Staff

Arctic Elements mission is to share the passion for skiing with our guests. In order to succeed with this goal all our employees are dedicated skiers. Safety is our first priority and all of our guides averaging more than ten years of ski guiding experience in avalanche and alpine mountain terrain. Arctic Elements cooperates with local mountainguides UIAGM/IVBV/IFMGA. All guides are trained in medical first aid and mountain rescue procedures.

Both Guides and the Pilots follows an Operational Manual for heliskiing in order to maximize the safety level.

Mattias Cöster

Founder / Skiing Director of Mountain Operations

mattias@arcticelements.com | + 46 70 341 50 35

Mattias has spent 15 years working with ski guiding in the Scandinavian mountains.

Mattias started off working with guiding back counrty skiers and educational courses in Jamtland in the mid mountain range of Sweden. He went on as a Ski Patroller specialized in avalanche control in Abisko. At this time he also worked as skiguide for Abisko/Nuolja off Piste. During this period Mattias started to instruct students at different Swedish Guide schools. For several years he was chief of safety and skiing activites for the Swedish ski travel agency Active Ski Travel.

Since 2004 he is running Arctic Elements heliskiing. Mattias has over 500 hours of helicopter airtime with heliskiing. He has been guiding more than 2 000 runs in the arctic mountains of Lappland. Total vertical meters amounts to 1,8 million. Averaging about 250 000 vertical meter of ski guiding per year makes Mattias one off the most experienced heliskiguides in Sweden.

Hannibal Thorsen

Founder / Skiing CEO

hannibal@arcticelements.com | + 46 70 615 51 56

Hannibal har has been working with Ski Guiding, Ski Training and Outdooor Education for more than 20 years.

Hannibal started to work with ski guiding in the European Alps in the eightees. For more than ten years he is head of the Wilderness Guide school in Malung Sweden. With a great passion for skiing, snow and the arctic regions he has been ski guiding in Scandinavia, Greenand, Iceland, Svalbard, Alaska, South Georgia and Antarctica. Together with his friend the famous swedish explorer Ola Skinnarmo he has competed several long expeditions in the arctic region. Both with skiis, sailboat and kayak. In periods Hannibal also coaches future race talents in alpine skiing for the Swedish Ski Academy on glaciers in the Alps and in Norway.

Since 2004 he is running Arctic Elements. With his flexible office in the Nature Hannibal is happy to share his mountain experience and passion for adventures.

Erik Ehrner

Skiing Consultant

erik@arcticelements.com | + 46 70 424 50 30

Erik has operated his own guiding company Mountain Sense for more than 10 years, with work in, among others, Åre, the Alps, Canada, in particular Whistler, Revelstoke and Blue River, and the USA at Mount Baker (WA). Erik is the only Swedish certified heli-skiing guide from the Canadian guiding organisation CSGA and has, thanks to Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing, become very knowledgeable about mechanized skiing, especially Cat skiing.

Since 2009, Erick has worked for Arctic Elements with various tasks mostly within development.

Michiel Engelsman

Mountainguide UIAGM

Skiing with passion since a very young age, Michiel got involved in Mountaineering, Rockclimbing and Freeride skiing.

He trained all over Europe, but especially in Chamonix and the Swiss alps. At the age of 26 he got his licence as a UIAGM- Mountainguide in Austria. From his residence Bern in Switzerland he organises freeride, heliski- and climbing trips all over Europe. Besides that, he is nowadays a Tutor in the German mountain guide school, and he trains and examins the summer- and winter instructors for the Dutch Alpine Club (NKBV).

Since 5 years there is a close cooperation between his company, Mountainguide.nl, and Arctic Elements.

Johan Johansson

Mountainguide SBO / Aspirantguide UIAGM

Living in Åre, Johans workplace stretches from the Swedish mountains to the rest of the world.

A multi-year education to become a mountain leader at the Storuman Folk High School is the basis of Johan’s outdoor experience. Since the beginning of the 21st century, Johan has worked at various facilities as a ski patroller and ski instructor, and has operated the company Bergsresor since 2004. Johan also works as an instructor at Malung Folk High School. Two years ago, he began his education within the Swedish Mountain Guide Organisation (SBO) to become a fully certified UIAGM mountain guide, which he plans to complete in the spring 2011. In the vertical world, his experiences range from ice cold January days with ice tools and crampons in Lapland to long climbing tours in the Alps.

Johan’s goal is to always take advantage of the day and enjoy it fully and to ski every day during the entire winter.

Christian Edelstam