05 · Svalbard · Svalbard, Norway
Hornsund by Kayak
Eleven days paddling the inner fjords of Hornsund at 77° north, camping on raised beaches under glacier fronts, with a support boat that stays two hours away and no closer.
- Duration
- 11 days
- Party
- 4 to 6
- Season
- Late June to mid August
- From, per person
- €9,600
The route
- Longyearbyen
- Hornsund mouth
- Burgerbukta
- Brepollen
- Gåshamna
- Longyearbyen
Hornsund is the southernmost of the big Svalbard fjords and the one with the most ice in it. Eleven days in a boat you sit in, with your camp on a beach that was sea floor eight thousand years ago and a glacier front making a noise like distant artillery all night.
The one-kilometre rule
We do not go within a kilometre of an active calving face, in any conditions, for any photograph. Calving events throw a wave, and the wave does not care that the sea was flat when you set off. A kilometre feels absurdly far when you are sitting there — the face fills the sky at that range — and we have had parties push for closer every single departure.
The answer is no, and Ada will simply turn the group. It is the one rule on this trip that has never once been bent.
Bear watch
Every night, in pairs, two hours each. You will do two or three watches over the trip. It is cold, it is slow, and it is at two in the morning in full daylight. It is also, by the fourth night, the thing people ask to do more of.
We have seen bears on seven of nine departures, always at distance, twice at the distance where we broke camp and moved. Nobody has been closer than four hundred metres and we intend to keep that number.
The water
Five degrees. Your drysuit is not a comfort item, it is the reason a capsize is an inconvenience rather than an emergency, which is why we check the seals in Longyearbyen and have sent two people home over them. Bring yours, make sure it fits, and have it serviced before you fly.
Who it suits
Sea paddlers. Not mountaineers who have paddled a bit — the movement skills here are the whole job, and being strong on a hill does not transfer. If you have done Scottish or Norwegian coastal weeks and want the same thing with icebergs in it, this is precisely that.
Day by day
The shape of it
Day 1
Longyearbyen
Rifle briefing, flare drill, and a wet exit in the harbour that everybody does and nobody enjoys. If you cannot wet exit, you do not paddle.
Day 2
The crossing south
Overnight on the Havfrue down the west coast. Twelve hours, usually rough, and the only night of the trip on a bunk.
Days 3–5
Burgerbukta
Three days in the ice. Paddling among bergy bits with a 250-metre glacier face as the back wall, never closer than a kilometre to it, which is further than it looks and is not a suggestion.
Days 6–8
Brepollen
The head of the fjord, four glacier fronts in one basin. Two camps on raised beaches, bear watch rotas through the night, two hours each.
Days 9–10
Gåshamna
Out along the south shore past the old whaling ground. One walking day up onto the Gåshamnøyra bench for the view back into the whole fjord.
Day 11
Longyearbyen
Pickup and the run north. Shower, beer, and the debrief at the Havfrue's table.
Before you book, and what to bring
Before you book
What this route asks of you
- A reliable wet exit and an assisted rescue, demonstrated on day one
- Sea kayak experience in open water — not lake or river paddling
- Able to paddle 20km in a day, on consecutive days, in 5°C water
- Cold-water insurance and evacuation cover valid in Svalbard
On the yard floor
Kit you supply, and we check
- A drysuit with functioning neck and wrist seals, checked before you fly
- Pogies or neoprene gloves, plus a spare set kept dry
- Your own PFD if you prefer one — otherwise we supply it
- A sleeping bag rated to −5°C comfort, synthetic or treated down
- Two pairs of dry camp shoes, because one pair gets wet on day three
What the price covers
Included
What €9,600 buys
- Ten nights: one on the Havfrue, nine under canvas on raised beaches
- Ada Johnsen and a second sea guide for eleven days
- Sea kayaks, paddles, spray decks, PFDs and all group camp kit
- The MS Havfrue for the whole charter, standing off two hours away
- Bear watch equipment, rifles, flares and the training to be around them
- The Sysselmester notification and the Hornsund area permissions
Not included
And, pointedly, what it does not
- Flights to Longyearbyen
- Cold-water and evacuation insurance, required
- Your drysuit, which must be yours and must fit
- A landing at the Polish research station. It is a working station, not a stop.
- Any approach closer than a kilometre to a calving face