On the first day of a three-day snowmobile expedition across Svalbard, I learned that operating the machine involves just throttling, braking, and being one with the snow. Summer is on its way out.

Snowcapped peaks plunging straight down to glassy fjords, the unmistakable flash of the shimmering Aurora Borealis and the chance to taste king crab fresh from the Barents Sea — all this and more ...