Dispatches & Blogs

After a good day of skiing the team is back in Longyearbyen. They skied through Bolterdalen from last night's campsite which is a broad valley with mountains on either side. Along the way they passed dogsled tracks and, towards the end, a couple of dogsled kennels. Finally they skied to the road and had a transfer back to town. Ah, the comforts of being back in town. It is a great feeling to take a hot shower and have a good meal prepared for you. No need to melt snow for w

Today was a challenging but good day for our team in Svalbard. The weather was clear and calm and the terrain was beautiful. They departed Reindalen and headed up a valley and then over a mountain pass. The ascent included traversing several side slopes, which, depending on the slope and on your sled, can sometimes cause the sled to roll. While this is not dangerous it is a serious pain in the butt. It requires you to stop, back up, roll your sled over, and then start skiing

Descending the Rugaasfonna Snowfield and Kokbreen Glacier Yesterday the team traveled up the Dronbreen Glacier. They ascended around 1800 ft / 550m to reach a mountain pass and then descended a little before making camp. Traveling on a glacier often requires being in a rope team to protect the skiers from crevasses. This is exciting, but it also requires a lot of communication and plenty of attention to the rope. It involves a whole new set of skills that, once learned, allo

On Sunday our team descended the backside of the glacier they had climbed up the day before. Despite their downhill course, their pace...

Day 3 was the toughest one yet for our team. They climbed 1,500' up a glacier and had to contend with some challenging weather. Cloudy...

The team broke camp for the first time this morning. They were treated to another beautiful day on Svalbard. They had a great day skiing...

After spending a couple days preparing for the journey in the beautiful town of Longyearbyen, our team hit the trail yesterday morning....

Happy Birthday, Peter! Quite the epic end to their journey... The team began the day with a hearty breakfast of cottage cheese, porridge...

The team skied 19 km today, first across the glacial plateau, then descending 900 m to sea level. There were some fairly steep drops on...

The day began with a snow cat transfer out of Longyearbyen, past the frequently traveled areas of Adventdalen to the terminal moraine...