We caught up with the @girlsthat.go crew to get the rundown on their recent trip to Norway, where they spent six days ski touring and sailing through the fjords. From waking up on the boat each morning with mountains at their doorstep, to long days moving through the alpine, the trip was all about reconnecting with the outdoors and each other. From Wānaka to Norway.

1. Give us the rundown - where did you go, and what was the why? 

The Lyngen Alps. Look at a map of Norway and head to the very top. That's where we were. Six days amongst the alps, waking up each morning to step off the boat onto a wharf with mountains right at our doorstep. Sounds crazy, and it was!

Our WHY is the most special. It's the reason we all saved up to foot the bill, dedicated the time, requested the annual leave, and did the courses to learn and refine our ski touring and mountaineering skills. From once all living in the same town, Wānaka, New Zealand to now being spread across three different countries. It's not unusual that we find ourselves wanting to reconnect not only with each other, but in doing what we love - spending time in the outdoors. It's a shared love of adventure that has always been a thread connecting us.

Our why for this particular trip was to reconnect. But our why for wanting to share this journey with others is to demonstrate that you don’t need to be a full time professional athlete to enjoy the outdoors. We're carving out space for women balancing careers, families and busy lives to get outdoors and explore - one peak, fjord and adventure at a time.

2. Sailing and ski touring isn’t exactly standard… How did this come about?

You got that right - it's pretty unique. There are not many places in the world where you can go from salt to summit on your skis. A once in a lifetime opportunity. But if the chance came around again, would we? Hell yeah!

Ski touring is something many of the Girls That Go have done before and the way we all got into it is pretty special in itself. We quite literally taught each other. Em learnt with Tim, Skelly learnt from Tessa, Frankie learnt from Skelly, Ella learnt from Frankie, and Liv learnt from Ella. A skill passed down through friendship across different stages of life and different corners of the world with it ultimately leading us all the way to a remote fjord in Norway. Not bad!

From hiking the pistes at Cardrona at sunrise, to touring in the national parks of Canada, to avalanche courses in the German Alps, we've put in the hours. Ski touring is a time consuming hobby and not without its faff (something we will absolutely put our hands up and admit to being good at!) But the satisfaction, the scenery, and the time spent with friends ascending peaks and transitioning at summits makes every chaotic moment worth it.

Norway is an arctic wilderness offering some of the northernmost ski touring in the world. When we connected with Unparalleled Adventures, we knew it was a recipe for success. They led the charge with an incredible wealth of knowledge and connections, and we owe them a massive shoutout for backing this adventure from the very beginning.

We did come with a couple of non-negotiables though. One, a female captain. Two, a female ski-guide. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it our way, honouring our why and empowering females to embrace adventure with a whole boat of epic women by our sides. Unparallel Adventures could not have found better additions to the crew in our guide, Ragni and captain, Anita, it is hard to picture the experience without them!

3. What did a typical day look like out there?

Honestly? Nothing about this trip was typical. No two days, routes, weather systems or meals were the same

What never changed though was the approach. As we always say, safety is sexy - and in the outdoors you have to be prepared. Throw a sailing boat and open sea into the mix and that preparation takes on a whole new meaning. Luckily with Ragni and Anita at the helm, we were in the safest of hands and always had a plan A, B, C and D ready to go

If we're honest, relinquishing control was initially one of the harder adjustments. We're used to planning these kinds of adventures ourselves, calling the shots. Learning to hand that over, to listen, trust and follow the lead of Ragni and Anita was a skill in itself, and one we're really glad we leant into.

We (mainly Ragni and Anita) would plan the night before by scoping the weather systems, and conditions to plan the next day's route and docking location. This would determine our wake up time for the following morning which would range anywhere from 4am to 9am depending on the tour length and conditions. That said, we were never just passengers. We helped run the boat, took turns cooking and cleaning, and even got behind the wheel sailing at times. By the end of the week every single one of us had a hand in mooring the boat resulting in an overall successful dock, minus a couple of rogue knots here and there!

At the end of the day you have to listen to mother nature - Mummy Nav as we like to call her and while plan A always sounds pretty good, sometimes plan E turns out even better!

4. Best moment from the trip?

An impossible task! It’s hard to pick uno momento - every moment made another moment even better! Summit smiles every day, the climb, the girls, the goooo!

5. How was life on the boat? You had to be pretty self-sufficient, but also minimal, right?

Life on the boat was a bloody hoot! Now, let's be clear none of us had much sailing boat experience, we'd all dabbled, but our most experienced crew member was Tessa, whose nautical credentials consist of one week on the Spirit of Adventure at age 17!

