Ideal expedition for polar beginners
Highlights
- Rare expedition in winter
- Experienced polar guide from Polar Experience
- Raw and wild nature, conducive to contemplation and thought
- Preparation for a more committed polar expedition
- A human adventure in a small group
During this short experience, we are immersed in the world of polar expeditions, allowing us to live a first intense experience. After preparation and familiarization with our equipment in Longyearbyen, we leave in total autonomy on foot and on snowshoes to the kingdom of the white bear with an English- and Dutch-speaking polar guide from Polar Experience and the IPGA – International Polar Guide Association . We cross a wild environment in the arctic tundra of Spitsbergen in a pulka, at a season when few venture there. Nature is pristine. We bivouac in a pure polar atmosphere. Our guide teaches us how to manage the freezing cold, dressing techniques and the rituals of setting up camp. An ideal program to prepare for a more ambitious polar expedition in Greenland or the Arctic.
Itinerary
DAY 1: ARRIVAL AT OSLO AND FLIGHT TO SPITSBERGEN
Day 1
We meet in Oslo and fly together to Longyearbyen at night.
Somewhere past midnight we arrive at the airport of the biggest settlement on the Island Spitsbergen and we are being transferred to the hotel. We enjoy a good night's rest and dream of what to come...
DAY 2: EXPEDITION PREPARATION
Day 2
After having breakfast at the cozy guesthouse we start preparations for our expedition.
Our guide shows us the route, informs us about safety procedures and tells about what is to be expected on the expedition. We check our personal clothing and collective equipment, go shopping for some extra food, prepare our daily food rates and we learn how to pack all of this in the most efficient way in the pulka's. If possible, we make our first trip on the frozen Adventalen fjord. We put up the tents, learn how to organise everything inside and make the last practical arrangments.
Dinner in Longyearbyen and we return to the hotel for our last warm night!
DAYS 3 TO 6: POLAR EXPEDITION
Day 3
After getting the gun and some fuel for cooking, we get started for our mini-expedition.
The route is fixed. Next days we will be snowshoeing and pulling a pulka through the wide landscapes with snow and mountains of Spitsbergen. Living on the ice and delivering physical efforts by walking approximate 6 hours per day (15 kilometers), we make sure we don't go into the red and take into account of every participant. Gradually we learn how to live with these freezing temperatures and how to handle them in the most comfortable way. This daily routine permits us to enjoy the Arctic environment to the fullest.
DAY 7: RETURN TO LONGYEARBYEN
Day 7
This is our last day and we return to Longyearbyen. We unload the pulkas and we enjoy a nice hot and refreshing shower.
In the evening we relax and look back to our enormous adventure of the past days.
DAY 8: FLIGHT BACK TO OSLO
Day 8
Early in the morning we say goodbye to the rough but beautiful Spitsbergen. The bus takes us to the airport in Longyearbyen.
Flight to Oslo.
END OF EXPEDITION
For reasons that cannot be foreseen at this stage, such as unpredictable weather, the physical fitness or lack of fitness of participants or other circumstancess (customs formalities, road conditions, traffic, landslides, force majeure, etc.), your expedition leader may have to adapt the program, if necessary, to ensure the smooth running of your trip. He remains the sole judge and the one who guarantees your safety. Activity times are given as an indication and may vary from one participant to another.
The itinerary for all our expedition programs, or the ascent program for our high-mountain expeditions, are given here as a guide only. They are flexible enough to adapt to weather conditions with a few contingency days. In any case, you should follow the recommendations of your guide, who may suggest that you cancel your expedition due to weather, safety or physical conditions.
It is important to remember that this is a truly unsupported expedition, and that anything can happen. Expeditions Unlimited, your expedition leader, your guide or our local teams can in no way be held responsible.
Any costs incurred as a result of a change in the expedition schedule (extra nights' accommodation, extra flights) will be borne by the participants and not by the organizers. "Contingency days" refer to the expedition in the strict sense of the term (base camp/base camp in the mountains, departure point/exit point on a traverse, etc.).
