We're excited to have Pana Mogren join our Project Horizon team and share his inspirational stories with you. In October he took on his latest challenge: an eight-day solo bikepacking tour in Jotunheimen National Park (Norway). The freezing temperatures and changing weather conditions demanded everything from him. He was rewarded with breathtaking encounters with nature and the indescribable feeling of being alive.
Merging passions
The Swede has a wide range of interests, but above all he has a passion for creative work. He also loves challenging outdoor adventures, combining his talent and his job as a creative director and producer with his love of nature. By sharing impressions of his travels with others, he wants to inspire people to get out there and take the first step towards an active lifestyle.
In recent years he has planned and implemented a number of adventures, such as a tour through the South African outbacks or a bikepacking trip along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland - always inspired by the peculiarities of a landscape, natural phenomena and the challenges that they offer him. He was also the first person to mountain bike and kayak the original postal route between Bergen and Trondheim.
Driven by the desire to feel alive
His most recent adventure took him not far from home. Having to cancel a planned trip to Kyrgyzstan due to the pandemic situation, he looked for an alternative in the Nordic countries. He wanted to face a challenge that is both physically and mentally demanding.
He decided to do an eight-day solo bikepacking tour in Jotunheimen National Park in Norway. The challenge: He planned the trip for late October, a time when weather conditions in the area are uncertain and unstable and dominated by freezing temperatures - especially at higher elevations.
"This project is about feeling alive. To stand in front of nature's raw forces in its purest form."
Higher elevations are something Jotunheimen National Park offers in abundance: it is home to the highest mountains in Northern Europe, with more than 200 peaks over 2,000 meters and a landscape shaped by glaciers and snow. So the biggest challenge for Pana was to stay dry and warm while traversing the diverse landscape. This required careful planning and the right equipment. Braving the elements ultimately required one thing above all: sheer willpower. For this he was rewarded with breathtaking encounters with nature: with sharp-edged peaks, large valleys and mountain lakes, unique flora and fauna, the power of the elements. And all this helped him to find inner peace far away from everyday life.
You can find more details about Pana's project at https://jotunheimenbelowzero.eu/ .
