NORTHWEST PASSAGE 2025
FOLLOW INA, BRITT, PETTER, CINDY, CLARE, VACLAV, LILITH, SIMON, EMMA & KATHINKA
day 21 - gjoa haven!
The final day
Now we’ve arrived in Gjoa Haven after a windy last day. We saw town many hours before we could finally set foot and undress in the warmth of the Amundsen Hotel. Lots of feelings in the group and an overwhelming feeling of excitement and achievement as we skied into Gjoa. It’s been a cold three weeks and we’ve had all kinds of weather but wow what a fantastic expedition it’s been. The artic is like no other place on earth and we’re so lucky we got to experience it. The group has gotten very close over the last few weeks and we even got one more day together since our flight was canceled due to a snow storm.
Now awaits drying all the gear and eating lots of food.
Thank you to guide Kathinka that got us safely through the passage, and GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!
Last goodbyes for now🩵❄️
day 20, thursday - countdown
Sunny day with increasing winds today.
But we did our best distance today with 25,5 kilometres!
Only 19 kilometres left to get to Gjoa Haven tomorrow.
We have seen several muskox today as well. And Roz is still trying to catch a ptarmigan, so far no luck. But he sneaks up on them like a tiger.
Good night from the north
Kathinka and the team
Day 19 - wednesday
Yet another beautiful day, now on the tundra!
Today we have seen several muskox and Roz has been chasing ptarmigan. So overall we have had great day☀️
We now have 46 kilometres to Gjoa Haven and we are hoping to get there in 2 days.
Good night from the tundra in the north!
Kathinka and the team
day 18 - 3rd birthday / on land
A new day of birthday!
Today it was Emmas turn, 21 years old! As usual there was singing and cake in the morning. And also - despite whiteout forecast- we had sunshine! Thank you Emma for that!
Another big event today was that we got on land at King William Island.
Roz the dog saw a fox and took off chasing it, so he had a good time as well. He seems to really like this life out here. As long as its not too windy.
Good night from land!
Kathinka and the team
day 17 - monday - last sea-ice camp
Today we have made good progress, and can now see the radio tower on King William Island.
It has been a beautiful sunny day and the ice has been good to us.
Now we have our last camp on sea ice. Tomorrow the tundra awaits, with muskox, hares and foxes. We have already seen 2 foxes on the ice.
Kathinka and the team
dag 16 - terror bay
A low visibility day today.
We had good ice until lunchtime, and then we had not so flat ice the rest of the day. But we found it again right before camp. So hopefully tomorrow will be a nice skitrip.
We have also passed the bay where the ship Terror went down, to Britt’s excitement. She is our polar history teacher on this trip.
Maybe tomorrow night will be our last on seaice before we get onto King William Island.
All team members are in good spirits as we are enjoying this great experience together.
Kathinka & the team
day 15 - happy birthday
Another birthday! Today it was Vaclav, we had a small celebration this morning!
And he has also been good this year so instead of having the predicted white out we had a beautiful sunny day! So thank you Vaclav☀️
We had a cold breeze in from behind all day, but the snow was glimmering like diamonds so we all enjoyed the day.
Kathinka & the team
day 14 - friday
Off to an early start this morning. A little low visibility, but better than none!
Not to cold today, so lunch outside, and all happy campers
We kept up the good work from yesterday and did our best distance today, seems like the team has started to smell land.
We have crossed some islands that are not on the maps we have, so they have been named after us now!
Currently camped on one of them, I hereby name it Roz island, in appreciation of our dog guard, who is keeping us safe!
Good night everyone!
Kathinka & the team
day 13 - birthday girl!
We started the morning off with a celebration of Clare’s birthday 🎁
And even though the forecast was cloudy and white out - it was clear blue skies and sunny. So that means Clare has been good in the last year! So thank you Clare for a nice day!
We started a bit earlier today and increased our pulls to 60 minutes. So today we did 22 kilometres. We passed Byrd island and the ice is flattened out again.
So now after a stunning sunset it is off to bed for a nice rest, and then we go out and do it all over again tomorrow.
Kathinka & the team ☀️
day 12, wednesday
Today has been such a good day!!! We’re out on the sea ice and the pressure ridges are quite big but definitely manageable. Much better visibility and we made good progress. After lunch we got into an open field of FLAT ICE!! Really good for skiing and we were able to catch up on some more kilometers. The ice is bright clear and blue, it’s truly a place of its own up here.
