´óÏó´«Ã½

Horatio Clare's Arctic Sound Walk comes to Radio 3 and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds in December 2019 – an immersive, slow radio experience that captures the sounds, sights and stories of the Arctic tundra.

Here, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ team behind the series give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how it was recorded.

Think of the Arctic, and you probably picture a landscape thickly blanketed by ice and snow. Yet while four-fifths of Greenland’s surface is covered in ice, year-round, a strip on the country’s western coastline remains green – for part of the year, at least.

Presenter Horatio Clare, producer Jeremy Evans and sound recordist Andy Fell

It’s here, 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle, that you find the Arctic Circle Trail: a remote hiking route that starts in the fishing port of Sisimiut and snakes inland to Kangerlussuaq through a dramatic landscape of mountains, lakes and marshland.

For Christmas 2019, author Horatio Clare and a small team from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 made the long trip north to record the experience of walking the trail. Setting out in early October, they'd be among the last people to make the journey before winter arrived to cover the path with snow.

The forecast was ideal, with daytime temperatures well above freezing. Best of all, Horatio and his producers would have the trail largely to themselves.

Or would they?

A week or so before their due departure date, the team received word that a polar bear had been spotted on their proposed route. They were going to have to call in some help.

Only around 1,000 people complete the Arctic Circle Trail each year, during the summer months. Consequently the trail isn't particularly well-trodden; its route marked only by the occasional red-daubed cairn. Hikers have to both navigate and be completely self-sufficient.

The Radio 3 team carried more than was strictly needed for survival. Each had a pack weighing around 17kg – the heaviest items being food, emergency tents and several spare batteries for audio equipment.

They set off into the landscape. First went Kaajinnguaq, his rifle strapped to his pack. He was followed by Horatio, the presenter, who spoke into a headset microphone that he swapped for a handheld one when the wind picked up.

Following at a safe distance was sound recordist Andy, who carried a microphone on a long pole to capture background noise, with another close to the ground to record the sound of his footsteps.

Bringing up the rear was Jeremy, the series producer, who listened in, made notes and navigated.

Kaajinnguaq, as it turned out, spoke no English and the Radio 3 team, no Greenlandic. It was never clear exactly what Kaajinnguaq made of Horatio’s running commentary, or of Andy pausing every now and then to hold a microphone over a stream. “I think he probably thought we were insane,” says Jeremy.

Early on the first day, the expedition acquired even more members – a group of young huskies that emerged from the landscape like ghosts, one still trailing a long piece of orange string. Though they shied away from being petted, the dogs seemed determined to escort their new friends along the trail.

The canine-loving Radio 3 producers gave the pups nicknames (Villain, Varlet and Brigand) and learned not to worry too much when they wandered out of sight.

The huskies would frequently break away from the trail to forage for food or roll in the mud, returning with a look of great satisfaction. At night, they were content to curl up outside, nose-to-tail, to sleep. By the end of the first day, it was clear who the most resilient and self-sufficient members of the expedition were.

The huskies weren’t the only wildlife the team ran into during their trip. Although their path, luckily, never crossed with that of the polar bear, they were frequently checked out by acrobatic ravens, snow buntings and migrating Canada geese that flew in V-shaped formations, 40 birds strong – their beating wings part of a soundscape thousands of years old.

Daylight hours on the trail in early October were roughly similar to those in the UK. Still, the sun remained so low above the horizon that the walkers’ shadows appeared sideways for most of the time. They had to maintain a brisk pace in order to reach shelter for the night by 7pm, when it grew dark.

The Arctic Circle Trail is dotted with huts of varying sizes that can accommodate as few as three and as many as 21 hikers. The hut for the first night, near the fjord of Kangerluarsuk Tulleq, was tiny: wooden steps reaching up to a small room comprising a tiny cooking area and a bare sleeping platform, with a map of the trail tacked to the wall.

The team cooked soup and porridge on a camping stove and drank hot chocolate fortified with Scotch whisky from a shared bottle. When it was time to turn in, Kaajinnguaq, Jeremy and Horatio took the platform while Andy snuggled up on the floor below.

Miles from artificial light, the skies above the hut blazed with stars. Visible through the tiny perspex window were the dancing, almost-white fingers of the Northern Lights.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3’s Arctic Sound Walk is broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 on the afternoons of 24, 25 and 26 December, and on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds – just search for Arctic Sound Walk.