Any early return of the expedition or of certain members only (early success, abandonment, etc.), generating costs for accommodation, meals, changes to air tickets or other activities not provided for in this program, will be charged in full to the participants.
Trip notes
Guiding
This program is guided by aPolar Experience guide, accredited by the IPGA (International Polar Guides Association) with a solid experience in the polar regions. See description above in this document.
For unpredictable reasons at this stage, like adverse weather conditions, insufficient physical condition of participants, insufficient competencies of participants related to the intended activities, your guide may decide to adjust the intended program and/or activities. At all times, his decision will be final on all matters likely to affect the safety and well-being of the trip.
Difficulty level
Level rated: challenging
This program is designed for participants who take part in a regular sports activity several times a week, including endurance activity.
It is a fantastic training for the great North conditions. Sleds a pretty light and the number of activity hours should not be a major problem. Only weather conditions and especially cold at this time of the year may can be a challenge. As always, the key element to success (and pleasure) is a strong team spirit.
Meeting point
Our meeting point is Longyearbyen airport. The airline serving Spitsbergen from Oslo is SAS.
As participants in this expedition often come from different countries, we have not included the international flights in our price. However, we can reserve these flights for you. Do not hesitate to contact us. If you book your flights, we will give you all directions for your flight plan so that all participants land around the same time. You will need tickets that can be modified.
Accommodations
In Longyearbyen, we sleep in simple twin bed room in a lodge, a hotel or guesthouse. To fly to or fly back from Spitsbergen, you could need to spend a night in a hotel in Oslo. These hotel nights are not included in the price so that you can chose the level of comfort that suits you best. We can book for you. Rest of the expedition is under tent of two.
Meals
The meals are eaten at the hotel or restaurant at the start and at the end of the expedition (breakfasts are included but lunches and dinners are not included in this package). During the expedition meals are mostly prepared in freeze-dried form. They give us all the daily calories needed during the expedition. You can check with your guide to adjust your diet. All meals in Oslo are not included.
Transfers / Transport
Transfers from/to airport are collective and are ensured by buses or taxis.
Group size
The group is composed of 4 to 10 participants maximum. The number of participants is deliberately limited to allow for greater immersion, to avoid embarrassing our hosts, and to develop freedom and flexibility. However, the maximum number may be exceeded if the last person to register wishes to travel with one or more other people. The services will not be modified, and the conditions of the trip will remain the same.
Equipment
Personal equipment is not provided. However, a complete list is provided to allow you to check that you are taking what is necessary.
This includes tents, pulka sled, mattresses, stoves, kitchen equipment, etc. A full list of personal equipment which is not provided is presented later in this document, part of which can also be rented to the participants. This list will be finalized and clarified while preparing your expedition with your guide.
A polar temperature sleeping bag is provided.
Our commitments to sustainable development
Our commitment to a better planet has been a reality since the beginning of our story but we always need to do more and better. Please find out more about our charter and our commitments in terms of sustainable development. We have drafted our charter and take action through six themes on which we act as concretely as possible, most often with you: social equity and cultural respect, preservation of water, waste management in expedition, protection of biodiversity, raise public awareness on these subjects and finally, the optimization and recovery of CO2 emissions.
Regarding carbon emissions, most of which are due to air travel, we calculated and communicated in 2018 on the carbon footprint of each of our programs, expressed in tonnes of CO2.
These calculations made us aware of the importance of the total carbon emissions generated by our activity. Also, we have committed in 2022 to a carbon reduction that we believe is unprecedented in the tourism industry, aiming to reduce the total emissions of our activity by 5% per year, taking 2019 as the reference year (3,430 tonnes of CO2). This commitment is in line with the trajectory of the Paris climate agreements of 2015, the current benchmark. Thus, in 2030, we will not entitle ourselves to exceed 2,160 tonnes of C02 and until then, each year, as soon as the carbon footprint budget is reached, we will stop taking any reservations for the current year. Thus, our maximum “carbon” budget for 2022 is 3,260 tonnes and for 2023, this budget will be reduced to 3,100 tonnes. And so on until 2030. To find out more about all of our calculations and our commitments in terms of reducing our carbon emissions.
