Carlton woman vying for Arctic slot

CARLTON — The thought of sledding across the tundra of northern Sweden and Norway makes Nadine Lew Basile shiver with delight.

The Carlton-area resident is one of a handful of U.S. residents vying to join people from other countries on the Fjallraven Polar expedition. It’s an annual 300-kilometer trip across the frozen wilderness sponsored by Fjallraven, a maker of outdoor clothing and equipment.

Two spots will go to Americans. One will go to the entrant who submits the best package of essay, photos and video, the other to the one who draws the most votes at www.fjallravenpolar.com.

Basile is looking for help from her friends and neighbors in Yamhill County. Local people can vote by clicking a box on Basille’s page at www.fjallravenpolar.com/UserProfile/167 by Dec. 10.

“What I hope to experience during the Fjallraven Polar expedition is a good dose of wilderness,” she said. That will help her put her daily life in perspective, she said, “because that’s where things make the most sense when everything in the world is starting to seem crazy these days.”

She’s especially eager for the four days of dog sledding.

“I love dogs,” she said. For that reason, her web entry includes photos of her with canine companions.

Basille grew up near New York City, but has experience living in Alaska and working as a park ranger and fish biologist. She enjoys running, long-distance hiking and other outdoor activities.

Still, she said, she sometimes leaves winter sports to her husband, Jon, because she has never learned to deal properly with the cold. That would be another benefit of the Fjallraven Polar expedition: The company would supply her and teach her how to handle the elements.

“It would be an adventure!” she said. “I’d like to see the Northern Lights again, and see the Arctic before it’s gone.”

Basille and her husband moved to Oregon about eight years ago. They lived in the Dundee area before moving to the Carlton area three years ago.

They are organic farmers for Soter Vineyards on Mineral Springs Road. They work with grapes, tend two acres of vegetables and an acre of fruit orchard, raise chickens for eggs and meat, and manage a menagerie of goats, donkeys, sheep and alpacas.

The food they raise primarily helps feed the winery staff and supply winery events.

While she enjoys what she does at Soter Vineyards, she said enjoys traveling when she can. So when friend Lacey Jean of Vernonia won a spot on the Fjallraven Polar expedition last year, “I was very jealous,” she said.

“I watched her expedition on line,” she said, “and I decided I wanted to go, too.”