If you’ve ever watched even a single episode of Vikings on History Channel, you’ll know that the craft of knifemaking in Norway is an art form that is deeply rooted in their history and culture. Granted, the real Vikings tended to prefer the axes and longswords in battle. But when they weren’t raiding they were farming land and raising animals as part of their agrarian society. This is where knives really came into play.

What I Liked

Materials and Quality Craftsmanship

The Helle Mandra—like all Helle knives—are hand made in Holmedal, Norway, one at a time. I love this because it means my knife wasn’t mass produced in a factory. As a result of this meticulous, slow-batch handmade manufacturing, no two knives are exactly the same. From handle to blade, what I ultimately hold in my hand is a heritage-style knife that is the result of a long tradition.

Helle starts the process with a high-alloy steel that is surrounded by two layers of 18/8 stainless steel, making it triple laminated. The blade extends the full length of the knife from tip to grip. The handle portion of the blade consists of two slabs of curly grained birch. The tang can be seen along the edge of the entire handle of the knife. This is called “full tang construction”. The benefit of full-tang construction means you can apply greater force onto the blade without the risk of it snapping shut at the bolster or snapping it off completely, possible with a finger in an unfortunate location.

Weight

If you think all this sheer strength of blade and handle equates to a heavy knife you’d be wrong. The Helle Mandra tips my scale at a mere 70 grams, excluding the leather carrying sheath. Add the sheath and even then, the weight climbs to a scant 110 grams. My Victorinox Trekker knife weighs in at 129 grams.

Not that I’m comparing the two knives side by side because that’s impossible. I only point this out because I’ve been carrying a 129-gram knife for more than a decade. For the ultra-lighters out there, all grams count. Still, the weight of the Mandra feels hefty enough to inspire confidence when the moment calls.

Minimalistic Traditional Design

The Helle Mandra is a traditional design. It comes with a leather carrying sheath and thong. The sheath is also made painstakingly by hand, one at a time, in the Holmedahl factory. You can wear it around your neck or you can wear it looped through your belt.

Since I don’t wear a belt, and I didn’t like the feeling of a knife dangling from my neck neck, I looped it through the waistbelt of my backpack and centered in the middle. If you do this, you’ll just need to figure out for yourself where the placement needs to be so that it doesn’t interfere with your normal walking gate. In my case I had it pointing down the middle. It looks a lot more awkward than it is. I’ve also carried it laced through the sternum strap with good results.

Performance

I ran it through the usual paces that I would put a knife through. I carved a sharp point into a stick to see how precise and smooth it cut (it was very precise and smooth), sliced a sheet of birch bark in half that had been naturally shed from a tree to start a fire with wet wood, cut a climbing rope with an impossible knot tied by someone else’s negligence, freed a snagged fishing line, shaved off intricately thin slices of cheese and sausage for crackers on a trail lunch. As much as I wanted to dress a lake trout to see how easily the Helle Mandra made it, it just didn’t happen. When it comes to fishing, I’m on a multi-decades losing streak.

I even fashioned it into a spear by securing the knife to a stick with its leather thong. I didn’t kill anything with the spear, I was simply evaluating its potential for long-range weaponry as a means of fishing without a pole. Something one would see in an episode of Survivorman, for example.

The effect turned out to be more Hollywood than realism. The blade doesn’t have a barb and the blade secured with the leather thong isn’t stable enough to securely hold a fish to the bottom of the lake or river bed until you can grab it. Seriously, don’t try this at home and expect to harpoon a Walleye or a wild ungulate. While the blade is sufficient as a spear, the three-inch handle is too short to really gain purchase.  

That brings me to…

What could be Better

Short Handle

At three inches in length, the handle is short. Even for my small girly hands. For whittling a sharp point onto a stick—for roasting hot dogs or fashioning a tent stake to replace one that got bent (it performed great at this unfortunate task, too)—or cutting rope, fishing line and food, I didn’t need to really grip it that hard to gain a solid purchase. It both met and exceeded expectations in this department.

But when I had to put some weight and effort into a downward cut, the back neck of the blade protruded into the soft fleshy palm of my hand. I get that the Helle Mandra is intended to be a minimalist EDC knife, one made in collaboration with a professional survivalist, but it can still be minimalist with an extra two inches added to the handle.

Final Thoughts

A good knife is an indispensable piece of kit for nearly any situation and Helle crafted a solid knife in the Helle Mandra. The blade is strong, it’s capable of performing most of the knife-type situations you would encounter on the trail, at the campsite, in the boat, etc. Its blade is small, sharp and mighty.

