Our guides
We know that one of the other keys to a successful expedition is having knowledgeable and enthusiastic leaders. These are the guides that take you to some of the most remote corners of the world! Some of them have more than 20 years experience of the Polar Regions.
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Adam Rheborg
Guide and Expedition LeaderAdam has been guiding adventurous tourists like yourselves amongst polar bears and walruses in Svalbard since 1998. He works full time as expedition leader, dive master, television reporter, journalist and lecturer with the whole planet as his work place.
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Adrian Nordenborg
GuideAdrian has spent most of his life adventuring in over 100 countries around the world. As expedition leader and guide, he has done almost everything – from leading treasure hunting in Morocco and skiing in Iran to walks in Turkey to kayaking outside Manhattan. Adrian has a great love for nature and wildlife.
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Ali Liddle
GuideAli has lived in both the Falklands and South Georgia, but is currently based on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. She has a passion for the polar regions and has worked on ships in both Antarctica and the Arctic, as well as a few destinations in between.
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Anders Magnusson
GuideBorn on the Baltic coast of Sweden, Anders started birdwatching as a 7-year-old boy and has loved nature and wildlife ever since. The search for new birds has taken him to many wonderful places around the world. The Arctic has always been one of Anders' favourite destinations and after his first trip to Svalbard in 2002, he has returned to this special place regularly over the years!
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Annette Bombosch
GuideGerman biologist Annette has swapped a job behind the computer for an office with a view since 2014 and has been working on various expedition cruises to the Arctic as well as the Antarctic. Up North, Annette has guided in Svalbard, Greenland and Franz Josef Land. She has stood at the North Pole nine times.
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Aríen Ramnfjell
GuideAríen has always felt a pull towards the high Arctic nature. Born in the mountains of Norway, she could early on nurture her love and sense of belonging in nature.
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Arne Naevra
GuideArne is one of the Nordic region's most prominent nature film makers and has produced a number of nature and wildlife films for Scandinavian public service channels and for international companies such as the BBC. Several of the series feature material from the Arctic (Russia, Alaska and Svalbard) and Antarctica.
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Beau Pruneau
Guide and Expedition LeaderGrowing up in a log house in the Canadian wilderness in Northern Ontario, Beau understood at an early age to appreciate the great outdoors while learning wilderness skills such as survival, navigation, tracking, and firearms marksmanship. He is happiest out on deck searching for polar bears.
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Boris Wise
Guide and Expedition LeaderBoris is a passionate naturalist, a wilderness guide and an accomplished photographer. He started off his career guiding in Southeast Alaska for 10 years before going on his first expedition cruise in 2010. The wildlife and the wilderness of both remote and familiar regions inspired him to keep exploring.
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Carina Ketterer
GuideThis is Carina, she grew up in the Swiss capital Bern, far away from the sea. Being happiest outdoors, Carina decided to make the world her workplace and to become an international tour guide specialising in the polar regions Carina is also a sports fanatic and triathlons in her spare time. But don't worry, she has vowed to slow down the tours to half speed.
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Celina Fester
GuideCelina is a certified Arctic Nature Guide based in Longyearbyen. She is at her happiest when she is guiding other travelers either hiking, snowmobiling, out on boats or skiing over Svalbard’s beautiful glaciers. Sharing a great passion for the ocean she is also giving kayak courses on her days off. If you ask her about one of her greatest experiences in nature, she will answer, kayaking in the middle of a small pod of beluga whales in Svalbard.
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Christian Engelke
Guide and Expedition LeaderChristian is one of PolarQuest's very knowledgeable and popular expedition leaders with extensive experience from our polar regions. Christian has spent many years in most places around Greenland and is one of our foremost experts on Greenland.
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Daniel Höhne
GuideDaniel began his guiding career in Germany's small national parks on the Baltic Sea. With a desire to explore Iceland, a place he first visited in 2014 and now calls home, he eventually discovered a deep love for guiding in remote areas like Svalbard and Antarctica.
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Daniel Simonsson
GuideDaniel is a biologist and enjoy everything nature has to offer. He has a huge love for our oceans with a focus on fish and corals. He likes to constantly inspire people around him with findings from our nature. With his binoculars constantly in his hand he is an ornithologist on hobby level.
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David Berg
Guide and Expedition LeaderDavid has spent a big part of his life travelling between the Arctic and Antarctica, working full time as an adventure guide and Expedition Leader. He has a wide range of experience having led expeditions in various places including Svalbard, Greenland, Scotland, Iceland , South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica.
