In the next few days, French adventurer and photographer Joffrey Maluski will start cycling west to east across Lapland. Beginning in Norway, he will cross into Sweden and eventually finish in Finland. He’ll camp as he goes.
At this severe time of year, daylight is limited to a few hours a day. Maluski will be cycling in the dark most of the time. He hopes that Lapland’s northern lights will shed some glow on the route ahead. He will pull his kit behind his fat bike in a sled.
Joffrey Maluski bikepacks across Iceland. Photo: Joffrey Maluski
So far, Maluski has released few details of his journey, such as how long he expects it to take, the exact route, or how often he will resupply.
However, Maluski is not a winter newbie. In March 2023, he cycled 1,000km across Iceland in 28 days. He took the highland route, from Seydisfjordur in the east to Bjargtangar in the west. Here, he contended with extreme winds and polar temperatures similar to those he will face in Lapland.
Photo: Joffrey Maluski
Introduction to polar cycling
He first crossed Iceland with fellow cyclists during three months in the summer of 2021. He then decided that he wanted to go back to discover Iceland in its “wildest and most basic form.”
Maluski will camp throughout his trip across Lapland. Photo: Joffrey Maluski
The Iceland trip gave him experience in arctic winter camping. However, his biggest challenge in Iceland was the wind rather than the cold. Sometimes he had to wait out 150kph winds in his tent for days.
His Iceland kit. Photo: Joffrey Maluski
Maluski’s first long cycling trip came In 2020, when he cycled, climbed, and highlined his way across the Pyrenees with friends. In 2022, he cycled 4,500km from France to North Cape.
A highlining interlude in the Pyrenees. Photo: Joffrey Maluski
