Run Norge på langs 2021

Detailed video about the project

I've been working on preparations of this project already a few years. This video was made for the 2020 attempt. But the new Corona situation in the end did not allow it to happen, as we were forced to cancel several planned winter and spring film projects in Norway and mainly Canada, which were meant to be the source of big part of the budget for this running project. Also our partners were in the new situation, and stopped all bigger funding, so I was forced to postpone the run across Norway to 2021. But all the information and ideas in this video from 2020 are valid and the same. 

 

 

Goals and message of the project

There are 3 main goals on this trip. All equally important!

• To experience NPL, set the most beautiful and clean benchmark variant of NPL and finish NPL
  
  We have a few own rules. We want to be fast. The goal is to run the runnable parts, of course. But at the same time, we want to find the most beautiful path, which often means detours and a very hard wild terrain with no trails at all. And also, the goal is to stay off the roads as much as possible. This is paradoxly especially hard in the first 100 km on NPL in the very south of Norway. There 99% of the NPL hikers simply walk all the way to Setesdalheiene on the asphalt roads, as there are no marked trails and the terrain is super bushy and rocky. We will try do as clean "wilderness crossing" of Norway as possible.
  
  
• To film a world class adventure movie about NPL - About our trip and about "NPL story" generally. It is a super interesting story worth telling the world. We believe that a great film can start a new legacy like for example famous PCT - Pacific Crest Trail in the USA. Just even nicer and harder :-) 
   
• To do something for "greater good". It's not only the journey of the body but mainly the "journey of the mind."  We want to talk about meaningful values, better life routines, self-discipline, environmental issues and we also want to use the attention of the people who will follow this journey to support a dog shelter (as our little sporty dog will run the big part of the road too). We are open to even much bigger ideas in this field. For example to run a charity for a dream of disabled athlete or child. Let's think together!
  
  

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Date and route

July 2021 till September 2021

Best case scenario would be to run about 50 km per day = 60 days. However... Hard to say, if it is real every day. We are more very fit filmmakers than elite runners. And we talk about often pathless wilderness of northern Scandinavia. In some parts Petr will have to find a way through the labyrinth of steep rock walls, deep fjords, glaciers, wild rivers, wetlands etc. In such parts, to run 1 km takes 4x more time than to run 1 km on trail in the civilized mountains in the south. But yes, the goal is to do it fast.

His route is perfectly planned, and was chosen very carefully according to its beauty and it is not the shortest and easiest variant of NPL at all! It might be slightly changed on the way north according to the current physical, mood and weather state. We want to surprise the audience by its variety, so before the start of the trip, we keep it secret. We tell the detailed plan in advance only to our partners. 

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Team

Petr Pavlíček - runner and at the same time the main filmmaker of the expedition, author of the project

• experienced outdoor filmmaker, photographer and traveler, author the all videos and most photos on this web-page. Since July 2020 living, filming and training in Lofoten in northern Norway - watch some of the Lofoten projects 

• 6 years of close cooperation with the world's best climber Adam Ondra and top class outdoor brands. In years 2012 - 2014 Petr and Adam have literally put unknown Norway (in terms of hard climbing) on the world climbing map, through filming and promoting their big movie Change

• ski mountaineer, trail runner, climber, vegan, organizer of the big running races and creative campaigns

• expert about Norway landscape, he's visited this peninsula for 41st time in 2020, currently living and training in Lofoten. 

As a child, Petr was training martial arts every day for 12 years. Could it be the reason why he is willing to suffer so much? ;-)

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Bára Vávrová - she's gonna fully support this project as a photographer/photo editor, writer, driver, cook, sometimes also as a pacer

• very good and creative photographer, skilled at post-production and Photoshop, traveler, organizer of the running races
• climber, ultra runner, vegetarian, she also knows Scandinavia very well, this is gonna be her 24th journey to Norway

Bára in her element. Pure Nature and her phantasy create art...

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Jan Štindl - video editor 

• very good film-maker and especially great with video editing and post-production, graphic designer who will help with daily reports from the expedition.
• He doesn't have any experience with Scandinavia, but he's a great person

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Čenda the ultradog - crazy runner, beloved by the audience, positive element

• ultimate dog sportsman with short legs and small body but enormous enthusiasm and endurance. He run many 70+ km races with us and still was able to fight other dogs behind the finish line
• he will run for other dogs in the dog shelter in our area

Rest of the team - It will depend on the "filming variant" which we chose in the end after all negotiations with the partners. The bigger and more professional movie we decide to do, the more experienced and motivated people we will need. 

