8-11 May 2025
Powerful experiences
Deep insights
A leadership training by
North of Impact & Gálav Ski Guides
Meet other highly experienced industry leaders and mountain enthusiasts in a collaborative touring summit. Together we will learn about relevant sustainability topics and co-create tomorrow’s solutions while touring the arctic mountains. No suits, highly straight-forward and off-the-record.
WHERE? One of the most spectacular mountain areas in Norway will be the base for our summit. The mountains surrounding Stetinden, Norway’s national mountain, offer excellent touring options and no crowds compared to other popular areas. Narvik Mountain Lodge in the nearby town of Narvik will be our starting and finishing point for the summit and is easily accessible by different modes of transport.
HOW? The physical experience and the environment we’re touring in, will serve as a powerful platform to co-develop and train leaderships skills to run the progressive businesses we need in a time of disruption and crisis. Topics covered may include innovative thinking, climate risk, impact investment, and future-fit leadership – we will adapt it to the collective thoughts, competence and experience in the group.
“The Stetind Declaration” from the Norwegian tradition of eco-philosophy will serve as a framework for thoughts and reflections during our days together. The touring experience will be enhanced by identifying and discussing the climate change that is making its mark on the nature and ecosystems in this region.
The Stetind Declaration
We have gradually come to realize:
That our way of life has fateful consequences for nature and human- kind, and thus for all life on Earth.
The challenges we face as individuals and as a community are not merely of an economical and technological nature.
They concern our basic values and our fundamental conception of what it means to be human.
We acknowledge that:
Nature and humankind constitute a whole and share a common destiny. Nature is the home of culture.
Life is like a woven fabric of relations. To live is to be dependent.
The value of nature and human dignity are intrinsically linked. What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.
All life is vulnerable and therefore under threat.
Concern for nature implies a concern for greater justice: Our way of life affects in particular the poorest among us, indigenous peoples, and future generations.
We will:
Work to promote a renewed understanding of the relationship between nature and humankind.
Strive to base our choices, both as individuals and as a community, on this understanding.
Discover the joy of living in harmony with nature: There is no path to harmony with nature. Harmony with nature is the path.
Humankind possesses great capacity both to create and to destroy.
At this crucial point in time we will take responsibility and commit ourselves to thinking and living in a way that promotes life.
I/we will work to fulfill the Stetind Declaration.
Preliminary program
This is how a typical day will look like:
07:00 Optional yoga & meditation
07:30 Breakfast at Narvik Mountain Lodge
08:30 Departure from the lodge
10:00 Ski touring on a touring objective that fits our ambitions and abilities. Leadership training and debrief as part of the ski tour.
16:00 Après-ski and experience sharing
18:30 Dinner at Narvik Mountain Lodge
20:00 Workshop session
We will adapt the program continuously to fit with the group’s skiing ambitions and the topics that we wish to discuss. By having two guides we can split into two separate groups, with touring objectives of different length and difficulty.
In addition to great ski touring we will also integrate thought-provoking activities into the program, such as sharing experiences and thoughts by a bonfire at the end of a ski tour.
Each day will have a set of specific discussion topics, for example: What are we facing and what is our timeline?
The organizers and guides
Brita Staal is an experienced climate leader with a demonstrated history of change- and sustainability management successes working in the NGO and environmental services industry. She has created and monitored sustainability- and climate strategies for Nordic corporations and scaled and coordinated Protect our Winters to 10 nations across Europe. With strong founder and business development skills, and experiences from climate risk tech, and impact investment Brita look forward to facilitate meaningful discussions at our high camp.
Mikael af Ekenstam has been working professionally with sustainability issues for the last 20 years, together with ambitious clients in Norway and abroad. Mikael has skiing merits that include wins in both the Norwegian and Scandinavian Championships in free skiing as well as starring in several big ski movies. He’s also authored two guidebooks on ski touring in Northern Scandinavia, including the Narvik region. When ski guiding, he strives to facilitate strong and insightful nature experiences.
Carl Lundberg is an internationally certified mountain guide and ECO-Travel pioneer. After pursuing a lifestyle based on international travel as a climber, skier and mountain guide he realized the impact it entailed and started a rapid transition towards low impact travel and lifestyle. Carl’s past includes a military career to the rank of Major in parallel with M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering. Carl is the President of the Swedish Mountain Guide Association and a member of the Environmental Committee of the International Mountain Guides Association, IFMGA. His NGO engagement includes being one of the first Europeans selected to be a Protect Our Winters Ambassador.
Practical information
WHAT DOES IT COST?
You will need to cover your travel expenses from and to Narvik from wherever you are traveling from, as well as the cost for equipment that you might need to buy or rent. Otherwise, the price of 14 000 NOK covers all lodge, board, guiding and facilitation during the entire camp. You will share a room with other participants of the same sex. Let us know if you would prefer a room of your own (to an additional cost).
HOW DIFFICULT IS THE SKI TOURING?
In order to keep the High Camp enjoyable and safe for all, we expect that the participants have basic touring experience and skiing or splitboarding abilities so that you can manage different types of snow conditions in off-piste terrain. The physical condition of participants should be at a level where one can comfortably run for 5 km without stopping. But since we will have two guides we can split into two separate groupes and adapt the difficulty and length of the ski tours.
WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING?
— Boots and skis or split board for touring
— Clothing for ski touring
— Backpack of 35-50 liters
— Poles, ascension skins and ski crampons
— Shovel, probe, and transceiver
— Helmet and avalanche airbag if you wish
For those of you who need equipment, our partner for the CEO High Camp is Narvikfjellet – Please let us know your needs and we will help you organise.
The event is insured under the liability insurance of the organizer, but each participant is strongly encouraged to have a personal insurance/travel insurance to cover any damages or injuries that may happen.
TRAVEL INFO
Arrive at Narvik Mountain Lodge by Thursday evening the 8th of May. You can arrive at Narvik train or bus station, or EVE airport, and we will support you in the last miles to Narvik. For early arrivers, we will organize guided backcountry skiing in the Narvikfjellet ski area (which is open until 20:00). We will have the welcome dinner and briefing at 20:30. Be ready to tour the next morning, on Friday. Our last tour will find place Sunday 11th of May before departures after 14:00.