Svalbard Ski Touring and Sailing: Spitsbergen From the Deck of a Schooner
- Boris Malesset
- Jul 1
- 10 min read
The schooner drops anchor in a fjord no road reaches, a zodiac runs you to a shore of bear tracks and old snow, and from there it is skins and your own legs to the summit — then a descent that ends, more often than not, on the sea ice. That, in plain terms, is Svalbard ski touring by boat. The slopes lie on Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard archipelago, deep inside the Arctic at roughly 78° north. No lifts, no road, no village at the bottom of the run. A two-masted schooner for a base camp, twelve skiers and the crew, and a wall of glacier filling the porthole at breakfast.
Why a boat, this far north
From the deck to the foot of the line
The terrain: glaciers, faces and the sea below
Late April to late May: reading the season
Who it's for
The snowpack, the bear, and the good sense to turn back
Life aboard the Noorderlicht
A week, day by day
In brief
A word from the founder
FAQ
Why a boat, this far north
Spitsbergen has barely fifty kilometres of road, all of it around Longyearbyen, and the mountains worth skiing begin well past the last of it. So the question answers itself: to reach them, you sail. The boat is not a backdrop here — it is the only way in, and it makes the whole archipelago a single moving base camp. Anchor in one fjord, climb a face, ski back down to the water; lift the anchor overnight, and wake the next morning under a different set of peaks. No two days share a trailhead.
That mobility is the quiet luxury of the thing. A road-based trip skis the same valley for a week and hopes the snow holds; a schooner follows the weather and the ice, slipping along the west coast of Spitsbergen — the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago — to where the snow is good that day. Our route runs from Longyearbyen north towards Ny-Ålesund, one of the northernmost settlements on Earth, threading the Isfjorden, Prince Karls Forland and the St. Jonsfjorden as conditions allow. The same logic runs through every boat-based ski trip we organise — the ski-and-sail expedition to Greenland follows it down a far bigger coast.
From the deck to the foot of the line
Picture the morning. Coffee on a steel deck, the guides reading the sky and the bulletin, then a short run in the zodiac to a beach or an apron of old snow — no harbour, no jetty, just the tender nosing onto the shore. You step off, clip into the skins, and the climb begins where the boat can go no further. The machine, such as it is, makes one short trip and leaves. The rest is ski touring in its plain form: read the aspect, set the skin track, earn the summit, and ski the line back down to the water you came in on.
It is a deliberate trade. A helicopter would lift you higher and faster — but it would also fill the great silence of the place, and that silence is half of why you came. Here the only sound on the climb is the squeak of skins and the wind off the ice. If you want the broader case for swapping the lift queue for a deck and a skin track, the Arctic peaks of the Lofoten that rise straight from the fjord make the case from another angle. Two groups of six share the schooner, never more; nobody is queuing for a zodiac.
The terrain: glaciers, faces and the sea below
What the west coast of Spitsbergen offers is uncomplicated and rare: long snow faces that start on a ridge and finish at the tideline, with a glacier or the open water always somewhere in the frame. The peaks here are not the highest in Svalbard — Newtontoppen, the high point, reaches 1,713 metres far inland — but the ones we ski rise sheer from the coast, and the day's climbing usually runs between 800 and 1,100 metres of vertical. That is the right size for a touring day with a boat to come home to.
The descents are the signature, running anywhere from 700 to over 1,000 metres top to bottom. Wide, even spring snowfields up high; a shoulder that rolls towards the sea; and, on the best lines, a final apron of snow that runs out across a beach or onto the frozen surface of the fjord, so you take your skis off a few metres from salt water or sea ice. Between the runs there are the glaciers themselves — calving fronts that drop straight into the fjord, some of them kilometres wide — seen from the deck rather than a viewpoint. Reindeer on the moraine, the occasional whale off the bow, and not another party in sight for days.
Late April to late May: reading the season
People always ask the same first question — when is the best time to ski Svalbard — and the honest answer is a narrow window, late in the spring. The snow needs to have settled and the light needs to be long, which puts the trip from roughly late April to late May. By the back end of that window the sun no longer sets at all.