Another support - we will meet bunch of other people on the way North, our Norwegian friends. One mountain guide from Bodø might join Petr on wild glacier above Sulitjelma, another kayaker from Tromsø shall borrow Petr a sea kayak to get to Magerøya island, where lies mysterious Nordkapp, the end point of our journey. We will also invite some influencers to accompany us during our stay in interesting parts of the Norway.

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Media output of the "Run Norge på langs 2021" project

Film - artistic feature length documentary (big experience after producing 2 similar bestselling movies about the world's best climber Adam Ondra)

Book - beautifuly made paper book with a lot of pictures, stories, tips and some of our thoughts

Reports on the web page - as long as it will be technically and physically possible (mobile phone reception), we try to do daily reports from the trip. Photos, short story with facts, map, sometimes small video etc.

Daily social media reports + materials for "SoMe" of our partners

Reports in local media - both in Norway and Czech Republic

Public presentations - festivals, races, photo exhibition, TV shows

Bára waiting for Petr in a meeting point in the wild mountains of Sulitjelma during 2018 training trip

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Cars and logistics

This project is really complicated and challenging in terms of logistics. If we get the support for the most challenging filming variant (bigger film team), we will need 2 cars for it. One smaller handy car for any needs and a bigger camping car. We need the big car from more reasons.

 

• Base - our trip  shall be a run. At least that is the plan. This means, the runner needs to have relatively light backpack, max 10 kg, it is impossible for everyone to run with 25 kg backpack for so many days. So the whole 3000 km trail will be divided into many shorter segments with "resupply points", where the runner will meet the support team, resupply, change the batteries and SD cards with filmed footage, film daily message for the social media, get care of small injuries etc.
  
  
• Filming flexibility - huge aspect of this project is filming. Sometimes, the second cameraman will be joining the runner for a part of the segment to film him on a special place. Then the cameraman needs to get back to the car and drive to the next meeting point. In between, the runner will be also running to the next meeting point. The rest of the support team with the second car must already be there, waiting for the runner! That is why we really need 2 cars. Sometimes the runner will run let's say 50 km across a wilderness with no roads. For the runner, it is only 50 km. But for the car, to get to the next point, it can easily be 300-400 km ride sometimes, because of the lack of the roads and because of the difficulty of the terrain in Norway. So if we decide/get the support for the big movie, there must be 2 cars. 
  
  
• Editing - important aspect of the trip is "Editing on the road". We want to bring the audience many small daily reports. Photos and stories for social media, web page updates and if possible, also small film reports every few days. That is why the support team has to have 1 bigger car - a van or camping car with electricity, internet and a table - to be able to spend long hours editing, no matter the weather outside etc.

It is simply absolutely impossible for the support team to spend more than 2 months on the front seat of fully loaded small car, in long cold rainy days high in the mountains, without the ability to sleep, cook, edit movies and photos etc. Bear in mind, that this is Norway. Weather can absolutely affect this project. So we must be prepared for the worst case scenario. Currently we own 2 new cars, Škoda Octavia and Škoda Kodiaq, one of them will be the small car.

Our "base camp car"during filming the project Arctic Challenge 2018

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Why is our project "different"?

Our journey has many interesting aspects. Sports, adventurous, entertaining, motivational and also commercial. It will be historically the first (to our knowledge) really "honest" off/trail run across Norway or if you want an clean extreme variant of Norge på langs. Running on the road is great sport achievement, and yes, it is much faster! But too boring, monotonous and honestly not interesting, to our taste and perception of an adventure, compared to the raw beauty of true Norwegian wilderness. This clean wilderness variant will bring us incredible variety of stories, activities and therefore possibilities of getting unique material.

As stated above, we won't choose the shortest and easiest way, but the opposite. The most beautiful, various and remote one within our powers! We will simply try to make it more interesting for us = for our followers. How?

