Are you ready to embark on an epic, artic journey? A journey through the mesmerising landscapes of Svalbard, where you can experience the untouched wilderness of Svalbard’s most scenic spots that few have ventured to. These magical places endure tumultuous conditions with glistening rays of sunshine to blistering snow storms, making every moment an exhilarating thrill. The most surreal experience of all is the chance to glimpse polar bears majestically wandering across the ice in the glorious Midnight sun. This is a real adventure of a lifetime: this is the unforgettable, unmissable Svalbard Ski Adventure, brought to you by Black Tomato.

Setting off at peak time around March through May, starting with a seven-hour flight from London or a thirteen-hour flight from New York, you will find that the beautiful Svalbard is one of the most idyllic places to go for a six-night-long holiday. From cultural immersion, total relaxation to intrepid exploration, this experience in Svalbard is the whole package, encapsulating every desirable feature of an artic holiday that encourages guests to push themselves outside their comfort zones, while providing them with a number of opportunities to simply relax and take in the mesmerising landscapes. With expert guidance on tent-pitching and bracing snowstorms, you will be able to glimpse glorious polar bears through the night as if you had been teleported right into one of David Attenborough’s documentaries. The chance of being in this fantastical, icy wilderness is an opportunity to be at one with nature in well-pitched tents to find a sense of complete grounding on the icy surface of Svalbard in the footprints of its polar bears.

The journey begins with a three-hour flight from mainland Oslo to Longyearbyen in Svalbard, where the multi-coloured chalets dotted through the valley seem to have individual personalities and quirks, forming a picturesque, postcard-worthy neighbourhood for guests to feel at home in. In the evening of arrival to Longyearbyen, the staff will complete all the final checks of guests’ luggage and kit, ensuring everything is ready to go for the adventures ahead. The following morning, everyone will set sail over the icy waters and fjords to begin their exciting adventure. The frigid waters are completely at peace, with only a few ripples breaking the serenity of the water’s surface from the boats, making the frosty ice peaks gently dance up and down on the water as they float gently on the surface.

Once arriving at Ymerbutka, the front of Esmark Glacier in Ymer Bay, guests will set up camp under the Polhøgda Mountain. This 690m high mountain is a breath-taking geographical wonder, and here guests learn to master artic camping with the expert guides, from cooking dinner over hand-built fires to pitching tents to sleep beneath the endlessly glowing Midnight Sun. The Midnight Sun is a natural phenomenon where the sun continues to shine even at midnight, giving Svalbard its fame as the place where the sun ceases to shine its glorious orange glow that reflects magically off the surface of the ice. This is an unforgettable experience, on par the magnificent Northern Lights, for its unnaturally surreal yet wondrously natural beauty. The Midnight sun spotlights the glistening snow all around, setting the nighttime stage perfectly as the wandering polar bears make their entrance and wander calmly across the landscape ahead. Guests will take shifts to watch out for the bears, and witnessing them in the wild so closely in the sunlight yet in the middle of the night is a real wonder of the world.

After the excitement of the first few days, guests will then be taken off the beaten track to find some more of Svalbard’s untouched scenery. Clipping your skis into action, navigating your way over to the Esmark Glacier, and travelling up to the Grand Mountain, you will encounter the Home of the Trolls at Trollheimen. The landscape here is riddled with mythology and magical fairytales, giving it its name, as it is another place in Svalbard that seems too mystical to be real, feeling a little too much like something from a fictional land in a novel. With the hut-to-hut hiking routes, this valley is renown as the ‘gem among Norwegian mountain regions’, and the snow dusted peaks surrounding the glistening icy waters of the breath-taking Ymerbutka glacier make this location as enchanted as its name sounds. The thrill of this experience then accelerates as guests are taken to explore the landscape by rock climbing through the crevasses of Trollheimen, while strapped safely with crampons and ropes. With adrenaline powering through your blood, this experience reveals a whole new view of the land, that few will have ever been able to witness, giving you the opportunity to enjoy the secret sights of Svalbard in complete serenity.

The Svalbard Ski Adventure is finally brought to a dramatic grande finale, where guests set up camp on top of the glacier front, going from being artic camping beginners at the start of the trip to experts by the end, claiming the best, almost regal spot atop the mighty height of glacier. The white and light-blue tinges of colour embedded into the ice create marble-effect on the glacier as it outstretches in front of the tents, mirroring the mystical landscapes of C.S.Lewis’ novel, ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’, the wondrous, snowy lands of Narnia. After this fantastic final night, the next morning guests will sail back to Longyearbyen, stopping off in Barentsburg, the pretty Russian settlement on the edge of the water, before returning home via Oslo.

This six-night trip, provided by Black Tomato, truly captures every beautiful, magical image and every natural phenomenon of Svalbard, making it the symbol of an ‘adventure of a lifetime’. It is both an exhilarating journey, and also a breath-taking, peaceful glimpse of wondrous landscapes, that heal the soul and enhance one’s connection and love of planet earth. Every adventure-lover and luxury holidaymaker would surely not be able to resist the opportunity of such an experience.