Field Journal

In Conversation with Martin Olson
Written by Jenny Tough // Photography by Martin Olson

In April 2021 two professional big-mountain skiers and two IFMGA guides headed above the Arctic Circle in the hope of summiting and skiing all 12 of Sweden’s 2,000m peaks. This 415km journey took the team through some of the most beautiful, rugged, and untouched terrain in all of Europe. Along the way, they were on the lookout for some of the best – and perhaps least-known – skiing the Scandinavian mountains have to offer.

Martin Olson joined the expedition as photographer and filmmaker. We sat down with him to hear more about his journey, and the launch of the new film.

‘I was assigned to come along on this expedition as a photographer, mainly for shooting a documentary about the whole trip, but also doing stills for articles and sponsors. The brain behind the project is the pro freeskier Jackie Paaso, who also stars the film as the main character. Along with her we have Erin Smart and Benjamin Ribeyre who are well experienced mountain guides residing in La Grave. And the fourth member of the team is the pro skier and former Freeride World Tour champion Reine Barkered, who also happens to be Jackie’s husband. So it was an interesting mix of skillsets and nationalities with Jackie and Erin originally from US, Reine and I from Sweden, and Benjamin from France.

‘The 12 2,000m peaks in Sweden are located in the north of Lapland – six of them in the Sarek National Park, which is often referred to as the last wilderness of Europe and one of the wildest places you can find in Sweden.

‘The weather in Lapland is unpredictable, and the uncertainty of doing the summits within our given time frame of roughly a month was one of the many challenges we faced and also added on stress and tension in the group. The pace was fast, the nights were cold, avalanche conditions were brutal and none of us had summited the technical peaks or knew much about them beforehand. Overall it was a sufferfest, but at the same time an amazing experience.

‘Despite all the challenges, we managed as a team to successfully – and without any injuries – climb all the mountains. However, due to the conditions, we made the decision not to ski some of the summits.’

What was your personal objective when this project first started? Why were you keen to work with these people? Or did the terrain call you most?
As well as completing the task of climbing the 12 peaks, my personal objective was to make the most epic film I could make as a one-man band. I want this film to be an eye-opener for the Swedish mountains in the international adventure and skiing scene. The terrain did of course call me – Sarek, for instance, is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places we have in Sweden, and I’ve always longed to do a traverse there both summer and winter.

Working with my teammates was also an awesome experience. I mean, two of the best freeriders in the world and two mountain guides from one of the most notorious ski resorts in Europe – that is an interesting company.

How were the group dynamics on this expedition? Did you feel like the fifth wheel? Or did you try to sit back and be a fly on the wall?
Group dynamics were indeed an interesting one. Being out there in basically a survival situation, fighting the elements every day, pushing your body all the time, does stretch things. Two couples and then me as the fifth wheeler, even though I never really felt like a ‘real’ fifth wheeler, as it wasn’t a romantic honeymoon for anyone. But there was a feeling of two camps with different opinions on certain things. As a documentary filmmaker I wanted to stay neutral and observe from an outside perspective. But as I also was a part of the group, I of course had opinions too.

When you set out to document a journey, do you have an idea beforehand what type of story you’re going to tell?
In this case it was to tell the story of four people on an epic journey with the goal to climb and ski the 12 highest peaks in Sweden, and show the struggle and obstacles they were facing along the way. I wanted to capture rawness, honesty, and reality. Both the ups and downs. From the beginning it was planned to be mostly from Jackie’s and Erin’s perspective, then letting the angle of the film be dictated by the circumstances.

What was the low point for you?
My low point came after skiing down from Stortoppen in Sarek. Snow conditions were challenging, but nothing worse than I had skied before. However, at the time I felt that I couldn’t ski properly at all, and I was under the impression that I had yet to prove myself to the group, who were on another level.

What was the high point?
For me there were many high points. First was when Jackie asked me to join, if that counts! I mean, after all, it’s thanks to her that we all got this amazing experience. But, during the trip, skiing down from Sydtoppen in Sarek was amazing, and probably the best run I had that season. Crossing the Rapa Valley in perfect sunshine on Nordic skis, standing on Kaskasapakte, the most technical peak, and of course reaching Nikkaluokta – our final destination – after all the days out were all amazing parts of the journey. Hard to tell which was the best.

Was it hard to fulfil your objective to shoot while the other four had an objective to move fast and cover terrain?
We all had the objective to cover a lot of terrain and there was a split view in the group on the level of the pace and the amount of time we should spend on filming. It was a big challenge for me to keep up while also getting the footage needed for the level of film I had in mind – not to mention delivering high quality stills. I had to shoot the group both in front and from behind as well as getting environmental B-roll etc and I could not ask them to stop and wait for me all the time to arrange the perfect frame. There were a lot of running around, sprinting from time to time to keep up, instead of keeping a consistent pace. This was indeed very hard and it goes without saying that I often got behind.

When we stopped for a short break I had to shoot dialogue, and then I also had to eat – but by that point they might already be on their way again. Eating and skiing at the same time was sometimes necessary.

This was not the case every single day though, and I was very thankful that we had arranged for me to pull a lighter sled. But on top of that, there was also the element of being at camp. In addition to setting up the tent, building shelter, melting snow and so on, I also had to rig time-lapses and charge batteries, get up early and stay up late to capture sunset, sunrise, the stars, and the northern lights instead of resting.

How did you feel about the avalanche danger? Were there any moments where you felt too far outside the line of comfort and safety?
I was in very good company, and my teammates had great mountain awareness and experience. And we were extremely cautious with avalanche terrain. But regarding my comfort zone, there was one couloir that was long, very steep and icy, with a bergschrund right below. That run was outside my comfort zone.

What did making this project teach you about teams and partnerships?