Ski and sail Svalbard

You have to have a wild imagination to think of anything better than a trip which combines sailing and skiing in the untouched, pristine Svalbard.

Price: starting from 8200€

Book now

The Svalbard peninsula is a paradise for ski touring, surrounded by oceans, glaciers and mountains. There are no roads, no paths, and it is only accessible by boat.

From our boat, you will step onto the beach with your skis, and then break trail up the mountain looking down onto the ocean below you. Our base camp is our boat, and during 9 days we will have the opportunity to go where nobody else can.

A unique and unforgettable experience for anyone who enjoys ski touring and the wonders of unspoilt nature.

The trip starts and ends in Longyearbyen on the protected island of Svalbard, which lies between Norway and North Pôle.

We start by sailing northwards, to a series of fjords including the Prinz Carl land, the Magdalenen and Kong oscar fjord.

From here on it is uninhabited by humans, with the exception of Ny Alesund which is a tiny research station, with a population of around 50.

The area is dominated by mountains, glaciers and icebergs, interspersed by polar bears, and all this fantastic fauna. We cover between 700 and 1000 vertical metres per day, most often skiing right back to the beach.

The skiing we plan together with the guide, adjusted to the group as well as the weather and conditions. After skiing we decamp back to our boat, enjoy a hearty (usually locally caught) dinner, before setting sail to our next adventure.

You will be helping sail the yacht, not just skiing! Previous sailing experience is an advantage, but not obligatory. More important is a quest for adventure, and an appreciation of the wilderness.

For the duration of this trip there will be a ski guide, a skipper and a fully qualified chef on board. The ski guide will act as instructor as well as guide, to make sure you can also improve your skills to take full advantage of this incredible experience.

Svalbard Program

Day 1: Flight to Oslo. Night at the hotel in Oslo

Day 2: Flight Oslo - Longyearbyen

Arrive Longyearbyen around 11 pm. Bus to the harbour and we drop our luggage onto the boat. Gear check, briefing of the week and short visit to Longyearbyen. Lunch in town.

Start sailing by the end of the afternoon.

Day 3 to 11

We will sail northward to The Magdalenenfjorden at the edge of the iceshelf.

We will ski peaks including Phipsfjellet, the Snodomen, Draudmanen.

We will be sailing through fjords including Kong Oscar fjord, St Jonsfjord, the Prinz Carl Forland.

We'll say hello to the Walrus colony at Poolepynten on the Prinz Carl Forland Island, the seals and perhaps the king of the arctic, the white polar bear.

Skiing on the Protector fjellet

Skiing on Fregatten mountain

Arriving on top of Dronning Mauds, Kong Oscar fjord

Arriving on top of Phipsfjellet, Prinz Carl Forland

Kong Oscar fjord with Snodomen in the background

Our boat awaiting our ski descent

Day 12: Fly back to Oslo

Day 13: Breakfast and end of our service

Taxi for the airport and flight back home.

This program may be modified due to weather and snow condition but also depending of you ski level and your fitness.

Ski and Sail Svalbard: Practical Information

What is this concept of 'ski and sail' in Svalbard?

It is a concept where we use a sailing boat as our floating transport and accomodation; we sail to the foot of the mountains and start our skiing right from the beach.

By boat we are flexible and can move from place to place, and choose hillsides, faces and our areas according to the present conditions we have.

Ski & Sail is a concept created by a french skier / sailor since early 1990s, and a concept that norwegians recently have started to discover.

Some of our guides have started to ski there for the first time in 2005 and know very well the Svalbard archipelago.

Skiing in Svalbard requires a good ski touring level as we often ski on the glacier. During the trip we may encounter polar bears when go ashore; your guide is trained in how to manage these situations and will carry gun flares and a rifle.

Technical level: medium

This trip requires some experience of ski touring, but you do not need to be an advanced tourer / skier.

You need to have done other multi-day ski tours (such as the Haute Route), and you need to be able to master kick turns, and be able to ski off-piste.

