In 2013, ski filmmaker Bjarne Salén and professional skier Andreas Fransson embarked upon a journey to the mountains of Peru for an alpine expedition. On their expedition, they made an unexpected friend. Salén wrote in an Instagram post:
“This story is really bananas and I’m stoked to share it if you want to listen:
In 2013 @andreasfransson99 and I went to Peru on en expedition. Conditions were terrible but we met a new friend, a dog that we named Shaman.We started walking towards the mountain Shacsha from a little village in the Cordillera Blanca region of Peru. We got help from two local women with donkeys to carry our stuff into camp 1. On our walk a tiny dog followed us, it didn’t want to go anywhere except to follow our heels as long as possible. 8 hours later when we reached our camp for the night our helpers from the village turned around but the little puppy refused to turn around and stayed with us. We didn’t really want to wake up the next day with a frozen dead dog outside of our tent so we brought him in the tent so he could stay warm between our sleeping bags.
The next day we continued to camp 2… The dog continued to follow us and now we felt it was our responsibility to keep him alive. He stayed in our tent the next night, we fed him and Andreas named him Shaman.
Next day was our summit attempt, left camp super early in the morning, Shaman stayed in the tent and we started our climb. Only a few hours later the Shaman came running after us, climbing up the 40 degree ice sloop to be with us. What were we going to do? Well, we continued and it started to be more snow but Shaman just jumped after us. I belayed Andreas over the bergsrund and my plan was to stay there and let Andreas continue on his own like we did very often when the mountain was too difficult for me. I put out my jacket for Shaman to stay on.
Two hours later Andreas came down because the conditions were not that great and too dangerous to continue. Shaman was happy because we walked back down to our camp all three together, had food and the next day walked all way back to the village.
When we took a taxi back to Huaraz, Shaman run after us on the road and the locals had to stop him from running with us. I’m so sad I didn’t do the effort to take him all way home to Europe and adopt him. But the story is awesome and Shaman continued living with the little village where he came from.
About Bjarne Salén
“Endlessflow Films was born in 2010, Chamonix, France- the inspiration of Bjarne Salén.
After five years in the valley of Chamonix it was time to move and start a new chapter and continue the production of Endlessflow Films, now based in Hood River and Portland, Oregon, United States.Endlessflow Films produce worldwide adventure films and photography: everything from wild ski adventures in the most remote of locations, and kayaking the deep gorges of the Himalayas, to the exploration of cultural contrast and the grinding daily realities experienced during expeditions.
Endlessflow Films specialize in providing footage in the mountains where other film-makers can’t get to, footage from the ground which is up-close and personal.
Bjarne Salén has many talents: skiing, climbing and kayaking around the world are at the top of his list. He also has a longstanding interest in filmmaking, and a flash of inspiration in late 2010 linked the two together. Bjarne put his adventure sports into film format, and rapidly gained both a large following and the attention of some major brands. That’s how it all started!” — endlessflowfilms.com
