Nordenskiold Glacier - Weidefjorden

Exiting Backcountry Walking-trips.

This trip is a very special one. You will see many different landscapes and some of the best mountain views of Spitsbergen. Mostly we will walk over glaciers and some days we do daytrips which goes over the ground/rocks. This trip has maxium 17 fielddays, including 4 extra/spare days. These days are needed for safety in case of bad weather and other things which may delay us. These extra days gives us more space, if needed.


Walking on the Nordenskiold glacier with crampons under your shoes.

We will transport our heavy luggage (much food and camping equipment) in a pulk (sledge) behind us. Walking with the pulk on the glacier is easy. All the participants will get instructions how to walk with the pulk and how to walk on the ice. Sometimes we walk with our shoes on the ice, sometimes we put crampons under our shoes. On this trip we will use ski's during 3-4 days. You do not have to have any glacier-ice or ski-walking experience for this. The part what we will do on ski is mostly flat.

For more information about walking with a sledge on a glacier see: Walking & skiing with a pulk (sledge) over the Spitsbergen glaciers.

The glaciers where we walk on are easy glaciers and not steep. Allthough we are walking up the Nordenskiold glacier from sea level to 900 meters above sea level. But we will do this in 3 days. We take our time for this. The top of this glacier is at 1250 meters a.s.l. but we don't go to that height. From 900 meters we walk/ski down the Mittag-Leffler glacier. This glacier ends in Weidefjorden which is the northern side of Spitsbergen. We will follow a totally other way back which will give us new views.


Getting the pulks and our selves over a glacier river.

Allthough the whole day program might change a little bit due to weather and glacier conditions and other circumstances, this could be the day program:
Sun. july 5th   :   Arriving with the airplane in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen. The first 2 overnights are in Longyearbyen in a comfortable guesthouse where you sleep on a bed.
Mo. july 6th   :   Checking the equipment, Packing all our equipment into the sledges and backpacks, Sightseeing in Longyearbyen.
Tu. july 7th   :   The start of the tour, We bring all our luggage on board of the ship in the harbour of Longyearbyen. After a boattrip from ± 5 hours (included a 1,5 hours excursion to Pyramiden, an old Russian mining settlement) we reached the front of the Nordenskiold glacier. a Zodiac boat will bring us to to the shore, close at the glacier. From here we walk up the glacier to our first camp at 450 meters a.s.l..
We. july 8th   :   We walk up to camp 2 on the Nordenskiold Glacier. The glacier gets wider all the mountainpeaks around us are surrounded by glaciers.
Thu. july 9th   :   Today we probablely use our ski's to get to our highest point on this glacier on 900 meters a.s.l..
From here we can see Weidefjorden and many, many mountains.
Fri. july 10th   :   We ski/walk down the Mittag-Leffler glacier and make camp 4 halfway the glacier. We get to see Tarantellen from here. Also Tricollar Fjellet, the mountain ridge with many colours, just beside Hoglandlake come insight.
Sat. july 11th   :   From camp4 we walk down the glacier towards Hoglandlake. The approach of Hogland lake gives some special views. Nearby this lake we set up camp 5.


The special mountain peak Tarantellen.
Sun. july 12th   :   When the weather is nice we make a daytrip to mountain Tarantellen. This mountain is situated 700 meters a.s.l. Althought we don't climb the top of it, when you are standing under this mountain with its two big holes the view is awesome.
If the weather is not good (Tarantellen in the clouds) we continue walking down the glacier and try to get to Tarantellen on our way back.
Mo. july 13th   :   Today we make a long daytrip to the end of the Mittag-Leffler glacier. We reach Weidefjorden and have a great view of the Glacierfront which ends in the fjord. On our way back to our camp 4 we will pass by Alandslake and enjoy the view here. There are several routes to walk here, we will choose one of them.
If we did not use to many spare days sofar, we can choose to camp at the fjord to enjoy the view much more, or camp at Alandslake and walk from there to the fjord with a daytrip.


The glacierfront of the Mittag-Leffler glacier. 3 people with 1 sledge and with the other light equipments in their backpacks.
Tu. july 14th   :   We start to walk back from here. We will follow a totally other way back which will give new views.
From camp 5, or from another camp where we are at that moment we walk up the Mittag-Leffler glacier and settle down camp 6 halfway on the glacier.
We. july 15th   :   We walking up the glacier again. We will soon reach a point where the glacier is covered with snow. Here we will put our ski's under and ski further to a point on the glacier at 750 meters a.s.l. At this place we will pitch our tent and enjoy a wide view in all directions.
Thu. july 16th   :   750 meters is the highest point on our way back. We keep walking/skiing further, we pass the mountain Bastionfjellet on the westside. We are walking now on the Ebba glacier. We are surrounded here by many mountains and looking down into Ebba-valley we see the fjord. We camp at a small col between the Ebba glacier and the Nordenskiold glacier, campsite 8.
Fri. july 17th   :   If the weather is nice and we have spare days left we can do a day trip and walk up 1 or 2 mountain tops which are very close at this coll. The view from Mountaintop Flemingfjellet is awesome.
Otherwise we walk down the Nordenskiold glacier and camp on that glacier.