If you do have a lot of experience it is obviously an advantage, and you will be still able to challenge yourself.

Those with more experience often want to climb steeper mountains, and do more meters up and down in one day.

As organizers we try to keep the level as equal as we can, so that we can choose mountains according to the level of the group.

If you are in doubt this is the right trip for you, you are welcome to contact us at any time - whether you are beginner or experienced.

This is a ski and sailing trip possible to do for most intermediate skiers. If you want to learn about sailing our skipper will be very please to teach you all the skill and technics of sailing.

If you also have sailing experience, you will be welcome to steer the boat and help the skipper in general.

Travel

Your flight to Oslo is not included. You can fly to Oslo from the UK with SAS, Norweigan Air International and RyanAir.

Your hotel in Oslo and your return flight to Longyearbyen is included in the price.

Please don't buy your flight ticket before the group is confirmed. We will send you an e mail as soon as this happens.

Changes to the program

The program is a provisional plan that we adjust according to weather and snow conditions.

If a particular slope is more avalanche prone or has wind crust, then we can sail to find another in better condition.

Onboard we have with us a dinghy for trips ashore, we have fishing gear to catch our dinner, and we have what we need to make a bonfire and barbecue ashore.

Booking

You must book your trip minimum 4 months prior to your chosen date, but we recommend 6 months if possible to ensure flight and boat availibility.

The Boat

Valiente is 21m steel boat recently built in 2010 fully equipped with 5 comfortable double cabins each fitted with an ensuite bathroom.

The boat has a small but practical kitchen, and has both indoor and outdoor dining quarters.

The boat has it's own fresh drinking water maker, with 2 tanks of 2300 liters.

If there isn't enough wind to sail, then we have a 200 horsepower inboard engine to get us to our desination.

Accomodation

Twin beds or shared king size bed with private bathroom in every cabin.

The cabin allocation will be based on the booking order - book early to make sure you get your first choice!

The back double cabin

Double cabin

Dining quarters

Bathroom

Food

We'll have a hearty breakfast in the morning, and when we come back onboard, we'll have another meal around 2 or 3 pm.

A dinner with dessert will be served around 8pm. A master chef is on board with us throughout the trip to prepare our meals.

Cost and Availability of Ski and Sail Svalbard

Course Date Price (per person) Status Book
03-15 May 20268200€Available - 8 places

We need a minimum of 7 persons to run this trip. You can sign up as an individual, or as a group, and we will endeavour the complete the group.

If you are a group of friends and want to privatise this trip, please get in touch with us. Please contact us by e-mail or phone/whats app +33 6 95 04 23 02 to discuss the dates you have in mind and the additional cost.

The Cost includes:

  • Organisation of the trip
  • 1 night Hotel in Longyearbyen with continental breakfast
  • Experienced skipper on board
  • All meals cooked by chef on board
  • High mountain guide state qualified
  • Full board accommodation 11 nights, 10 days on the boat from day 1 diner to day 12 breakfast.

The Cost does not include:

  • Lunch day 1 in Longyearbyen
  • Drinks on board such as beer or wine, etc.
  • Personal equipment and clothing (ski touring, boots, skins, tranceiver, shovel, probe etc..)
  • Flights to/from Oslo and to/from Longyearbyen

Mb 5 day course

Bonjour Sandrine and Piere
 
Merci beaucoup pour le cinq jour ascent de Mont Blanc 
Nous retournons aujourd’hui
 
We got to the Gouter hut b...read more
Wilkinson David
June 4th 2025

Exceptional Guide

Hello Pierre, 

 
Just wanted to let you know that we summited last Friday with our guide Julien Miller. 
He is truly an exceptional professional and fun personality. Thank ...read more
Ruedi Stoffel
MB course 3 day

wonderful time on Mont Blanc

I had a wonderful time on Mont Blanc, thanks. Javier was a terrific guide – he was well prepared, skilled and, above all, he listened. He understood the importance of two-way communication on a cli...read more

Susan
Mont Blanc 3 days course - September 2023

best service Mont Blanc 3 days

I had the best Service i could ask for. Thanks a lot to Jimmy Heredia and you Monica. I will never forget this Expedition to Mont Blanc.