Late April to mid-May — colder, drier snow, the best odds of powder off the top, and longer, brighter days arriving fast after the polar night.
Mid-May to late May — the midnight sun is fully up. In Longyearbyen it stays above the horizon from 20 April until 23 August, so by late May you can climb at any hour and the snow rarely freezes hard overnight — reliable spring corn that softens through the day.
Our departure sits at the end of May, which buys the long light and the most settled snowpack of the season, with the chance of a cold top-up high on a north-facing aspect. There is no such thing as guaranteed snow at 78° north, and the Arctic weather changes by the hour; the programme is indicative, and the guides rewrite it each morning to the snow, the ice and the wind.
Who it's for
Honestly: a fit, confident off-piste skier with some ski touring behind you. You should be comfortable skiing the fall line under control on a 35-degree slope in mixed snow, linking parallel turns off the groomed whatever the surface throws at you. This is not a first tour. The trip carries a technical rating of 3 out of 5 and a physical rating of the same — several hours of skinning, 800 to 1,100 metres of climbing a day, repeated across six ski days.
The Arctic adds its own tax. Cold that bites on the climb, weather that turns a planned line into a different one, the discipline of moving as a roped party on a glacier when the guide calls for it. Strong intermediates with a season of touring in their legs do well; experienced tourers find steeper, more committing lines to go and look at. If you are unsure where you sit, say so when you write — it is exactly the conversation to have before you book.
The snowpack, the bear, and the good sense to turn back
The honest version first: avalanche terrain is never zero-risk, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. The aim is not "safe" but acceptably safe — a line we have read, and judged. The work is the same as anywhere serious, done by routine rather than luck: the snowpack is assessed each morning, the aspect and timing chosen to the day, and everyone carries the standard kit — transceiver, shovel and probe, and an ABS airbag pack — checked before the first climb. The guiding is led by an IFMGA/UIAGM mountain guide, two per group; the line gets adjusted to what the snow is doing, and now and then the most expert call of the day is the good sense to turn back.
Svalbard adds one thing no Alpine valley does. Polar bears range across the whole archipelago, and Norwegian law is plain about it: outside the settlements you must carry means to scare a bear off, and are advised to carry a firearm as a last resort. The guide carries the rifle and runs the bear watch — not for show, but because it is the law of the land and the sober reality of moving on foot up here. It is mentioned plainly, kept in proportion, and never a reason a day is built around.
Life aboard the Noorderlicht
Home for the week is the Noorderlicht, a two-masted schooner of about 46 metres — a steel-hulled vessel from 1910, re-rigged as a sailing ship, with a galley, a saloon and double cabins below. It is the base camp, the dining room and the transport in one, and it moves while you sleep. You wake where the snow is best, not where a hotel happens to stand.
The rhythm is simple and the days are long. A picnic carried up the hill, a snack and dry kit back aboard, a three-course dinner in the saloon while the boat repositions for the morning, the day's runs retold over it. In late May the light never quite goes, so the great silence of the fjord stretches well past any reasonable bedtime — the deck, the anchor chain, a wall of glacier turning gold, and not a sound but the ice. There is no sauna and no spa here. The luxury is the access, and the scale: twelve skiers, one boat, a coast no road reaches.
A week, day by day
Day 1 — Longyearbyen, embark. Fly in, meet the guides, board the schooner. Kit check, transceiver drill, dinner aboard as the boat clears the harbour.
Days 2 to 7 — Six days on the hill. Zodiac ashore each morning, skins to the summits and descents towards the sea — fjord and objective chosen daily to the snow and the ice. The boat repositions overnight; midnight light to linger in.
Day 8 — Disembark. A last breakfast under the peaks before the return to Longyearbyen and the flight home.
Indicative programme — snow, ice, weather and group level depending. Six ski days; the route from Longyearbyen towards Ny-Ålesund — by way of the Isfjorden, Prince Karls Forland and the St. Jonsfjorden — is sailed as conditions allow, and the running order is decided each morning by the guides.