From the outside, our vessel looked deceptively modest. But much like Mary Poppins' handbag, once you got inside there were nooks and crannies everywhere,  and you best believe we used every single one of them. Case in point: we arrived with 12 bottles of oat milk. Because we are just girls after all and an oat milk coffee is non-negotiable whether you're in a café in London or anchored in a Norwegian fjord! 

It was kind of the perfect balance of intimate, where you had to plan shifts for bag packing but spacious enough that everyone had a seat around the table for dinner.

Cooking on a moving boat is a skill in itself, everything has to be secured or it ends up on the floor, on you, or both. But there was something really special about taking turns in the galley, figuring it out together, and sitting down to a meal we'd somehow managed to produce while being rocked around on the open sea.

One of the most magical parts of the whole trip was docking in the evening in the dark, having absolutely no idea where we were, then waking up in the morning to pull back the hatch and find ourselves in the most breathtaking bay - Every view looking like something out of a postcard!

6. What gear ended up earning its place on a trip like this?

Where do we even start! Ski touring is already a gear-heavy sport, it does not lend itself well to those of us who may have a slight tendency to overpack. Throw in a strict airline weight allowance and suddenly every single gram is up for debate.

And debate we did. We had full pre-trip meetings dedicated to the gear list - spreadsheets, voice notes, the works. The great puffy skirt discussion of 2026 alone probably clocked a solid few hours. Very Scandinavian, very practical in theory, but are they a little bit too Scandinavian chic for us Kiwis? In the end, only Frankie took the leap and packed a pair of puffy pants. Verdict? Rave reviews for our poor circulation gal!

But if there's one thing that never left our heads (literally), it was our Goodlids hats. Every single one of us had one, every single one of us wore one, on the boat, skinning up the mountain! They were the one constant across every single day and every single condition Norway threw at us. Our guide Ragni is still sending us photos of herself touring in hers, in May! 

The hats paired with the goodlids sunnies were a recipe for success, and not only that, they also protected our eyes from the snow glare, something Ella was particularly concerned about.

7. What did you take away from the trip, being that far removed from normal life?

I think an important take away is that adventures don't need to be perfectly planned, but adaptability, an open mind and a good attitude is non-negotiable! Halfway through the trip the weather shifted on us. The bluebird skies and calm seas we'd been spoiled with turned into howling winds and aggressive waves, cutting our days short and sending us back to the dock earlier than planned. In those moments, the attitude among the group was everything. It's what turned a frustrating situation into some memorable and hilarious moments - did someone say the Tromso public pool? You can't control mother nature, but you can control how you show up when she has other plans.

And then there's the power of doing something hard alongside people you love. There is no better way to reconnect with your friends than through a shared challenge in the outdoors, where you're lifting each other up a mountain, quite literally at times. To be challenged, supported and guided in an environment like that, by each other, by Ragni, by Anita, is a really special combination that's hard to replicate. 

And perhaps one other important note is you don't have to be a professional athlete or the best at the sport to get out there and give it a go! We are ordinary women with jobs and busy lives, who are lucky enough to be surrounded by like-minded friends who encourage one another into adventures like this!

8. If you had to sum the whole experience up in one sentence, what would it be?

Oh man, that's like taking a kid into a shop and asking them to choose only ONE lolly! If we have to - and we know it's a little cliche - it has to be: an adventure of a lifetime.

Because there were so many moments on this trip where you'd just stop and look around and think, my gosh, how are we here right now? Whether that was standing on a glacier in glorious sunshine, pushing through a windstorm where you could barely see 10 metres ahead, huddled below deck drinking coffee and beading bracelets, or handing out sea sickness tablets on the back of the boat in the middle of a storm -  every single one of those moments was extraordinary in its own way.

You can plan a trip like this to within an inch of its life, dot every i and cross every t. But at the end of the day it's the people, their gusto, their humour, and their adventure spirit that make it what it is. And what it was, was an adventure of a lifetime.

9. We’re always keen to support people out there doing it - especially those from our home in New Zealand. What’s next for Girls That Go?

The Girls That Go are always on the move! Half the crew are now back home in New Zealand, heading into winter and dusting off their skis for alpine missions. The other half are exposing their ghostly skin to the slightly more diluted UK and European sun - although still slip, slop, slapping on the 50+ sunscreen like the safe and sexy Kiwis they are. Because, as always, safety = sexy!

There may also be one Girl That Goes who has quietly enrolled in her skipper licence - to Anita's equal parts shock and admiration - get ready for sailing updates!

As for the next big mission… The European crew are cooking up something exciting. The skis are being swapped for wheels, with a bikepacking trip in the works - all grit, legs of steel, and getting from A to B on two wheels. The location is still TBC, but Georgia has been floated, so watch this space.

The Kiwi crew continue to bask in the adventures that the motherland presents, but equally the excitement for a southern hemi winter awaits where time on the maunga will be well spent and earnt!