In reply to Denni:
> (In reply to Calum Nicoll)
>
> I never understand these "how fit do I need to be" questions.
> So if someone says, you need to be able to run 10k in so many minutes, would you get yourself that fit then think you have reached the fitness level?
>
> Get as fit as you can possibly be to the point where you don't think you can be fitter then try to maintain that standard for as long as you think you'll be going away to harsh environments, at least then you know that you've given yourself a fighting chance.
Just get fit as possible and then go anyway - That might be valid if easy escape options are there. However, I would find it undesirable to discover that I'm not fit enough/going to take a lot longer than I thought, and thus starve/be rescued/have to abandon early, in the interior. If my chances are very low, it's better to know beforehand.
While I could undoubtably buy a sled and trek about the cairngorms in winter, or go over somewhere glaciated in europe, there's also a considerable investment in sleds and stuff just to get to that point.
So what I'm really looking for is someone to say, I did X expedition, before it I could pull 4 tyres for 20km in 4 hours on tarmac, or something like that, so I get an idea of how far off I am. Or even better to say it typically takes X force to pull a 80kg sled at X speed (I know this massively depends on snow conditions etc, a ballpoint figure).
For a benchmark of where I'm at, I carried a rucsac that initially weighed about 40kg for 600km this summer, at it's heaviest, I was able to carry it for about 15km of mountainous terrain/day. When it got light, about 12kg, we could do 50-60km of flatter terrain/day.