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Overwintering on Svalbard: A year in the Arctic Wilderness
In a few weeks’ time the sun will disappear on Svalbard, giving way to four months of darkness
before it breaks the southern horizon once again in late February 2025. Having led two four-month
expeditions to Svalbard for British Exploring, Mark Evans wanted to see the full annual cycle and
devised a year-long overwintering project, of which Polar Explorer Colonel Andrew Croft
(www.acmf.org.uk) was the Patron. Dropped off by boat on the south side of Templefjord the team
had a couple of weeks to establish a base camp suitable to withstand the rigours of an Arctic winter
before the daylight, and the geese returned. Under the watchful eye of two 55kg Malamuts, for the
entire year team members slept in unheated tents, including a lavvu, used wind turbines for energy
and undertook a variety of scientific projects for organisations such as The Norwegian Polar
Institute, IBM and Trondheim University. From Italian restaurants at Wimbledon fortnight to a
launch at the Norwegian Embassy in London with Borge Ousland, Mark will share with us the story of
Arctic Year.
About Mark Evans
Now based in Beauly in Scotland, Mark Evans has spent 45 years living at the extremes. He has spent
the equivalent of two years of his life on expeditions in the Arctic, leading two expeditions to
Melville Island in the Northwest Passage on the trail of William Edward Parry, six multi-month
expeditions to Svalbard, a two-man crossing of the Greenland ice cap and kayaking around the
northwest coast of Svalbard.
For the past 25 years he has been based in the Middle East, where in 2016 with two Omani
companions he became the first person in 85 years to cross the largest sand desert on earth, The
Rub Al Khali, a journey of 49 days on foot and by camel.
His most recent project saw him travel on foot and by camel from east to west across Saudi Arabia
with the granddaughter of St John Philby-father of Kim (see www.heartofarabiaexpedition.com), and
his next expedition will be launched at The Royal Geographical Society in London on November 25th
