Husky International

Born in Spain, with a Spanish father and a mother from Peru, Gonz Ferrero grew up in the midst of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Despite growing up in a highly urban area he eventually found his way into the mountains.

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Follow along in this interview that will take you through investment banking and project leading solar parks in Spain, to starting a big media company in Shanghai. Onwards through the Himalayan mountains, aiding nuns in the Andes, winter seasons in the Alps to finally end up at a pizzeria in Duved, Åre.

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Today Gonz Ferrero is the CEO of the slightly mysterious brand Klättermusen with a history that spans more than 40 years

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I must admit that I was very surprised when I received an e-mail from Spotify where I was asked to record a live podcast when they arranged their ”End of the Year Party” for their employees in Sweden.

I’m not a big player - but Spotify sure is.

All their staff got to choose between different interests to match them to different dinner venues - and the ones that showed an extra interest in winter, skiing and mountains ended up at a after ski themed dinner party where I did a short live podcast to entertain them between courses.

My guest for the interview was a friend of mine - mountain guide Carl Lundberg. 

Carl is interesting in many ways: first of all because he works as a mountain guide of course, but also because he combined mountain guide training with a PhD in Robotics.

But the main reason why I wanted to talk to him is that he started his company Skitouring Scandinavia three years ago where he now offers first class ski touring adventures with minimal carbon emissions - choosing trains over airplanes.

And yeah…since Spotify is the very definition of a global, international company the interview and episode is in English. 

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I first met Billy White at a book release event at Rosendals trädgård where I was asked to perform a short Q&A with the authors.

Billy, one of the authors, is also the head chef at Rosendals. The two books being released was Moonvalley Diaries by Emelie Forsberg, Ida Nilsson and Mimmi Kotka - and Billys own book Eat, Run, Enjoy! both on Gawell publishing.

Billy White was a perfect fit for Husky: a passionate and dedicated runner with a very interesting specialty since he is a top chef with experience from the kitchens of Guide Michelin star restaurants such as St. JOHN in London, Restaurant Mathias Dahlgren in Stockholm and the almost mythical Fäviken in Åre.

We talk about his childhood growing up just outside York in England, about the importance of skateboarding, doing seasons in the Alps, ending up in catering school and how he eventually found himself understanding why anyone would wanna work as a chef.

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This autumn I was asked to lead a short panel discussion on a Houdini Sportswear event following a preview of an ongoing project called ”Coextinction”.

Coextinction is a project to document and protect the life of the Southern Resident Killer Whales off the coast of British Colombia. One of many threats to the Orcas is starvation. The panel consisted of the CEO of Houdini Sportswear, Eva Karlsson, the Vice President of Polartec Eric Yung, adventurer and photographer Oskar Kihlborg and the activist and producer of the Coextinction project: Gloria Pancrazi.

What we saw on the event was just a short preview of the Coextinction documentary and we made promises not to post any pictures or video clips from it. But I need to tell you about one haunting scene that made a deep impression on me:

One of the Orcas just gave birth to a calf – a much awaited and much needed addition to the pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales.

But her calf dies after just a couple of days.

The Orcas are a very intelligent and socially complex species – and it is not unheard of that when a mother looses her calf – she will carry it, gently pushing it in front of her for a short amount of time. This Orca carries her dead calf for 17 days. For more than 1 000 miles she gently pushes her dead calf in front of her. The scene is immensely heartbreaking.

The discussion circled around the role of the activist, how to balance the scale of hope and despair and what we can do to change and how to get involved in the Coextinction project.

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This year Fjällräven Classic turns fifteen. It is an event that attracts more than two thousand hikers from 48 different nations - and that is just for the Swedish edition.

I was invited to experience a hiking event that manages to combine pristine nature with rock'n'roll and tattoos.

We already know that hiking is pretty much the best you can do for your body and soul - there are more people than ever looking to hit the trails and there is no sign that this hiking trend would come to a halt.

When the very first Fjällräven Classic appeared it was a sort of mutated offshoot to something that was then called Fjällräven Extreme Marathon- an event that now lives on under the name Björkliden Arctic Mountain Marathon.

But unlike that event - and unlike anything else at that time - here was an event that didn't focus on the fastest times and the performance - but the experience of it. The organizers wanted to show, not only the area around Kebnekaise and The Kings Trail, but also the beauty of hiking.

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Have you ever dreamt of leaving your normal, hectic day-to-day life and just move someplace in nature, restart you systems and focus on the things that you feel really matter?

That is what American-Swedish couple Michael and Sophia Miracolo did when they one day decided to leave their hectic life in New York City and instead moved into a small red cottage on the island of Yxlan out in the Stockholm archipelago.

Under the name Live Slow Run Far they now live a simple, down shifted life where ultra running and gardening plays a big role in their life.

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He is described as one of the most creative and courageous riders of today and as he came to town to present his new movie project Frozen Mindtogether with The North Face I got the chance to sit down in the studio with french snowboarder Victor de le Rue.

Victor de le Rue grew up in the small resort Saint-Lary in the Pyrenees as the youngest of five siblings one of the more famous ones is legendary snowboarder Xavier de le Rue.

Victor got his first snowboard at the age of six and growing up he was riding and competing with the team "the Brown Bears". After a couple of years racing in both boardercross as well as slopetyle and halfpipe Victor started from an early age having to choose between racing and going on photoshoots with sponsors.

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British alpinist Andy Houseman would probably describe himself as "just a regular guy who loves climbing", but Andy with his team was nominated for the Piolet d'Or back in 2010 - and you don't end up being nominated if you're "just a normal guy".

I first heard of Andy in #6 of Sidetracked Magazine and as he came to Stockholm for a stop of the North Face Speaker Series I decided to book an interview with him at the new hotel Downtown Camper by Scandic.

Andy grew up in Yorkshire and in our interview we talk about his childhood, what he learned in the boyscouts, about being inspired by books such as Joe Simpson’s This Game of Ghosts and getting a book about climbing from his math teacher. We talk about his view on life and mortality, about loosing friends to the mountains, about getting into climbing and his transition into alpinism and about his feeling for Chamonix.

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