The family of Norwegian adventurer Steffen Skjottelvik has returned to Canada to honour his memory and share the story of his extraordinary journey through the country’s northern wilderness. Skjottelvik, who was 29 when he died in 2025, had been exploring remote parts of Canada with his two dogs when his journey ended in the Hayes River in northern Manitoba.
His death has since inspired the creation of a documentary, a book project and the Steffen of Norway Foundation, an organization established to bring together First Nations communities, Norway and people connected through a shared appreciation of nature. Foundation executive director Christian Dyresen described the loss as both an ending and the beginning of something meaningful.
Skjottelvik arrived in Canada in April 2023, beginning an expedition by dog sled from Moosonee, Ontario, near the southern end of James Bay. His long-term ambition was to travel across Canada and Alaska over several years. Friends created a Facebook page called Steffen’s Great Canadian Journey to document his travels and allow others to follow his progress.
In May 2023, while camping in northern Ontario near Hudson Bay, Skjottelvik met members of the Cree community of Peawanuck. He chose to remain in the area for a time to learn about local culture and develop a deeper understanding of the land he hoped to explore. During his stay, he met Lilyann Mack, with whom he fell in love, and began learning the Cree language.
His parents, Gry and Atle Skjottelvik, have made repeated visits to Canada to retrace parts of their son’s journey and meet the people who had become important to him. In July 2026, Gry and Dyresen visited Peawanuck to mark what would have been Steffen’s 30th birthday. The family said meeting the people he loved and seeing the places that mattered to him had become an important part of their grieving process.
Skjottelvik eventually travelled by canoe to Fort Severn, Ontario, where he spent about a month before setting out on foot on July 25, 2025, with his dogs, Togo and Bay. His destination was York Factory National Historic Site in Manitoba, a journey of approximately 300 kilometres across challenging terrain that included waist-deep muskeg and areas where polar bears could be present.
During the expedition, Skjottelvik recorded extensive footage of his experiences, hoping to make a documentary about his travels. According to Dyresen, approximately 30 hours of recordings were recovered with his equipment, including footage recorded shortly before his death. The material was reportedly undamaged and is now being used to complete the documentary he had intended to create himself.
Norway’s national public broadcaster, NRK, is producing a feature-length documentary incorporating Skjottelvik’s recordings and his family’s visits to Canada. A book is also being developed to preserve his experiences and his connection to Canada and First Nations communities. Through these projects and the foundation, his family and friends hope to ensure that his love of wilderness, cultural learning and human connection continues to inspire others.