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Debbie Bouma
GuideDebbie is a zoologist and works as an expedition guide in the polar regions and in her home country the Netherlands. She is passionate about tracking and recording fauna for various agencies, sites and projects.
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Dorothee Hippel
Expedition Leader & GuideGerman-born Dorothee has been passionately interested in the polar regions, especially the Northern Hemisphere, since her early years, which eventually led her to Iceland. She holds a master's degree in history, Scandinavian studies and literature from the University of Cologne.
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Eli Gunnemark
GuideAfter several years as a wilderness guide, Eli got the chance to work for two months in Svalbard. Two months turned into six years and today he works in the Arctic all year round, as a snowmobile, boat and glacier guide.
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Elin Sjöberg
GuideElin's background is strongly linked to the sea and mountains. She grew up on a sailboat, sailed around the world and crossed the Atlantic several times before she turned fifteen, and only attended a normal Swedish school for a few years.
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Elke Lindner
Guide and Expedition LeaderAlways fascinated by cold and snow, Elke soon discovered the Polar Regions. This German scientist has spent extended periods of time in Svalbard and shorter periods of time in Greenland and in Antarctica as a student, field biologist and naturalist, working on various expedition cruise ships.
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Erik Edvardsson
GuideThe passionate bird lover, Erik, is an educated biologist specialized in ecology and conservation. He has extensive experience in field studies and surveys throughout Sweden. The first time he explored the Arctic and Antarctica, he did it as a PolarQuest traveller! Since then he has been a guide and expedition leader on several of our trips.
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Eva Molin Westerholm
GuideEva is an animal loving outdoor enthusiast from Sweden. She has been exploring our Polar regions for the last 15 years and considers herself very lucky to been able to see so much of this beautiful place on earth.
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Fredrik Aurell
GuideA love for nature and wilderness has inspired Fredrik to seek out big and small adventures around the world. He has raced sailboats across the Atlantic and has worked as a dive instructor and guide. Both in cold waters at home in Sweden and on coral reefs in the tropics. Amongst other things he has studied Environmental Science and Marine Biology. He currently resides in Chamonix seeking adventures on glaciers and in the high mountains.
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Gary Miller
GuideGary’s love of the polar regions began over 45 years ago when he first travelled to the Arctic to study polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba for his MA in Zoology. He has conducted 20 seasons in Svalbard and East Greenland exploring the high arctic and his love of the wildlife, the landscape and the environment is apparent in his enthusiasm for and knowledge of the area.
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Gerard Baker
Guide and Expedition LeaderGerard Baker is a seasoned polar veteran having spent the past 30 years working in polar environments, including four over winters in Antarctica.
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Gunilla Lindh
Guide and Expedition LeaderNilla started her career as a guide as her love for the white, remote and pristine places of the polar regions became too strong to materialise into anything but a lifelong passionate career as a polar guide. When not guiding expeditions, she is fond of skiing and photographing wildlife.
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Hadleigh Measham
Guide and Expedition LeaderEnglish Hadleigh has been living and working in the polar regions for over a decade, spending most of his time on ice-strengthened vessels and icebreakers. He likes sharing his impressive knowledge with lectures on a broad range of topics and is also a keen diver, skier and mountainbiker.
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Henrik Tornberg
Guide and Expedition LeaderHenrik became part of PolarQuest in 2018 as our Operation Manager. He works "behind the scenes" with security and logistics for our guests and guides. But the polar bug still has a firm grip on him, and he guides several trips every year to experience the polar regions.
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Henry Páll Wullf
Guide and Expedition LeaderHenry is a dedicated polar enthusiast whose profession has taken him around the world. He is born in Germany, but an Icelander at heart. Nowdays he lives in the Karapatna Mountains in Romania. With a passionate interest in the cryosphere and its distinct ecosystem, he is convinced that only through understanding the tightly interconnected environment will we be able to protect it.
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Ida Olsson
Guide and Expedition LeaderFormer history and physical education hight school teacher Ida has worked as a guide in the wilderness in the northern part of Sweden. At the moment she lives in Longyearbyen in Svalbard and guides travellers on kayak, snowmobile, glacier hikes and boat trips. She has also spent a great deal of time in Greenland and has been a guide there as well.
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Johan Carlsson Tjernström
GuideJohan began his career as a guide on board M/S Stockholm in 2019, and since 2022, he has spent most of his summers in Svalbard. Between the seasons in Svalbard and Antarctica, he has devoted himself to studying history, and his interest in the rich history of these harsh climates has been a major driving force in his guiding.