Gabriel
Mont Blanc 3 days - July 2023

Mont Blanc 3 days - July 2023

Thank you. I had an amazing time and Bastien was great guide!!!!

Ted
Mont Blanc 3 days - august 2023

The Matterhorn week. August 2023

Pierre was  our guide for climbing the Matterhorn. He was incredibly friendly, pushed us well and was as professionnal as you could hope for - I intended to use Chamonix Mont Blanc guides again for...read more

James Kirkwood
Matterhorn 4 days

What a Matterhorn week! August 2023

Pierre has been a fantastic guide throughout our time in Chamonix. After 3 days of rigorous training during which Pierre continuallly pushed us to our limits in order to ensure we were in good enou...read more

Macintosh Joseph
Matterhorn 4 days

Grand Paradis August 2023

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the great support and coordination. 

It was definitely tough/challenging, but absolutely beautiful and worth every minute. An experience I wil...read more

Alexandra
Grand Paradis 3 days

Mont Blanc 3 days - July 2023

I summited Mont Blanc with Logan and our guide Juan two days ago and had a blast. Juan was fantastic, knowledgeable and all about safety, the perfect guide. And you, thanks for your great customer ...read more

David
Mont Banc 3 days course

Mont Blanc 5 days course

I just want to give some feedback and say thank you for some amazing five days in the mountains last week.

Our Mt Blanc course was very well organized, and the programme exactly as we hoped ...read more

Trine
Mont Blan 5 days - July 2023

Mont Blanc / Matterhorn / Eiger

Thank you for putting together a wonderful guide trip for my European Trifecta climbs in France and Switzerland.

My guide, Yann Grava, was excellent and put the extra time in early to assess...read more

Wayne - United States

Very good experience

I'd like to thank you for the good organization of the trip last week (june 20-24). It was a very good experience and we were lucky that we could summit the Mont Blanc on Friday the 23rd. Chamonix ...read more

Marc

250 m from the summit

-25 with the wind near the summit! 
But we tried. That’s all anyone can do climbing a mountain. 
The late season, the huts closing and the bad weather all came together unfortunately. <...read more

Scott - United States - September 2022
Mont Blanc 3 days private course

Great Fun & Amazing Summit

Many thanks for the course! It was great fun and amazing to summit.

I believe the first 2 days were a good pace to make sure we were ready for the ascension of Mont Blanc! It was good to pus...read more

Ryan - september 2022
Mont Blanc 5 days course

Mont Blanc 5 days course

I'm back home happy, healthy and in a good mood due the successful summit attempt. 

I consider we had the best possible weather to climb, a marvellous guide and a good alignment of the team ...read more

Daniel
Mont Blanc 5 days - september 2022

Mont Blanc 5 days Course - september 2019

"My boyfriend and I signed up for the five days training and climbing expedition on Mount Blanc chancing the last week of the climbing season. We got paired with a fantastic mix of people from acro...read more

Andra & Chris
Mont Blanc 5 days course

"Well organised, interesting, challenging and rewarding!"

Had a great experience with Chamonix Mont Blanc Guides last week with a successful ascent of Mont Blanc.

First and the most important – I was really pleased with the safety component. From t...read more

Ivan S, Russia
Mont Blanc 6 day climb, August 2018

"Excellent experience, well organised tour"

I was part of a week long training and climbing expedition on Mount Blanc. It was a truly wonderful experience and very well organised. Our guide was good at training the group for the first two da...read more

Marco P, Brazil
Mont Blanc 6 day climb, July 2018

"I will come back and climb or ski with them again!"

