There are a lot of preparations before a long trip like ours. We have had some busy months consisting of a lot of work; preparing food, finding a good route, getting sponsors, buying equipment, getting dogs etc., but when we leave Longyearbyen the 10th of April, it will be time to focus on the 35 days in the Arctic wilderness.

The start point of the expedition is Sørkapp, the most southern point of Spitsbergen. To get there, some locals will give us a ride on their snowmobiles. How long it will take depends on weather and snow conditions. The southern part of Spitsbergen often has strong storms and heavy snow fall.

Our plan is to ski up Sørkappfonna and follow the glaciers on the east cost of Spitsbergen until we reach Ingelfieldbukta. Navigation could be difficult in bad weather on the huge glaciers and crevasses will make the route-finding even harder. Too much snow could also give us problems. We might have to change the original plan and go down to the sea ice and follow the coast line, even though the risk of meeting polarbear will be bigger here. They will normally not attack humans, but they can be extremely dangerous. We are going to carry two rifles and safety equipment, such as signal pistols for scaring away bears. At the campsite we will also have the dogs as watchers to keep an eye out for the king of the north.

We hope to reach Ingelfieldbukta after about 12 days, where we have our food deposit onboard Vagabond. Vagabond is a sailing boat which is frozen into the ice and is operating as a base camp for scientific research. We are going to stay at Vagabond a couple of days to repack the pulkas (pulk) and to get some rest before starting the second and longest part of the expedition.

From Ingelfieldbukta we will either walk on the sea ice for one day or go directly back up to the glaciers. It depends on the screw ice conditions. Anyhow, the rest of the expedition will be over large glaciers through Sabine Land, Olav V Land, past the wild peaks of Atomfjella (Atom mountains), to Fries Land and the huge Aasgardfonna. Then it is time to walk down to the sea again, to our goal in the north: Verlegenhuken!

After the 550 km long trip north, it will be time to turn south and go home. We really hope to walk to Austfjordneset and get picked up by dog-sledge there. That will be the most environmentally-friendly and exciting end to the adventure, but it is the option which is most expensive and difficult to arrange. If the sea ice has melted and the rivers have started to flow it is going to take a long time and be difficult. The other possibility is to go home by snowmobile.

We will be back in Longyearbyen some time in the middle of May (depending on how we get back and, of course, weather and ice/snow conditions), ready for a shower, fruit and a look in the mirror to see our beautiful sun-tanned faces!