 

1) Variety of activities

• Climbing a few iconic Norwegian mountains - within the bounds of possibility (current weather, time schedule and the current physical shape), Petr will try to climb to the top of Galdhøpiggen, Store Svuku, Kvingtinden, Okssolten, Stetind and Halti + many less known mountains on the way. 

• Blåmannsissen glacier traverse - the "only" way how to get from Sulitjelma to Narvik fjellet further north with "dry feet" and not using the main E6 road and Sweden. For details, see the next paragraph "Staying in Norway" or watch the video above.
  
  
• Sea kayaking - in case of steady weather, the runner will try to get to Magerøya (here lies mysterious Nordkapp, the final destination of our journey) on the sea. People normally use the 7 km long underwater tunnel.
  
  
• Canoeing on rivers Susna and/or Altaelva and crossing southern part of lake Femunden and part of lake Røssvatnet.

Enjoying total freedom deep in the remote parts of Femundsmarka

 

2) Staying only in Norway!

Another huge challenge of this trip, beside staying off the roads, is to try to stay only on Nowegian soil. Sounds obvious, but it is not! Not if you want to stay off of the roads and civilisation as we do. Why? Norway is a very long country, but in one part, it's really narrow. We are talking about the part between the towns of Fauske and Narvik. The narrowest part between the fjord and the wild border with Sweden is only 6 km wide. If you want to go north, you must use the only road, famous E6 + ferry boat. But we try to skip both.

West coast of the narrowest part of Norway with one of our aims Stetinden (left summit)

This part of Norway is really special. In the east, it is marked by the very straight border with Sweden in incredibly deserted mountains, in the harsh heart of Lappland/Sápmi, far from any roads. West border is made of really curvy, wild and bizarre coastal landscape with enormous rock faces (higher than El Capitan in Yossemites) falling straight to the deep fjords, creating countless bays and peninsulas, which you can't cross. In between, it's a untouched land of steep mountains, glaciers, strong glacier rivers which you can't wade, big parts are covered by snow the whole year. Everybody who goes NPL uses in this part of Norway either E6 road and the ferry or continues north from Sulitjelma through Sweden with much milder terrain.

Petr and Čenda during the training and exploration trip to remote parts of Norway

 

We try to stay in the mountains of Norway. Any quick rescue action or even just support for the runner is practically not possible here. It will be really tough, unsupported and possibly dangerous and slow 150 km. Sounds hard, if you keep in mind that it will be after cca 1900 demanding km already. But if we organize it well and the weather allows (it can snow here heavily anytime) and if Peter manages to stay injury free, it is real. Wish us luck!

Summer mountains in the most narrow part of Norway observed from Stetinden - still a lot of snow

 

3) ON-LINE publishing straight from the expedition

As stated above, we will do our best to publish photos, texts, facts, stories and sometimes also small edited video reports straight from the road. So not just a few quick insta-stories, but relatively high level of newscast. How high, it depends on the budget and filming variant (see below). 

The main runner Petr will be also the main cameraman. That is ultra challenge. But filming in hard conditions is Petr's everyday bread. He is used to film in any weather, in any terrain and in any year season. He is often out in the mountains with heavy backpacks full of film and photo equipment + all the gear needed for survival. This is his job specialty. Here, on this trip, he wants to use all the latest technology, so he will be able to still be relatively light to run and at the same time he will have good classic or "360" cameras, small drone, light clothes and food to be able to do both running and capturing interesting situations on the road.

Petr at work, following runners, bikers, climbers or skiers anywhere. On the trip he'll have much lighter film equipment

 

The support team is an essential part of the project and must do everything to show high performance. Solving the logistic problems, supporting the runner in any needed scenario, filming and photographing additional footage for the film and for sponsors, writing the diary (base for the upcoming book), editing photos and videos for the web page and social media etc.

Support team Bára and Patryk cooking and waiting for Petr on strategic point during training trip.

 

We will try to reach new level of sharing such complex outdoor project, but at the same time, we will put huge emphasis on preserving the authentic and genuine spirit of a small and pure adventurous journey.

Courageous words, we know, and maybe we fail. But life is to be lived so we at least try...

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Partners and sponsors

As you can hopefully see, this is a complex thought out project. There are 3 possible levels how we can do it. Each will require different support and budget.
 Description on this whole page describes this highest ideal "ALL IN" variant. We are aiming for this highest variant, but we will do the run no matter what, even in lower variant, if we don't succed in getting the sufficient budget for this variant.