The group is doing great and Petter has started to collect everyone’s leftovers because he’s always hungry.
The pressure ridges brings with them quite a lot of good dives and falls, we even caught guide Kathinka on film as she went flying, she told us she never falls. Definitely not true!
Good night,
Emma
day 11, tuesday
What a day!
The winds has been howling today as well, but the temperature was not too bad so we packed up camp and headed into the great white open.
But with low visibility and the howling winds and blowing snow it was hard to see where we were going. So we ended up in the biggest pressure ridges I have ever seen out here!
Crazy - beautiful!!!!
But as we say in Norway - att og fram er like langt.
We did not get far, but we got farther than we had if we had stayed in the tent.
Roz the dog slept in the tent last night, and so now he thinks he is a full time tentdog. He sneaks in every chance he gets.
Everyone is now tucked in and nice and warm, looking forwards to another great day tomorrow.
Kathinka & the team
day 10, monday - wind/weather/rest
Today have been a rest/weather day for us out here on the ice. The wind has been showing off some strength!
We have had to do a few minor adjustments to a couple of the tents, but now we are ready to hopefully get a good nights rest in the wind.
A day of rest is best in the wind!
The winds are supposed to go down a bit tomorrow so we will go on then.
We have eaten, chatted, read our books and rested well now so eager for some skiing again tomorrow morning
Kathinka and the team
day 9, sunday - brrrrrr
This must have been the coldest night in history!!!🥶
But the day was great, a bit of wind in the face, but not too cold. Sunshine and happiness.
We finished our crossing of Jenny Lind and headed back out on the sea ice. Normally on this side of the island we go straight into a maze of pressure ridges, but so far it has been only a few and far between.
Life on the ice is good, the group has come together nicely and work well.
We switch tent partners every 4 days, so everyone can learn from each other. Today is our 2nd switch.
Roz the dog is loved by the whole team, some even think about how they can kidnap him……
Kathinka and the team
day 8, saturday, Jenny lind island
What a day!
Beautiful sunshine and just a little wind.
We started exactly on time and did an extra half pull today. That took us to the too of Jenny Lind Island.
During lunch today, Ina did her surprise and we all got a nice totebag with a cool NWP design on it as well as a secret mission…..
Tomorrow we will head back out on the seaice, and we are all excited to see what happens there.
Kathinka and the crew
PS
Gratulerer med dagen til mormor/mamma fra Emma & Kathinka
day 7, friday, icebreaker sound
Today all the clouds that we have heard rumors about for the last few days did arrived. That means we have been able to practice our navigation skills and our patience in kind of white out.
It’s been pretty «hot», between minus 15 and 20.
Here in the Northwest Passage it is still April 4th, but in Norway it is already 5th, so Cindy and Petter wants to wish grandma Ingebjørg a happy birthday on her 86th birthday 🎁
Have a nice weekend everyone at home.
Cindy & Petter
day 6: thursday
The day started out in beautiful sunshine and blue skies. And the temperature got to really nice throughout the day, sleeping bags were on top of the sleds to dry in the sun. So tonight everybody has icefree sleeping bags tonight.
We met 3 polar bear hunters on our way as well, they stopped by for a quick chat.
The weather was so nice that we decided to do an extra pull today. The ice is still flat, so that makes it easy to go in a straight line. The hunters said they had never seen the ocean this flat, so that should make us all think!
Why???? Are the ocean currents changing? Is this as a result of climate changes?
Kathinka & the Team
PS
Iskald hilsen fra Britt til elever og lærer ved Langesund B, og en varm hilsen til Svein & Lilly
PPSS
Gratulerer med dagen til onkel Runar fra Emma og Kathinka
day 5: wednesday
Hello everyone, I’m back Emma here again. It’s been so cold the last few days that the last thing I’ve wanted to do has been to write on my phone. But life continues in the artic. We’re doing good, doing great distances per day and the ice is wonderful.
AND, let me just tell you about the beautiful sunset here. They’re like a Van Gogh painting just better, 360 and more spectacular. It fills the historizon and reflects on the Arctic Ocean like a sea of waves. It’s just amazing!!
We’re approaching bigger pressure ridges and soon the only thing between us and the North Pole will just be ice and snow.
- Emma
day 4: TUESDAY - ridge 1
A beautiful day again! Today we had the wind in our face, so we were all covered up. But it was not too cold.
