3 Countries Arctic Ski Expedition
Overview
| Duration: | 8 days (incl. travel), 6 days on the snow |
| Grade: | Difficult to Strenuous (Talk to us if you have concerns about fitness) |
| Departure date: | > 2nd-9th March 2025 tbc. FULL – WAIT LIST ONLY > 3rd-10th March 2026 Exact dates tbc |
| Group size: | 9 people max |
| Fees: | €2,990pp + flights €450 approx Fees may be paid in instalments |
| Additional costs: | Flights (approx €450 ex Ireland), excursions, travel insurance. |
Highlights
- Arctic Exploration
- Remote, off-grid wilderness
- Awe-inspiring Arctic tundra
- Hanging glaciers and granite rock walls
- Frozen lakes and deep snowdrifts
- Surreal sunsets
- Northern Lights potential
What`s included
- All in-country fees
- Pre-departure training in advance of the trip
- All specialist equipment hire: skis/sleeping bags/jackets/pulks etc
- All meals
- Internal transfers
- Accommodation per itinerary PLUS back-up poor weather accommodation
- Expert tuition & guiding
- 20% discount on purchases in our store
3 Countries ARCTIC Ski Expedition
Nordic backcountry ski tour hut-to-hut through Arctic Tundra: 3 Countries Arctic Ski Expedition.
Join us on this surreal experience of a lifetime! You will be picked up from the airport by private coach and travel through scenic countryside to our cosy base. Here you will be greeted by your guides who will be looking after you throughout this epic adventure. All food and specialist equipment is included in your trip price, there are no hidden extras.
After a full day of training and planning activities, together, we will take on a 5-day backcountry ski circuit, travelling through Finland, Norway and Sweden. Including travel days, this is an 8-day trip. See outline itinerary below.
Traveling as a self-sufficient team, we will be skiing from hut to cosy hut across the bewitching and awe-inspiring Arctic tundra. This stark, sometimes unforgiving, yet beautiful landscape gives us the opportunity to enhance our backcountry winter skills, where each participant plays a vital role in the team’s success.
Along the way we will ski past hanging glaciers and granite rock walls, across massive frozen lakes and deep snowdrifts.
Your sense of space, distance and time will get distorted on this incredible journey through the Arctic landscapes. Embrace the meditative rhythm of breaking new trails on fresh snow, allow the silence to seep into your consciousness.
A very good level of fitness is required for this expedition, please contact us before booking if you have any questions or concerns about your fitness. Ski experience is an advantage.
All specialist equipment hire is included.
Outline Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer from Tromso airport to base accommodation. Welcome briefing and meal. (Depending on Flight times, transfer can sometimes be early Day 2).
Day 2: Training, equipment and planning day. Find your ski legs and learn how to use the specialist equipment provided. Lunch, followed by packing our pulks (sleds) for the journey ahead.
Day 3: Our hut to hut, ski expedition begins in Finland with a long day skiing across frozen lake and tundra towards the hills. We pass the border marker where the 3 countries of Finland, Norway and Sweden meet, finishing not much further on to spend our first evening in Norway. Watch an incredible sunset over the mountains and maybe even see the Northern Lights.
Day 4: After a hearty breakfast, packing up and moving on begins. We leave the hut as we found it, with a fire prepared and ready to be lit for the next guests. We weave through the woodland until we are above the tree line. We may need to use for a while snowshoes today if there are icy patches on our ascent. The views today are incredible. You’ll be pinching yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming. Another physically demanding but satisfying day ending with unrivaled scenery. Add a sunset and perhaps the aurora. This is the stuff of dreams.
Day 5: A comparatively easy day. We have the luxury of taking it easy today without too much distance to travel or much ascent to tackle. Weather permitting, we often take the opportunity to teach or revise new skills and take our time to enjoy the scenery. We cross the border into Sweden to spend the night, fuelling our bodies to ensure we are ready for what lies ahead.
Day 6: Getting our food right today is important. A long day ahead following our early start this morning, almost immediately uphill. It’s a day of hills, using snowshoes on icy or steeper slopes and a lot of eating! It’s surprising how the hills can look intimidating but yet we gobble them up. And of course, what goes up, must come down and the gently sloping downhill back towards the 3 countries border is welcome respite from the uphill. We cross the border back into Finland for our 4th and final hut night.
