When in 2022 my best friend Jonas asked me if I’d like to cross Svalbard with a couple of friends and create a movie while doing so, this is probably where it all began. Let’s back up a bit.
Jonas and I started long distance trails in 2018 with the Cape Wrath Trail, a wild, unmarked 400-kilometer hike through the Scottish highlands. Despite thinking this could be too much for a first multi-week hike we managed to complete it and reached Cape Wrath — a beautiful place definitely worth a visit — on the northern end of Scotland.
The year after came a two-week hike through the balkans, followed by our longest trip to date: 25 days and 500 kilometers hiking through the pyrenees, from the mediterranean sea to Andorra and back again. This is where our first movie came to life.
Only one of our numerous beautiful campspots in the Pyrenees. Watch the whole movie HERE!
Photo: Moritz Krause
Our mission on this pyrenees-trip was to avoid any single-use-plastic from beginning to end. For us this meant a great effort in preparation, especially planning our meals. One part of this for example was to prepare around 100 cereal bars with ingredients bought in zero-plastic stores, that would last the whole trip. The documentary film “Pyrenees without Plastic” is available free to watch HERE.
It was at this time when Jonas got accepted to the Arctic Nature Guide program on Svalbard. In about a year he would learn everything important to safely guide people through arctic terrain, protecting them from threats such as hypothermia or polar bears. And while living there he thought “Hey, why not cross Svalbard by length and make a movie about it”.
Just a regular short little break on the ice, while discussing where to go and how we'll be safe from polar bears out there.
Photo: Jonas Haass
Jonas and I had done a couple of movies together up until this point, and this was the beginning of what would be our biggest project by far! For over one and a half years we (mostly Jonas) would plan the whole trip, contact possible sponsors and put together a team of Arctic Nature Guides. His hard work payed off, and ultimately we had the fundings to do this trip.
While Jonas did the planning, funding and basically all the “production”-elements of this movie project, I put great effort in getting my technical equipment ready for a self-powered, 40 day ski-trip in the arctic. 40 days living out of a sled, sleeping only in tents, having no access to “traditional” electricity (and by that I mean power coming out of the wall) — all of that requires careful and extensive planning with lots of trial and error involved. After having finished this trip I would say I’ve succeeded in this matter, and the story of how I managed to bring this film together on a technical level is surely a topic for a whole other story. More on this soon!
THE HARD FACTS
700 km distance on skis
40 days out in the wild
20 days of midnight sun
55 hours of video footage
1575 hours of audio footage
Photo: Random Svalbard Tourist
In the end this was an adventure for the books, a trip I won’t forget and thanks to the effort of many people a trip that you can follow as well! My film “End to End Svalbard” will go live soon, and if you follow any of our team or me on social media you’ll see when and where to watch it. In the meantime, I invite you to watch the trailer HERE.