For me, it’s the combination of the heritage style and high-quality materials and craftsmanship that makes me love this knife. In an era where so much gear is mass produced to meet the demands of stockholders and evolving trends, it’s a pleasure and honor to own a piece of gear that keeps it simple, traditional and made one at a time.

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Buff CoolNet UV+

If you’ve ever been on a hike without a Buff, then you know true misery. From mopping sweat to concealing greasy hair, the Buff is a hiking mainstay. Our new pandemic reality adds yet another use for a Buff: Trail facemask. The Buff CoolNet UV+ is the latest generation of Buffs in that it offers a considerably smaller environmental footprint: it’s made with 95% recycled REPREVE^® Performance Microfiber from plastic bottles. On the skin, it feels less like a microfiber and more like a lightweight silky fabric that I hardly felt. (< that’s a good thing). Bonus points to Buff for making these in Europe vs Asia. During hikes I wear it as a neck gaiter. When hikers pass near me, I just pull it up over my nose.

Osprey Tempest 40 Daypack

I have an 85-liter pack for long multi-day trips and travel. A 65-liter pack for 2-3-day hikes and travel. A wee 28-liter pack for dayhikes. But the women-specific Osprey Tempest 40 is my most versatile pack. It’s ideal for that sweet spot for long day hikes in which I need to pack gear for the unexpected: rain, sudden cold front moving in, extra food, and a camp stove and air mattress for when I find that beautiful spot perched high on a mountain overlooking a lake that I want to hang out a bit.  

This versatility comes with the features of a large pack—Osprey’s AirScape suspension with foam back panel for ideal moisture management, adjustable harness to fit any back length, hip belt lined with mesh for optimal comfort and air flow, functional and easy-to-reach pockets, exterior PowerMesh pocket for stashing a wet rainjacket, hiking pole attachment, compression straps and hydration sleeve—but delivered in a lightweight pack ideal for long dayhikes or an overnighter. Full review coming soon.

Helle Mandra Knife

The Norwegian sourced- and made Helle Mandra is a light-weight, full-tang knife in the category of “every day carry” or EDC if you’re a knife geek. Tipping the kitchen food scale at a petite 70 grams, this knife offers great versatility on the trail. It comes with a leather carrying sheath and thong that can be worn around your neck looped through the hip belt of your pack or hiking pants. Its cutting power is smooth and precise, easily taking on the slicing of sheets of birch bark in half that had been naturally shed from a tree to start a fire with wet wood, cutting a climbing rope with an impossible knot tied by someone else’s negligence, freeing a snagged fishing line and shaving intricately thin slices of cheese and sausage for crackers on a trail lunch. Check out the full review here.

Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve

There are many reasons I like the Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve—great fit for layering, long length that doesn’t bunch up under backpack waist belts, decent body temperature regulation. But the biggest and most important is that the fabric is made with InsectSheild bug barrier protection. Ticks are everywhere in Minnesota in the spring. Crawling on the ground on which I set my pack. Lurking on the bush during a bio break. Waiting in the tree branches to launch themselves onto me so they can burrow into my skin until they’re bloated and happy from the feast of my blood. InsectShield fuses and binds a formula of permethrin into fabric fibers that repels mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers, and midges. Per InsectShield, the repellency is “EPA-registered to last through 70 launderings—the expected lifetime of a garment.”

Gore H5 Active Hooded Jacket

When wearing a loaded backpack, the bulk and bunch of a rain jacket can translate to discomfort and hot spots. But not with the form-fitting Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket. It’s not skin-tight and it’s not baggy. As with all Gore products, it’s both waterproof and highly breathable. In a world where many manufacturers tote their rain jackets as being breathable, Gore is about the only one I have experienced to really achieve this feat. Aside from hitting the finer points that make a rain jacket a rain jacket, the Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket’s hood stays put in wind gusts, packs easily into its own pocket and is very lightweight, weighing in at a scant 8 ¼ ounces. Check out the full review here.

