1. Expedition Synopsis
The expedition has four main objectives, outlined below. For more details, please
see our website: svalbard2016.com
1) Re-tracing the 1923 Route: An East – West Crossing of East Spitsbergen
- We will leave Duym Point on the East Coast of Spitsbergen on 31st
July, exactly
ninety-three years to the day since a sledging party from Oxford did in 1923.
- Over the course of four weeks, we will nordic ski 184 miles across the Ny Friesland
Ice Cap, to arrive on the West Coast at Klaas Billen Bay on 29th
August, a journey
which takes us across the inland ice cap and through the Atomfjella and Chydenius
mountain ranges.
- The entire journey will be entirely unsupported, with all equipment carried in
Snowsled Pulks, weighing over 100kg each.
- This is the first time this particular crossing has ever been repeated. It can only be
done with recourse to the original maps and charts available in the Bodelian Library.

2. - To reach the start-point of the expedition is an adventure in itself. We have chartered
a Targa 42 yacht to break through the pack ice and reach Duym Point, a journey
which lasts 14 hours. This is indicative of quite how remote and rarely-travelled this
region is.
2) Producing a Historical Documentary
- Three of the four members of the sledging party kept a diary of their time on the ice,
subsequently publishing papers in the Alpine and Geographical journals.
- In addition, they took tens of large-scale landscape photographs. We have already
completed extensive archive research at the Royal Geographical Society, Scott Polar
Institute and Merton College, Oxford, to piece together the events of ninety three
years ago. All that remains is to match those stories to the landscape.
- By producing a documentary film-feature in the field, we will be able to compare
these two contrasting polar narratives.
- We are currently liaising with senior TV producers with a background in Wildlife
Documentaries, with a view to bringing the feature to national broadcast.
3) Scientific Research
- The Ny-Friesland has received very little attention from scientists. We are working
closely with researchers at Oxford University and the University Centre in Svalbard
(UNIS) to collect a variety of data throughout our journey.
- The only recordings of biological samples ever made in this area were by the 1923
expedition and we will record, photograph and collect DNA samples from the species
of vascular plants we encounteren route.
- We will be using photogrammetry, the science of measurements through
photography, to investigate glacial change in the Arctic. By using a drone we hope to
be able to create accurate 3D maps of selected glaciers and their surroundings.
- Fixed-point repeats of the original photos taken on the 1923 expedition will add a
powerful comparative element to the study, which aims overall to show the effects of
changing climate on the Arctic landscape.
4) New Mountaineering Routes
- Svalbard boasts some of the most dramatic peaks in the Arctic. Indeed, the name
Spitsbergen derives from the Dutch phrase, ‘pointed mountains’, chosen by the
Frisian navigator Willem Barentsz in 1596.

3. - The 2016 team aims to summit a number of ultra-prominent peaks climbed on the
original expedition, including Poincarétoppen, Mount Irvine and Svalbard’s highest,
Newtontoppen (5666 feet).
- Most importantly, the underlying motivation for the 1923 expedition was to scale
hitherto unclimbed mountains. Following in the same spirit, it is our intention to carve
out new routes and lines in the remote Stubendorff/Atomfjella range.