Scandinavian by nature
A bit of background
Where it started
Originally from the UK, I moved to Sweden about 8 years ago looking for a more balanced way of life. For years I moved around Scandinavia and learnt from the land, mostly by getting things wrong.
I realised there's something unique and special in Scandinavia - an appreciation for the simple. Making a coffee in the woods. Making things with your hands. Steady slow walks through the forest. It felt like an antidote to the 'more' of modern day.
Along the way I met people who've lived this life longer, some of them for generations. Sámi hosts, horse trainers, guides, craftspeople. Very skilled, and very modest about it.
GONE is made to create a door between people seeking this place and the people who are from it.
George
Six things that make G.O.N.E
Wild places
We go where it's still wild. The edge of Sarek, the Bydalen mountains, places without roads or signal. The quiet does a lot of the work.
Small groups
Rarely more than ten. Small enough that everyone knows each other by day two and nobody gets lost in the crowd.
Your pace
Nothing's forced. Join in, or take the afternoon by the fire. Some people want company, some want to be left alone for a bit. Both are fine.
Challenge, with a safety net
It's meant to stretch you a little - cold, distance, weather. But you're with people who've done this for years, and the kit, the plan and the backup are sorted before you arrive.
Room to notice
We don't rush between points on a map. There's time to sit, watch the light go, and get good at small things. A fire, a knife, a horse.
Local, by default
We work with the people who live here and know it best. They lead on their own ground, in their own words. And we try to leave the places as we found them.
Tradition meets technology
Modern kit lets us go further and stay warm. Old skills make us slow down. We use both and we're not precious about either.
Science and nature
We read the research on cold, heat, sleep and attention, and it shapes how the days are built. But a lot of it is just what people up here have always done. We listen to both.
Growth in contrasts
Movement and stillness. Cold and heat. Hard days and easy evenings. The trips are built around the swing between them - that's usually where things shift.
See the tripsHow we matter
Leave it as we found it
The north is the reason G.O.N.E exists, so looking after it isn't an extra. We think about it in a few simple ways - the land, the people who live here, the money a trip brings, and the guests who come.
The land
Small groups and only a few departures a year, so the places we go stay quiet. We follow allemansrätten, the Swedish right to roam and the care that comes with it. What we bring in, we take out.
The people who live here
Our trips are led by local hosts on their own ground. They tell their stories in their own words, and we only film or photograph with their consent.
Money that stays local
A large share of what a guest pays goes to people who live and work up here - hosts, guides, cooks, cabin owners and makers. We pay partners fairly and on time, and book and buy local wherever we can.
Giving back
For every guest who travels with us, we give EUR 50 to Naturskyddsföreningen, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. It goes once a year, after the season, and we'll post the total here.
Guests
We're honest about what a trip asks of you before you book. We share how to travel here well - what to pack, how to be around reindeer and on Sámi land - and the stay carries on after you've gone home.
What we're still working on
Getting this far north means a flight for most people, and in winter we use snowmobiles to reach places without roads. We don't pretend otherwise. If you can take the night train to Luleå, we'll meet you off it, and we keep snowmobile distances to what the week needs.