And how much longer did you have to go before you arrived at camp?

We had about another mile and we were pinning it, so fast. And the most fucked up part about it is that the safe allowance for driving a snowmobile with a giant trailer on the back and all of the gear on it is twenty centimeters of ice.

How cold was it, really?

It’s as cold as you could possibly imagine. It was like 85-percent humidity, so imagine being on the East Coast, right next to the water—that kind of humidity—but with negative 24-degree temperatures and wind that would be in the fifty to sixty mile an hour range, that was completely relentless all day long. With wind chill, it got down to negative forty to fifty degrees. There were a couple of days that we had thoughts like, “I hope we come back to the tent with our toes in tact and not completely black.” We had to check on everyone to make sure there was no skin exposed. You’d get frostbite on your face in a matter of minutes. It was as cold as you could possibly imagine, it’s hard to comprehend it… you don’t feel like moving, every detail of everyday life becomes a challenge because it’s so cold.

So, building off of that, what was life like in camp?

We’d try to be outside as long as possible, but mostly we would either be huddled in the main mess tent, the gathering tent, trying to just warm up with the one heater we had in there. We’d huddle around that, but by no means would it be warm in there, it’d still be minus five to minus 10 degrees in there and we’d still be wearing two puffy jackets each. After a week or so, you just get used to it, but just getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning is one of the hardest things to do. Putting on your ski boots in the morning is just an absolute nightmare. You’re constantly bundled up at all times and covered from head to toe. It’s hard but you just live through it.

What was the skiing actually like up there?

The mountains up there were so beautiful, there’s just a mass array of couloirs…just couloirs everywhere.

I guess Svalbard used to be an island that was on the same latitude as Hawaii and so it’s a quasi-volcanic island with jutting mountains that stick straight up out of the glacier. The features were ridiculous up there. As far as the snow, it was mainly chalky hardpack in many ways, but it was still really fun. It was edgeable, ripping snow. By no means was it pow, but we enjoyed the shit out of it.

You mentioned earlier that you were more focused on the skiing than the actual goal of bagging shots under the solar eclipse. However, that’s the main objective in the film… What was that process like?

Yeah, a solar eclipse only lasts about two and a half minutes. I think they say this in the film, but Reuben is probably one of the most awkward guys I’ve ever been in the mountains with. He’s a complete nerdy dork, math geek guy. But, I also think he’s a borderline genius. When he came into this aspect of planning the eclipse shot, he had every detail mapped out, every setting on his camera dialed, he knew exactly how far away he needed to be. He had it so planned out and we were just trying to find a spot that would work for that. Because of that preparation… if we had just went there and waited for the eclipse to start shooting it wouldn’t have worked, at all. We really needed to be super specific about it, so Reuben’s preparation and planning is what made it successful.

In the trailer, you say something like “I’m just hoping it’s here and done with.” How taxing was the project overall?

Well, that was related to the eclipse. As skiers we were going to Svalbard to go ski and all of a sudden we had multiple days in a row that were just left for scouting the location with no skiing involved. We just drove around on the sleds, hiked up and stood around trying to find the perfect location for the shot. You’re essentially working for somebody, you end up feeling like somebody’s monkey, just some model standing there. Meanwhile, you’re suffering; you’re cold as shit, you’re barely hanging on, your toes are beyond numb, your hands are beyond numb all day. We had that feeling of, “what the fuck are we doing here, let’s go skiing,” and instead we’re just planning out a shot that most of us didn’t believe would happen. So that’s what the quote was related to, there was tension related to that. We were essentially being somebody’s stunt monkey and it didn’t feel good, but you’ll see in the film how it all works out.

Would you consider skiing up there again?

Yes, definitely. I would go back in a heartbeat. You’re in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of the Earth. You’re on the farthest northern land mass in the world, it’s not just the last frontier in terms of a place, it’s a last frontier in terms of what is possible. Can you survive in these elements? It’s pretty crazy.

Related: “Conquering The Useless” from Cody Townsend and Team Thirteen is well worth your watch