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Neither Anna nor Pasi are new to leading groups in extreme environments. Some of their eclectic outdoor history is included here in the hope that it gives you confidence in their abilities to guide you safely through the arctic tundra.
- Pasi: first unsupported Finnish expedition to the South Pole (2008)
- 560km crossing of the Greenland Icecap completed in 29 days (2006)
- Attempted sea-kayak circumnavigation of Svalbard (2008)
- Anna: Chief Mountaineer for BSES youth expeditions to the Tien Shan and Ladakh
South Pole, 2008
Pasi completed the first unsupported Finnish expedition to the South Pole, leaving in November 2008 and returning in January 2009 - which left Anna to finish building and managing the farm alone during its first season, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
He and his partner Poppis arrived at the Pole on Christmas Day, and in the process Poppis became the 12th person in Polar history to ski unsupported to both poles. A full South Pole expedition is a roughly 1200km, two-month ski, man-hauling all your equipment without support. The trip drew worldwide interest thanks to the quality of their reporting and the apparent ease with which they finished: more than 30,000 visitors followed their website, and they received congratulations from the Finnish president, prime minister and parliamentary chairman.
By Hands and Feet Across Greenland, 2006
In 2006, Anna and Pasi led a pioneering Trans-Greenland expedition with a team of 5 other explorers, including one paraplegic girl, Karen. The inspiration came from Karen's 2004 visit: skiing through the Finnish landscape had been a revelation - the first time since the accident that paralysed her that she had journeyed into the wilderness under her own power.
It took two years, and the cooperation of many outdoor brands, to design and develop the necessary clothing and kit. The 560km crossing took just 29 days - the same as most commercial expeditions, despite the team pulling far heavier loads, since Karen's share had to be shared between the others. Anna was awarded a Winston Churchill Award for her leadership and received congratulations from expedition patron Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Svalbard, ski-mountaineering and earlier journeys
In summer 2008, Pasi set off with three other Finnish kayakers to attempt a circumnavigation of Svalbard. Along the way they saw polar bear and walrus, but their progress was eventually blocked at the northernmost tip by a heavier and earlier-than-normal concentration of sea-ice, so they retreated south.
Their history also spans ski-mountaineering in Norway, Finland and Spitzbergen; Anna's role as Country Director for Raleigh International in Namibia; her appearance in the inaugural BBC2 'SAS: Are You Tough Enough?'; her years leading BSES Expeditions youth expeditions to the Tien Shan and Ladakh as Chief Mountaineer; commercial rafting in Nepal; community forestry research; big-wall and alpine climbing across the Alps, Pyrenees and Canada; and exploratory bike journeys across Tibet.