MSR PocketRocket Deluxe Stove Kit

In my opinion, day hikes that take all day are best rewarded with a hot lunch or cup of steaming tea or coffee. The MSR PocketRocket Deluxe Stove comes with the “Trail Mini Duo” cook set. It includes a 1.2 liter anodized aluminum pot, a 28 oz cold/heat safe bowl with a strainer lid (BPA free), and a handy “Mini LiteLifter” tool for gripping the pot when heated (it does not have its own handle). It is everything you will need to prepare food for 1-2 people. Even better, the kit nests together neatly into a compact 5 x 5.25 inch space. The piezo-igniter is a bigger-than-expected convenience and worked smashingly for our reviewer in a range of temperatures, wind, and rain. With 11000 BTUs / 3200 Watts of fire, you can boil water in a hurry. During field testing, our reviewer averaged 3:18 to boil one liter of water (in the included container) in a windless environment. Read full review here.

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Long Caye, an island off the coast of Belize on Glover’s Reef, checks off everything on my Gilligan’s Island wish list: Accommodations in a rustic, private thatch-roofed beach hut with ocean views. Rainwater collection system for drinking water and showers. No electricity, cell service or internet. Endless supply of coconut water for drinking. But with the luxuries of scuba diving, sea kayaking, surfing, paddle boarding and morning yoga.

Teva Original Universal Sandals

A warm-weather bucket list destination requires a pair of Teva Original Universal sandals on the Long Caye packing list. Not too much has changed from the original-original Teva sandal of 35 years ago (that’s a good thing) beyond new colors and designs. But it’s the straps that are a big stand out. Teva has made a substantial and impressive commitment to sustainability to reduce its environmental impact. In our current era of climate change, sustainability is somewhat of a pipe dream still for many companies. Teva, however, is walking the walk by embedding sustainability into its organizational culture. This goes a lot further for the environment than evolving colors and new designs. As of 2020, 100 percent of Teva’s iconic straps are now made from traceable, verifiable, plastic using REPREVE® yarn, which is made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles and other recycled content. This keeps plastic out of landfills, lakes, rivers and oceans while offsetting the use of petroleum and reducing greenhouse gasses. | teva.com

Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve Shirt

It’s not COVID-19 that keeps me up at night about traveling to Belize. Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, common sense and a little bit of Howard-Hughes’ishness will mitigate my risk. It’s the fauna. Specifically, the eight-legged variety. I Googled “Bugs of Belize” just to see what I was getting myself into. While I was disappointed that the Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve Shirt will not likely fend off the Jumping spider—of which there are over 5,000 species and can jump more than 50 times their own body length–it’s still on the Long Caye, Belize packing list. If any little mosquito bugger comes lands anywhere on my shirt, the Insect Shield® will politely repel them. But it also repels ticks, which are rampant in Minnesota in the spring. What makes it ideal for Belize is that TempraTech body temp activated thermoregulation technology will keep me comfortable on the warm days, it’s easy to hand-wash and it dries quickly. | royalrobbins.com

Helle Mândra Knife

I signed up to review the Helle Mândra Knife for its size, versatility and cutting power as a critical packing list item for backpacking and sea kayaking. I now realize its potential to be on the Long Caye, Belize packing list. The Mandra knife was designed in cooperation with Les Stroud (aka Survivorman). It is a full tang knife with a petite but menacing 2.7-inch blade, making it excellent for slicing and—if it comes to it— fending off large hairy spiders with eight eyes who can jump up to fifty times their body length. Oh who am I kidding? If I encounter one of those things, I’ll run shrieking in terror the other way. I like that the knife comes with a hand-sewn leather sheath that can be hung from a neck lanyard. | helle.com

Julbo Spark Sunglasses

The sun shines a lot on Long Caye, Belize and the Julbo Spark made the packing list. These full-coverage sunglass are made with REACTIVE All Around 2-3 Photochromic lenses. This means that the lens gets darker or lighter as light conditions change. When I’m indoors, or outside when it’s cloudy, they look like they’re just normal tinted eye glasses. But when outside in the blazing sun, the lenses transform into full-on, sun-protection sunglasses. Clarity of the lenses is very crisp. | julbo.com

DESO Fontanillis Hoodie 

The textile industry is the second greatest polluter of local freshwater in the world. Add in unethical labor practices and unsustainable production and suddenly you may vow to never shop again. DESO Apparel was a brand that stood out for me at the 2020 Outdoor Retailer Winter Show. They make all make all their garments in the heart of San Francisco, California, in small batches by experienced tailors, who are paid a livable wage. In addition, DESO aims to source all materials and manufacturing withing a 30-mile radius to reduce their carbon footprint and are working on knitting their own fabrics. To me, that is the breed-standard of a sustainable brand. Since Long Caye is an eco-island, the snuggly eco-friendly DESO Fontanillis hoodie made the packing list. The soft stretchy Polyester and Spandex blend will be perfect for wearing on the plane, on the boat to Long Caye and for island nights when the cool breeze blows off the ocean and for morning yoga classes on the beach. | desosupply.com