Day 7: It’s with heavy hearts that we leave the hut this morning, wishing our journey were longer. We journey back across the tundra and frozen lake towards our base with much more confidence than you had just a few days prior. When we reach the base, before we look after ourselves, we look after our kit. Once this is done, it’s time for a hot sauna and refreshing shower and a home-made (not from a bag!) celebratory dinner!
Day 8: Transfer to airport for flight home.
In the event of poor weather conditions, the itinerary may be altered for your safety and enjoyment.
3 Countries Arctic Ski Expedition: Who’s it for?
Fit outdoors people who are looking for the next step! Those who want to dip their toes into Arctic Exploration, preparing for one of the major crossings. Maybe you’ve done a big trek or one of our other expeditions and feel there’s more out there calling you…
Expert tuition
We also include a briefing/training day in Wicklow and ongoing support in advance of the course.
There are no hidden extras – all specialist equipment hire is included: sleeping bags, down jackets, skis etc.
3 Countries Arctic Ski Expedition: Accommodation
The first two nights and the final night will be in basic comfortable cabins. The remainder of the nights are spent in remote huts or tents. The huts vary in their level of comfort, all are shared accommodation/dorms. There may be other people using the huts. Camping is also a possibility. We cook communally as a group each evening.
Equipment
We will provide you with all the specialist equipment as follows:
- Sleeping bag
- Down Jacket
- Mitts
- Sled (known as a pulk)
- Backcountry ski equipment
- Snowshoes
- Camping equipment if necessary
We’ll provide you with a full kit list. All participants receive a 15% discount on purchases in our store in advance of departure.
We also include a briefing/training day in Wicklow and offer ongoing support in advance of the course.
3 Countries ARctic Ski Expedition: FAQs
Fitness is very important. You will be joining a team who will be depending on each other for the success of this expedition. You need to be able to sustain 5 tough days, back-to-back. There are no rest days, there are no shortcuts.
Everyone will have concerns about their fitness. The best thing to do is talk to us. If your fitness isn’t quite there yet, we can suggest a similar alternative trip which might suit your fitness better.
Preferably yes, but if you’re fit and a fast learner we can get you up to speed quickly. We’ll have a training session on your first day on the snow.
Daytime temperatures will vary from -4 to -15 and nighttime will vary from -12 to -25. As we’re traveling through the Arctic Tundra we are very exposed to the weather, especially wind. If winds pick up then temperatures we feel will drop and it may make progress very slow and result in very long days on the skis.
We include almost everything, all you need to do is get yourself on an airplane and we’ll do the rest! We pick you up at the airport, provide all accommodation and all meals. We include all specialist equipment hire: down jacket, mitts, arctic sleeping bags, mats, ski kit, snowshoes, pulks, stoves and plenty more. Our guides are highly qualified, motivated, engaging and very experienced. We work on a low guide:client ratio. So yes, you will find cheaper but at the end of the day you get what you pay for!
What we do is known as ‘backcountry cross country skiing’ you wouldn’t believe the amount of variations on skiing you can have! This is not to be confused with ski randonée which is known in the US as backcountry skiing.
The skis are very similar to cross country skis but are a little wider with metal edges to help you turn. We also don’t ski in the tracks like cross country, instead we make our own!
Being caught in an avalanche is a problem, avoiding one is a skill. Our guides hold the professional International Mountain Leader (IML) and Level 2 Arctic Guide qualifications and have considerable experience of reading avalanche terrain and avoiding it.
Flights, you can arrange these yourself or we can have our travel partner assist you. The extra kit as per the kit list. If you’re missing anything we can advise on how to best purchase, any extra tours etc. Travel insurance. And any comfort munchies you’d like to bring. Travelling in this part of the world is at the mercy of the weather and it is possible that our plans may be curtailed which could mean you have to make accommodation arrangements for a night or two, this is where your travel insurance kicks in and covers the expense.
Once you’ve secured your place by paying the €200 deposit you can then pay the balance of your fees in installments up to the end of December before departure. You can pay whatever you like as often as you like.
We are limiting this expedition to 8 participants. There will be at least 2 guides.
It is essential that all participants take out additional insurance for the trip. This needs to cover repatriation to your home and rescue fees. Your insurance must list guided backcountry skiing. Let us know if you need details on insurance companies. We also advise that you apply for your EHIC (formally E11).
Don’t miss this amazing experience in a stunning location!
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