In brief
Where · Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard archipelago · ~78° north Season · late April–late May · our departure at the end of MayDuration · 8 days / 7 nights · 6 ski days Vertical · 800–1,100 m of climbing a day · descents of 700 to over 1,000 m, summit to the sea Access · schooner as base camp, zodiac to the foot of the line, then skins (ski touring) Level · fit, confident off-piste skier with touring experience · 3/5 technical and physical Group · one schooner · two small groups of 6 · 12 skiers maximum Base camp · the Noorderlicht, a two-masted schooner (~46 m) · double cabins, full board Route · Longyearbyen → Ny-Ålesund · via the Isfjorden, Prince Karls Forland and the St. Jonsfjorden (as conditions allow) Safety · IFMGA/UIAGM guides · transceiver, shovel, probe, ABS airbag · polar-bear protocol Price · €9,500 per person (excluding flights) PowderWeGo trip · Ski-and-Sail Svalbard
A word from the founder
In twenty-five years around off-piste skiing, I have rarely felt as far from everything as I do at anchor in a Spitsbergen fjord at midnight, the sun still up and the only sound the ice working against the hull. You take the zodiac, you climb on skins, and at the bottom of the run there is the sea — and the boat, waiting to carry you somewhere new while you sleep. We keep it to twelve skiers and two mountain guides per group, and the programme honest: indicative, and rewritten each morning to the snow, the ice and the bear. The Arctic decides; we read it, and now and then we have the good sense to turn back. — Boris Malesset, founder of PowderWeGo, off-piste ski professional since 2001
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Svalbard and Spitsbergen?
Svalbard is the whole Norwegian archipelago in the high Arctic, between about 74 and 81 degrees north. Spitsbergen is its largest island, and the only one permanently inhabited — it is where the skiing happens, and where Longyearbyen, the port of departure, sits. We sail and ski on Spitsbergen, within the Svalbard archipelago.
Is this heliskiing?
No. There is no helicopter. The schooner is the base camp; a zodiac runs you from the boat to the foot of the slope, then you climb on skins to the summit and ski back down towards the sea. It is ski touring with a boat for transport, not heliskiing.
When is the best time to ski Svalbard?
Late April to late May. Late April to mid-May for the best powder odds and fast-lengthening days; mid-May to late May for the midnight sun and the most settled spring corn. Our departure runs at the end of May.
What level of skier do I need to be?
A fit, confident off-piste skier with some ski touring experience, comfortable on the fall line on 35-degree slopes in mixed snow. The trip is rated 3/5 technically and physically — six ski days, with 800 to 1,100 metres of climbing each day. Experienced tourers find steeper lines available.
Do you really carry a rifle for polar bears?
Yes. Outside the settlements, Svalbard law requires means to scare a bear off and advises carrying a firearm as a last resort. The IFMGA/UIAGM mountain guide carries the rifle and runs the bear watch. It is a legal and practical reality of moving on foot here, kept in proportion, not a selling point.
Can you ski down to the sea?
Yes — it is the signature of the place. Descents run from 700 to over 1,000 metres from the summits down towards the fjords, and on the best lines the final apron of snow runs out onto a beach or the sea ice, a few metres from the water.
How many people are on the trip?
Twelve skiers at most, in two small groups of six, aboard the one schooner with two mountain guides per group. The whole archipelago is yours and no other party is in sight — the small scale is the point.
This coast is the heart of our Ski-and-Sail Svalbard trip.
A schooner for a base camp off Spitsbergen, a zodiac to the foot of the line, then skins to the summit and a descent to the sea — six ski days for twelve skiers, end of May, €9,500 per person (excluding flights). One departure, two small groups of six; the programme is built with you, and a place is held with a simple message.
A question on level, dates or the logistics from Longyearbyen? → Let's plan your trip — Boris answers personally and helps you hold an option.
Worth reading next
Our 2025 ski-sailing expedition to Svalbard, day by day — the same coast, told from the deck.
Heli-assisted ski touring in Iceland, summit to ocean — the Arctic sibling on the Troll Peninsula.
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