We started a half hour earlier and increased our pulls with 5 minutes. So we got some more kilometers in today as we continue along the northern shore of the Queen Maud Gulf. We’ll soon head into the Icebreaker Channel as we move toward the Jenny Lind Island
We also passed over our first little pressure ridge, other than that one we have had flat ice so far ❄️
Kathinka
day 3: monday
Another beautiful day in the Artic!
Another cold night, but when the sun gets high enough it makes it a little warmer.
We are now over an area of tundra and are currently camping our first night on the polar sea. The sunset is unreal!!!!
All campers are in great spirits and excited to be out here. The ice conditions so far are good, and our happy guard dog is hopping and rolling around with joy!
Kathinka
DAY 2: SUNDAY
After a cold night, we all woke up to a beautiful morning!
Yesterday, we only did half a day of skiing out from Cambridge Bay. We skied out of ‘downtown’ and onto the sea and managed to cross the bay before we camped. As everybody settled in and refined their way of living in -27°C, Rox the Dog took control on the outside. He seemed overly keen on showing that he was in charge and would not let anything get close as he scared off crows and everything that moved. - A bit over the top - but better to be too careful out here :-)
It was a chilly night with a reported -35°C - that takes some effort to get used to, but it seems all slept well enough to get fighting fit.
Today, Sunday, we have skied 7 pulls and stung together the first full day. We had lunch in our lunch tent (quite the norm in these temperatures) and enjoyed the beauty of the Arctic as we crossed over a tundra peninsula.
Tomorrow, we will ski off the tundra and back down on the ocean.
Kathinka
Day 1: saturday - WE are off!
Finally the day is here and we can start our expedition, weather was clear blue skies and -20. beautiful day to start skiing. We went off on a good pace, Kathinka tried her everything to keep us from going too fast and life was just good. We skied 50+10, and did 5 rounds. We ended up on a total distance of 11 km, which was farther from Cambridge bay than what Kathinka had done previous years.
We set camp and got into our tents, and started melting snow. As we were getting closer to bedtime I had two surprises, one being the most beautiful sunset ever over the tundra, and the next being that my sleeping mat had a hole in it, GREAT!
Vaslav the king came to saving and had brought a second sleeping mat so everything worked out perfectly, good night everyone from polar bear-land!
- Emma
The day before the day; Friday the 28th
Today, we were supposed to start the expedition but since Roz the dog prefers to fly on Saturdays and he’s the boss, we were trated to another day of packing.
We started off by a morning meeting lead by the real boss Kathinka. Where she gave us the cold and hard truth about the expedition we’re about to embark on, it’s fa**ing hard and cold. So while everyone was a little bit more scared and nervous than earlier we decided to go to the store and buy the rest of the lunches and snacks for the expedition.
We packed the whole day, got gas, and just organized organized organized!!
We had our last meal out, which was for a lot of people; PANCAKES🥞
Day -1: pre-expedition thursday
Today we started the day by gathering for a meeting , and a good cup of coffee put on by mvp Britt! We got a hold of bags and some rope that was missing and everyone started making breakfasts and dinners for the expedition. Top secret recipe, you’ll have to sign up for an Ousland trip get a hold of it😋
We were supposed to head out tomorrow but Roz the dog decided he didn’t feel like flying in on a Friday, so he’s coming on Saturday morning. Current time of departure is now right after Roz arrives.
Tomorrow awaits more packing📦
Emma💃🏼
pre-expedition
We are currently at the airport in Yellowknife, Canada, ready to board our plane to Cambridge Bay to embark on this historic expedition through the Northwest passage.
We’ve spent the last few days picking up all the dry tech food for everyone, and getting the last few bits and pieces needed.
Yellowknife has treated us well with aurora dancing on the skies as we flew in, and wonderful locals who has been the best help.
Special shoutout to Outlander sports who provided all the DryTech and also a dog!! Roz the malanoise will protect us on the expedition from all sorts of animals, but primarily polar bears. Rumours says the has chased of many bears before so we feel like we’re in safe paws!🐾
Now comes two days for packing and organizing before we hopefully start skiing on Friday the 28th!
See ya!
Emma & Kathinka
all over, prepping, chatting and getting ready
Everybody has arrived and the team is preparing for the start tomorrow! With less than 10 days til everyboduy will meet up in Cambridge Bay, The team-WhatsApp group is buzzing.
More to come as we get closer!