and articles on primitive skills and traditional tanning techniques.
Markus is a certified Nature- and Heritage Guide (Interpret Europe).

During your stay we are forming a tight unit, so naturally you will need to be willing to integrate

into daily clan life, participate in daily tasks and take full responsible for your own doings.

Responsibility for injury, discomfort or sickness cannot be taken by the organizer.

Participants are required to have their own travel healthcare insurance. Make sure it covers helicopter pickup.

You are allowed to wear glasses and bring medical drugs if you need them. If you have any allergies or require special attention in anyway you need to let us know in advance.

There will be no refined sugar, alcohol, drugs or coffee in camp.
You should be able to speak English, as we are an international community and English is our common language in camp. 

How to register / Dates & Fees:

If you love what you have read so far and you would like to join, please contact us.

We will then schedule a video call to clarify open questions and get to know each other to find out if we are a match for this adventure. If everything is settled you can then officially register.

Participation fee:

€1200 per person

Maximum of 6 participants

Dates:

10 days, 20.2-1.3.2026

Location:

Sweden, Jämtlands Län, close to Ottsjö. 

Upon registration you will need to transfer your initial non-refundable deposit of €300.

The rest of the money needs to be transferred before 1. December 2025.

Cancelation is possible up to 1 month prior to your arrival for a refund of 50% of your fees. If you need to cancel later or leave the event prematurely, we cannot allow for a refund.

In case you are not able to bring stone age food we request an additional 150€.

Upon request an individual payment plan can be offered.

If you are interested in participating, have further questions about this format, or like to cooperate in any way, please apply directly to mail@palaeotechnik.eu

We are looking forward to receiving your Email. 

How to get there:

You can arrive with your own car, or public transportation.

The most convenient airports are Trondheim (N) or Östersund (S). From there train or bus connections will bring you to Undersåker (close to Åre). From there pick-ups can be sceduled.

 Note: conditions are still subject to change, as detailed planning for the event is still ongoing