Jon Tonks

In August 2015, I was asked to go to Tromsø, Norway for the New York Times Magazine. The brief was to follow the story of a Norwegian folk hero, Jan Baalsrud, who evaded capture from the Nazis during the Second World War, following an audacious but failed attempt to take a task force into the Norwegian Fjords, into German occupied territory, and cause havoc with a boat-load of dynamite.

I spent four days with my guide, Tore Haug, who is Jan Baalsrud’s second cousin. He guided me around the area – through bear territory – to retrace part of Jan’s epic journey that lasted for months amid bleak winter conditions. By contrast, I had four days in glorious sunshine.

Follow the LINK HERE to learn more about the story, beautifully written by New York Times’ Robert Kolker. The story was printed in the New York Times Voyages edition, published on March 20 2016.