Had a great week climbing with Pierre and later Gaylord. Excellent guides which adapted our schedule to our abilities as climbers and also the weather to have the best possible condition on Matterh...read more

Nick P, Sweden
Matterhorn 5 day climb, July 2018

"Absolutely marvellous experience"

Thank you for your assistance getting me onto the mountain. I've had an absolutely marvellous experience and thoroughly enjoyed the company of my three fellow climbers. I was not disappointed not m...read more

Peter D, Australia
Grand Paradiso climb, July 2018

"What an incredible adventure"

"What an incredible adventure! This is just a quick note to say thank you to chamonix mont blanc guides for a most memorable experience.

Our guide, Pierre was outstanding. He taught us what ...read more

Eva

"Looking forward to my next adventure"

Thanks to the proactive attitude and helpfulness of the company and Pierre (our guide) we were able to climb Mont Blanc on a very short notice.

It was a great experience - not only reaching ...read more

David R, Switzerland
Mont Blanc 2 day climb, August 2017

"Thank you for all the support"

Dear Sarah,

Just wanted to let you know that all went well. We reached the summit as planned and right now I'm in my hotel.

I wanted to express my gratitude to Antoine, and once again...read more

A. Glaskov
Mont Blanc 2 day course July 2017

"Amazing experience, exceptional guide"

I just wanted to write a review for our experience last week with Chamonix Mont Blanc Guides.

We had an amazing experience and were very pleased with the accommodations, organization, and th...read more

Carissa C., USA
Mont Blanc 6 day course, July 2017

"An exceptional experience"

I could not have had a better experience than I did with Chamonix Mont Blanc guides. Pierre's infectious energy lightened up the day and his expertise made my dream of climbing the Matterhorn an ex...read more

Scott B, Salt Lake City
Matterhorn, July 2017

"Brilliantly professional company"

"An amazing trip with an brilliantly professional company. I was lucky enough to have CMBG's head guide take me up to the summit of Mont Blanc in a speedy, safe, confidant and perfectly timed exper...read more

N. Smith, UK
Mont Blanc 2 days course, September 2016

"Experience exceptional"

"Climbing with Pierre and Luc of Chamonix Mont Blanc Guides was a great time. Their climbing experience is exceptional, they are both great guys, and we had fun bantering back and forth on multiple...read more

Bruce Mckay, United States
August 2016

"They will make it happen"

"Wow. What can I say about Chamonixmontblancguides and Pierre? Top athlete who knows his way around a mountain. Very personal service his company provide. If there are ways to get up a mountain wit...read more

John R., Scotland
Mont Blanc 2 days course, July 2016

"An unforgettable experience"

"My guide Pierre and Chamonix Mont Blanc Guides in general were the best one could hope for up the difficult trek that is the terrain and crowds of Mont Blanc.

Their command of the English l...read more

Owen, Kansas, USA
July 2016

"One of the better things I've done in my life"

"Just thought I’d drop you a note thanking you for organising this trip. Definitely one of the better things I’ve done in my life and couldn’t be happier.

The weather played it’s part which ...read more

Nick D., London
Mont Blanc 6 days course, July 2016

"An adventure I will never forget"

"Merci beaucoup !!! Thanks to you and your fellow guides I had a most incredible trek to the summit of Mont Blanc.

First, your guidance on the training days was highly invaluable especially ...read more

Peter H., England
Mont Blanc 6 day course, July 2015

"Really appreciate all your advice and confidence"

"Just want to say a big thank you, and really appreciate all your advice and all the confidence you put in us throughout the trip.

We all had a good time and look forward to many more trips ...read more

Dr Shyam S., England
Mont Blanc 6 days course, 2015

"I would certainly recommend your services"

"Everything was awesome, thank you very much for your help.

David is a great guide - I couldn't have done it without him, I underestimated a little how technical it can be and how dangerous ...read more

Dima P., USA
Mont Blanc 6 days course, 2014

"Highly recommend you and your company"

"On the climb up Mont Blanc, the view was absolutely stunning, but the climb was also a real personal challenge.

I was fortunate enough to make it to the top and I have to say all thanks to ...read more

Paul M., Australia
Mont Blanc 6 days course, 2014