1) Basic - Petr will do the project alone, unsupported, mainly for himself, filming just basic but still very authentic film. This is slowest, but maybe the most authentic and most free variant.

2) Intermediate - Petr will be partly supported with one car with 1 or 2 people, who will help him with charging batteries, backing up memory cards, with food and basic online sharing and sometimes also with filming.

3) All in! - All inclusive full time activity of a small motivated professional film team with the aim of creating an authentic, ultimate and "never seen before" adventure project, including world class audiovisual outputs like a feature length movie, a book and authentic reports from the expedition itself.


We will cooperate with our long term and also new partners, who are not in direct competition with each other. If you think you might also be the right partner of our project anyway, please contact us! Here is what we offer.

We offer you being part of one of the most interesting adventure projects of the year.

We have never seen similarly long running/hiking project being documented like we want to do. It will also be the first really serious commitment to make this extraordinary adventure, which Norge på langs truly is, famous behind the borders of Norway! 

"Extreme sport aspect" of this project is just one of many "layers", our aims are much deeper than this. In fact, we are much better filmmakers/photographers, than runners. This project might draw the attention of many different groups of people. Runners, travelers and simply many people who are interested in adventure, mountains, Norway, healthy food, cars, self development and strong stories without sure end...

Anything is possible. Feel free to suggest new ideas, we are ready!

 

What we offer

1) Product placement

Make your products shine in highly followed multi-thematic project. We know what we do and thanks to our contacts and another activities, we are able to get this project to quite wide spectrum of audience. How?

• Social media - together we have cca 50 000 followers on Instagram and Facebook. This number is not very high, but it will go up, because, honestly, so far we have been quite slack and inactive on this field, as our work has not depended on social media at all so far!
  
  
• In order to create the audience for the trip, we will start to produce many smaller videos, social media posts, reports etc. from the preparation for the expedition. We are living now in Lofoten in Northern Norway, so we have the most incredible playground for almost any outdoor activity! We will capture physical training (winter ridge running, skimountaineering, survival training, Arctic training in Finnmarksvidda etc.), logistics training, development of our daily reports (strategy and time effeciency of this process to be able to do it regularly "on the way"), we will share tips and trick for all of this + advice about how to get the right equipment, the budget etc. In all of this there is a huge space for presenting our partners even before the project itself.
  
  
• Sport and cultural events - we are organizing one of the most popular big ultra marathons in the Czech Republic called Zapomenuté hory (Forgotten mountains), here will be the first screening or preview of the film in October 2021. In 2022, we will organize really big trail-running race and festival. We will be also invited to large variety of adventure film festivals etc.

• Media reports - after our plans and main partners will be clear, we will use several ways to promote our project in a sympathetic way in different media. Thanks to our ability to create quality materials and years of experience (especially from years of creating materials and "PR" for world's best climber), we know "how to sell us" :-)
  
  

2) Taylor made visual brand content

Our trip will be long and the team will be there to create. We will produce great audio visual materials with your product in the most beautiful country of Europe. With running/outdoor content, but also "almost anything" else. It can be an authentic part of the project or simply artistic activity for the promoting the product itself. Only phantasy is the limit...

We can od

3) New business deals and promotion in both Scandinavian and Central European markets

Similarly, big and attractive projects really help to "open the door" for negotiations with new partners. Thanks to our knowledge of the Czech (+ Central European) and Norwegian "outdoor scenes" we might be able to connect very interesting subjects.

Norway has already brought us many extraordinary experiences. We feel that this summer will be a total smash

Why you shall trust us?

We love big challenges and we have experience in creating sport documentaries. We are filmmakers, who think deeply about what they are doing. This is not a job, this is lifestyle and NPL is Petr's big dream. We are very active sportsmen and we dare to say we generally know the Nature of Norway more than many Norwegians, as we have spent already several years exploring each county of this amazing country. We are living in Lofoten, where we are creating and training basicly every day - small preview HERE

We also made mistakes in the past and we have learned a lot from them and know exactly what such complex project requires. . We have this project in our mind for several years and we are willing to give it all we have! Let's create something truly amazing together...