He participated in the Denmark expedition to Northeast Greenland in 1906–1908, creating a large number of works in the process, both landscape paintings and portraits, as well as a written account which was published in 1909.

He later published several comprehensive and richly illustrated works with descriptions of the nature and cultural history of different parts of Denmark.

[2] Friis also wrote the official travel account from the expedition, Danmark Ekspeditionen til Grønlands Nordøstkyst, which was published in 1909 and reissued in 2005.

Friis and Aage Bertelsen's works from the Denmark expedition to Greenland's North-East Coast was featured in an exhibition at the Rudolph Tegner Museum in 2011.

[3] In the 1920s and 1930s, Friis published three comprehensive works with descriptions of the nature and cultural history of different parts of Denmark.

His threesome, the Achton Friis Trio, was completed by Johan Tolstrup on mandolin and by Frederik Birket-Smith on theorbo.