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Johnny van Vliet
GuideJohnny is an ecologist and works as an expedition guide. After more than 15 years as a freelance professional in tree technical research and fauna inspections, wildlife photography led him to expedition guiding.
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Jonas Buhl
GuideJonas grew up in the homely town of Villingen, Black Forest, Germany. During his studies in Geophysics & Meteorology in Cologne he heard about the possibility of spending a semester abroad in Spitsbergen, where he ended up at in 2022. The incredible vastness, the untouched nature, the silence, and the people immediately captivated Jonas, so he decided to make Svalbard his second home.
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Karin Amby
GuideKarin lived in Longyearbyen for nine years and during that time she studied the fascinating Svalbard flora, gave birth to two children and founded the company FatBike Spitsbergen. Today she earns her living as a freelance guide in Svalbard and Greenland and is proud to be at home with her kids in between her working periods.
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Kuba Potrawiak
GuideKuba consider the wilderness his second home. He has been a mountain and glacier guide on five different continents and he has a huge interest and love for glaciers.
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Laura Mony
GuideThe ocean has always been part of Laura’s life. Having spent time on sailboats since she was a baby, Laura sailed around the world crossing several oceans when she was between 12 and 14 years old. That trip increased her passion for the ocean because she discovered its vastness and its importance for the earth’s dynamic.
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Lisa Ström
Guide and Expedition LeaderInterest in the nature and environment was what first brought Lisa Ström to Svalbard in 2001, where she undertook studies in environmental technology at the university of Svalbard. While she completed a master in biology, the interest for the arctic regions increased and she settled in Longyearbyen, Svalbard for 12 years.
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Magnus Danbolt
Guide and Expedition LeaderMarin biologist Magnus's work has taken him to many places around the world, all the way from the tropics to the polar regions. He has surveyed penguins in the Sub-Antarctic, Monk seals in Africa and has been researching blue whales in the seas surrounding Iceland and Greenland.
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Margherita Lucadello
GuideMargherita fell in love with the Arctic while living at the Czech Research Station "Petuniabukta" in Svalbard for two months. She has also been living in Tromsø in Northern Norway and in the Maldives. Margherita has a master's degree in Marine Biology.
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Martin Berg
Guide and Expedition LeaderMartin’s passionate interest in birds and mammals has brought him all over the globe. He has always been drawn to adventures and has participated in several expeditions, for example to the Amazon rainforest, Caucasus and the Himalayas to study rare and endangered bird species.
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Max Schweiger
GuideMax was born in Nuremberg, Germany and first started to work in the film industry, which brought him to Abisko in the Swedish Lappland where he got addicted to the Arctic landscape and decided to move to Svalbard. He works as a snowmobile guide in the winter and does hiking during the summer.
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Meike Sjoer
Guide and Expedition LeaderAlready as a child Meike did spend a lot of time in the forest in the Netherlands. During this time she developed a love for nature, wildlife, adventure and especially birds. All kinds of birds have always been a big interest for Meike.
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Mia Lundqvist
GuideIn 2010 Mia started working at PolarQuest and she now works as Staff Manager, putting the guide teams on the ships together. The same year she visited Svalbard for the first time, and as for most visitors, it was love at first sight. Today she is splitting her time between the PolarQuest office, the Arctic and the Antarctic.
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Miriam Vermeij
GuideDuring her youth, Miriam travelled a lot with her parents and sister in Europe. She developed an interest in nature at an early age and spent most of her free time outdoors exploring local insects and plants. Her interest in nature led her to environmental science studies and she’s got a degree with a specialisation on soil pollution.
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Nikita Ovsyanikov
GuideNikita has spent much longer time in the Arctic and around polar bears than most people on the planet. He is the Deputy Director for science and senior research scientist of Wrangel Island State Nature Reserve. On Wrangel Island, Nikita has in particular studied the polar bear population for decades.
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Niklas Nilsson
GuideSvalbard specialist Niklas Nilsson is mainly involved in planning and coordinating expedition cruises to Svalbard, but is also part of the guide team. He has extensive experience of Svalbard and has travelled on all three ships during different seasons, from early spring to late autumn. Niklas is a true nature enthusiast and also an award-winning nature photographer.
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Nils Carlsson
Guide and Expedition LeaderNils is a Ph.D. in limnology/invasive species biology and splits his time between guiding in polar regions and working with issues regarding invasive species and wildlife management at different Swedish government bodies. He is a quite a storyteller and is very passionate about fishing.