Title Nine Namaka High Neck Bikini Top and Holy Grail Bikini Bottom 2.0

No matter your age or size, you can and should wear bikinis because your body is beautiful and you should be proud. I don’t have the body that I had when I was twenty-five and living in Southern California. These days I have the body of a fif—woman of a certain age—and I’m proud of it, even if the six-pack I had in my twenties is hidden under a case of beer and my once-chiseled thighs are lined with a thin layer of cellulite that seems to get thicker each year. I’m one COVID-19 case from my ideal weight for Belize! That’s why I love the Title Nine Namaka High Neck Bikini Top and Holy Grail Bikini Bottom 2.0. The Holy Grail 2.0 bottoms provide better coverage in the front and the rear, meaning that when I’m soaking up the sun on a beach chair my bits and body parts will remain left to the imagination rather than in your face ala Jennifer-Lopez-Hustlers-style. They also won’t feel bunchy under my wetsuit when I’m surfing or scuba diving. The Namaka High Neck Bikini Top is a halter-style top that will keep the blazing Long Caye sun from scorching the delicate epidermis of my pasty-white Minnesotan.  décolletage. I think the crochet’d racerback is a fun touch. | titlenine.com

Title Nine Paddle Board Swim Skirt

To be clear, the Title Nine Paddle Board Swim Skirt is not the swim skirt my grandmother sported in family photos circa 1920. It offers a nice amount of coverage while not completely covering me up. It has an integrated bikini brief so it’s meant to be worn as a swimsuit bottom. Some “swim skirts” are intended to be pulled over bikini bottoms. These really aren’t but I did test this method of cover-up and it worked. Kind of. I’ll use this for paddle boarding (as per the name) and for when I want to walk about the beach or travel from beach chair to cabana on Long Caye. | titlenine.com

Title Nine Double Dare Dress

If it seems like I’m Title Nine-heavy on this trip, it’s because Grit and Gear is a women-centric organization that promotes and elevates the accomplishments of women in the outdoor industry. Title Nine is one of my favorite women-founded, women-led companies. The Title Nine Double Dare Dress is a snappy little frock for dinner and cocktails in the communal palapa. But the real reason I’m packing it because of its SwiftSnap snap at the hem. With just a snap, it converts to a baggy romper that resists blowing wind. Or, if I was traveling someplace where I needed to jump on a scooter or bike I’m “covered”. It’s made from a soft, wrinkle-free fabric which makes it ideal for travel and it dries quickly on its own if it needs to be handwashed in a hotel bathroom sink. Its semi-fitted so I can also use it as a beach cover-up. | titlenine.com

Osprey Tempest 40

The journey to Belize from Minneapolis requires a connection of about 45 minutes in Atlanta. The flight arrives in Belize around noon on Friday. Delta Airlines only has one flight per day. The boat from Belize City to Long Caye departs around 7am on Saturday. The boat only goes out to the island once per week. Lots of variables that equal a heightened risk for lost luggage that likely won’t catch up to me. So I’m carrying all my clothes and necessities with me in an Osprey Tempest 40. Forty liters is ideal because its large enough to carry everything I need but small enough to fit in the airplane’s overhead bin. Note: I’m carrying the Helle Mândra Knife in a Deuter Helion 80, is a cavernous, big-gear hauling wheeled Sherpa for travel on land, air and sea—that was sadly discontinued. | ospreypacks.com

Slickrock Adventures

The outfit that is making it all happen. So, really, Slickrock Adventures counts as a Long Caye, Belize packing list item. I have always shied away from any kind of guided travel because I like to get away from crowds. They own Long Caye on Glover’s Reef and are committed to maintaining it as an eco-friendly island. Their communication updates have been top-notch and timely, they arrange for transport from the Belize City airport, a get-to-know-your-fellow-islander-for-six-days happy hour at the hotel in Belize City, and provide transport to and from Long Caye. On the island they offer every activity I love to do in warm-weather destinations but they don’t force you to do any of it. Their role is to put it out there. If I want to partake, I can. If I want to hang out in my thatched-roof hut all day with a book, I can. Full disclosure: I paid for this trip out of my own pocket. No media discounts, no kick-backs, nothing. Bonus points that beer is included in the price. | slickrock.com

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