Norway Adventure 3: Arctic journey. These pictures were taken on the first winter ski expedition across the Arctic Circle to follow the footsteps of Jan Baalsrud, Norway's greatest war hero, who was forced to cut off his toes after escaping from the Germans in World War II. After his boat was blown up he shot a pursuing German dead with his pistol, lost a boot, and was forced to swim for miles in the Arctic ocean to a tiny island. He later escaped on ski and fled alone right across northern Norway and Finland before being rescued by the Laps who took him by sledge to safety in neutral Sweden.