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Noee Knecht
GuideAn environmental scientist at heart, Noee is fascinated by all living and non-living things around her. After studying in Svalbard for half a year she fell in love with snow and ice. Her adventurous spirit has always led her to different places around the globe.
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Olivier Kopp Wålberg
Guide and Expedition LeaderOlivier started connecting with nature at the early age of 6 and has always been fascinated by its beauty, power and vulnerability.
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Patrik Jonasson
GuideMulti-tasker with many interests, but with the greatest love for birds, animals and nature. Works as a firefighter/rescue-teacher at the Rescue Service Storgöteborg. He also has a vocational teacher's degree from the University of Gothenburg with a focus on healthcare, care and social work.
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PA Åhlen
GuidePA is a northern biologist with a great interest in nature, which has resulted in countless trips to different parts of the world and exciting encounters with wild animals.
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Piet van den Bemd
GuideAs a child Piet developed a strong fascination for nature and wildlife. Together with his parents, he travelled to many different continents and countries, experienced new cultures and more wildlife than he has ever seen in his home country, the Netherlands.
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Ryan Hope-Inglis
Guide and Expedition LeaderBrittish Ryan lives in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and guides winter trips on the snow and ice when not onboard. He has also spent a great deal of time in Greenland and has been a guide there as well. In his spare time Ryan enjoys rock climbing, mountaineering and mountain biking. He began his guiding career in Southern France as a white-water canoe instructor.
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Rutger Bianchi
GuideRutger has studied biology and has a particular fascination for animal behavior. He loves cold climates and the cold serenity of a winter landscape. The adaptations needed for animals and plants to survive in the rough Arctic is what fascinates Rutger. He loves being a guide in this magnificent place.
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Sandra Petrowitz
GuideOver a decade ago Sandra visited the polar regions for the first time. She immediately fell in love with the high latitudes’ nature, the beauty and the light. Sandra is an avid naturalist, traveler and photo-grapher with a keen interest in all kinds of nature observations.
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Sven Lidström
GuideSven has extensive knowledge about our polar regions where he has lived and worked for many years. He has worked on all the seven continents and has participated in countless research expeditions. Today Sven lives in Tromsø, northern Norway.
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Sylvia Gross
GuideBorn and raised in Bonn, Germany, Sylvia travelled to the Arctic for the first time in 2012. After finishing her studies, she left Germany for good to live and work in the Arctic all year round. She has spent two seasons as a dog sledding guide in Finland, lived with the Inuit in remote East Greenland, and guided in Svalbard and Antarctica.
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Szymon Niezabitowski
GuideSzymon was born in Cracow, Poland. He studied biology and geography in Cracow where he received his graduate degree in “Facility of Biology and Earth Sciences”. His final thesis was about volcanic soils on Iceland.
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Thérèse Horntrich
Guide and Expedition LeaderThérèse is Swiss and grew up close to the Alps. She has a master degree in media and communication but her life changed direction when she visited Svalbard for the first time in 2010. Already the next summer she returned to Svalbard and worked as a trekking guide. In 2012 she left Switzerland and moved to Longyearbyen.
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Thijs Holkers
GuideThijs was born in the Netherlands. He has a huge love for snow and mountains, something that started already at a young age.
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Thomas Egeberg Lund Johansen
GuideThomas is a trained historian and museum curator and previously lived in Greenland. A country he loves and where he has extensive experience in guiding. Among other things, he has guided on the west coast and in the large fjord Scoresbysund, but also along the ice sheet.
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Ursula Tscherter
GuideUrsula grew up far away from the oceans in landlocked Switzerland. When her childhood dream to see a whale came true, her life took a turn. For the following 20 years she studied whales, especially the highly fascinating yet poorly known minke whale in Eastern Canada.
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Vide Brandt
GuideVide is born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden, but has been a Longyearbyen resident since early 2007. Ever since moving to Svalbard he has had an above average interest in hunting, fishing and outdoors activities such as snowmobiling and hiking. These interests gradually developed into a lifestyle, and hobbies became work.
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Zet Freiburghaus
Guide and Expedition LeaderZet is a former successful member of the Swedish national kayak team who after his active career gained a Master's degree in Molecular Biology. His passion in life is to travel and when he is not guiding for us, or working as a kayak guide in Antarctica, he is planning his next travel adventure.
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Åsa Lindgren
GuideNormally Åsa's work consists of planning and conducting research expeditions to the Polar Regions; Antarctica, Svalbard and the Canadian and Russian Arctic. She previously worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, with projects focusing on ecotourism.
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