Beautiful view from the campsite high up on the Mittag-Leffler glacier.
Sat. july 18th   :   We continue walking down the Nordenskiold glacier and set up our last camp at 200 meters a.s.l..
Sun. july 19th   :   We start to walk back from here. We will follow a totally other way back which will give new views.
From camp 4, or from another camp where we are at that moment we walk up the Mittag-Leffler glacier and settle down camp 5 halfway on the glacier.
Mo. july 20th   :   This is the last day in the mountains. We walk down the last part on The Nordenskiold glacier and wait at the fjord site for the boat to pick us up. Depending on how many spare days we did used, this day could also be Thursday july 23th. It might happen that we have some spare days left. We can use these days for a small tour around the mountains at Longyearbyen.
Fri. july 24th   :   Unpack, cleaning and drying from all our used equipment. Sightseeing in Longyearbyen. Enjoy the luxury of streaming water, a shower, the toilet, a bed etc...
Preparing a big last dinner together and enjoying the first pictures on the labtop.
Sat july 25th   :   Departure with airplane from Longyearbyen.
The last 2 overnights are in Longyearbyen in a comfortable guesthouse where you sleep on a bed.

The whole walking/skiing distance is about 70 km.


Visit also these pages: Winter- & Summertrips from Fjelltours on Spitsbergen ; here you will find much more important background information about these trips.


Campsite on the glacier at Alands lake during the kayak expedition 2007.

  Startingdate 2009:
  •   july 5th

    The price of this 21-days backcountry walking trip is € 1829,- p.p.
    Travelcode: SB09C

      In this trip is included:
    1. 4 overnights in Longyearbyen in chambers with more people (2 overnights at the start and 2 at the end), 16 overnights in 2-3 persons wintertents.
    2. A travel insurance which also covers all the cost of an emergency rescue if necessary,
      during our 17-days fieldtrip on Spitsbergen.
      This insurance is an obligation when you go out on a long fieldtrip in Spitsbergen.
    3. The use of a 2-3 persons wintertent with an isolated foil for under the inner tent.
    4. The use of a sledge with pullingframe and harnass.
    5. The use of cooking equipment to make hot water, a petrol stove with all the fuel.
    6. The use of a snowshovel and a 2 persons bivouacsack (in case of emergency).
    7. Professional guide, the guide will carry all the necessarry and obligated equipment, which is needed
      to make a multi day backcountry glacier trip on Spitsbergen.
    8. Transport from/towards the airport to/from our overnight stay in Longyearbyen.
    9. Transport with a boat to the start of the trip and the pick up with a boat at the end of the trip.
    10. The participants will receive information and instructions about the necessary clothes (detailed packing list),
      about camping on Spitsbergen and about the safety aspects on Spitsbergen (Polarbear protection).
      Not included:
    1. meals: It is possible to cook and have meals together durings the overnights in Longyearbyen. The participants will receive information which food (and how much) is handy to use during camping on Spitsbergen
    2. Cross country ski's for back country skiing (no randonnee ski's), the skins.
      It is possible to hire these equipment by Fjell Tours. The participants will receive information about this. For the summertrips we are using the ski's in very easy terrain. We will use a fixation on our ski's that we can use our normal mountain walking shoes when we use the ski's. This will save us the use (and transportation weight) of another pair of boots.
    3. The flight to and from Spitsbergen.


        The amount of Participants: min. 5, max. 8

    • The participants can hire specific equipment/clothes (like ski's, downjacket, extra sleepingbag, extra matrass, crampons etc.) by Fjell Tours, see for this:
    Winter- & Summertrips from Fjelltours on Spitsbergen

    To join this trip the participant must have:
    1. Mountain walking experience in rough terrain, outside the track.
    2. Camping experience in rough terrain.
    3. a Good condition, although the walking distance is not long, this is a long trip with many fielddays (2 weeks)!!
    4. Good experience with walking with 2 walking sticks, you need those sticks on Spitsbergen.
    5. Patience, participants must be aware that it might happen that we have to wait 1 or more days inside the tents
      due to bad weather or other circumstances.
    6. Flexibility, The plan for the day can change rapidly, or the daily schedule is changing.
      It might happen that we walk during the night.
      This makes no difference on Spitsbergen, There is no darkness in this time of the year.

    The guide knows how and where to walk/ski save on these glaciers. Sometimes we can walk easily over the ice, sometimes it takes extra time if we have to cross wet area's on the glaciers.


    Camping in bad weather, wet snow on the tent.


        * Back to Summertrips 2009.





    Last update on february 1st 2009































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