In addition, since 2019, we have been encouraging you when you book for your journey to contribute with a donation to an independent NGO, among the two we have selected that share the commitments made in our charter. We matched the amount of this donation to this program's carbon footprint. Thus, the journey you are considering generates 2 tons of CO2, which corresponds to a 100% donation of €60 for an estimated value today of €30 per tonne of CO2. This donation remains of course optional and you can decide to give between nothing and 100% of this amount. Since 2019, including covid years of 2020 and 2021, we have been able to collect thanks to you nearly €7,000 for these associations.
Please do not hesitate to come back to us with any questions you might have regarding this carbon footprint mechanism, our other sustainable développement commitments or even to share with us your experience through a chat or a mail at contact@secret-planet.com.
Expert
For an entire week, I will submerge you in the world of polar travel, enabling you to acquire priceless experience and put into practice everything you learnt before. The location for this expedition is far off the beaten track: you will find yourself on the Arctic tundra of Spitsbergen.
This Level 1 expedition will give you access to even more remote and breathtaking expeditions that we organize in Greenland, in Russia, in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
Polar Experience guiding
This program is guided by a Polar Experience guide, accredited by the IPGA (International Polar Guides Association) with a solid experience in the polar regions and who adhere to a specific working method to help participants achieve their goals on an individual basis. They frequently lead participants in Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland, towards the North Pole, the South Pole and elsewhere in Antarctica like in Queen Maud land. Not only are they some of the best polar guides in the world, but they also have first-rate teaching and interpersonal skills, making the experience you are about to have, with and thanks to them, even rarer.
These guides were all trained by our late Dixie Dansercoer, who tragically passed away in June 2021 in Greenland. With many years of polar experience, he had developed a high-level team with a specific approach which can be summarized as follows:
- Respect for the environment: going places and leaving no traces, this is what we implement the best way we can during all our Polar Experience guided trips and expeditions. As expeditions are inherently based on a minimalist’s attitude, we stick to the basics and avoid excesses. Respect for local cultures.
- Safety: our knowledge and know-how has been developed with a major focus on maximum experience and minimal risk for our participants. Preparation and high-quality equipment are obviously two major issues with no compromise. We have as well weather, medical and rescue partners on stand-by 24/7. Your guide has a satellite telephone, an Iridium Go! VHF radio, mountaineering safety equipment, a location beacon, GPS and other equipment necessary for a journey in the best safety conditions.
- Preparation & training: full immersion in physical and mental training, equipment knowledge, first Aid basics, logistical challenges and crisis management. Understanding the environmental, cultural and geographical characteristics of polar environment, learning from pioneering and contemporary expeditions. Preparation calls and expeditions training (theory, practice) over a weekend.
- High quality equipment: constant improvements and customized adjustments for maximum efficiency and performance. Screening of personal clothing and advice on purchase of special polar clothing at partner’s stores with special discounts.
Julie Brown, Dixie's partner of many years, now leads this dynamic little team.
Each participant receives the useful book, Polar Exploration: A practical handbook for North and South Pole expeditions, hard cover or electronic version, written by Dixie Dansercoer, which is the reference handbook that explains all aspects of polar journeys and expeditions: polar environment, safety, preparation, training and equipment.
Departures and pricing
Please find below all dates and prices for this expedition. Prices are quoted "from" and may be adjusted notably according to the number of participants (see trip notes for details). Please note that dates and prices for years beyond 2024, when given, are for guidance only and are subject to change and readjustment to take account of current economic realities.
No date works for me!
I initiate a new datePrice includes
Transfers tel qu’indiqués dans le programme. Accommodations tel qu’indiqués dans le programme. Meals tel qu’indiqués dans le programme. Guiding tel qu’indiqués dans le programme. Equipment tel qu’indiqués dans le programme. Travel folder tel qu’indiqués dans le programme.
Price does not include
International flights. All accompaniments, accommodations or meals mentioned “not included” in the program. Drinks and personal “extras”. The “single” supplement or a different hotel category. Other supplements linked to a lower number of participants registered, your desire to customize or privatize the expedition. The mandatory expedition complementary insurance.
Votre voyage rien que pour vous !
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