Watch Spitsbergen Retraced (1970) : Full Movie Online Free In 1923, the Merton College Arctic Expedition made the first crossing of the island of Spitsbergen in the high arctic; mapping the region and capturing the landscape with then state-of-the-art cameras. 93 years later, to the day, a team of undergraduates from Oxford returned to follow in their footsteps and retrace the route. This film tells the story of the 'Spitsbergen Retraced' expedition, as the team spends 32 days crossing the icecap measuring how the landscape has changed over almost a century - as well as making some surprising discoveries about the original explorers.