Monday, 20 April 2009
a visitor :)
You may not realise, but this message was actually written on the 19th May, but I have decided to file it in my April posts :p - I started uploading the pictures ages ago, but never published them :S
Well, from the 12th to the 19th April, my mum came over to visit me. This is the first time ever that I have a visitor lol. I really wanted to make her trip worthwhile, so we went out and about every single day. We went to the ice cave, skiing three times lol, to Tempelfjorden, to Bjørndalen, the radio station, and I even brought her to one of my lectures ^^.
Well, we had a great week, and were blessed by constant sunshine. Seriously, we have *never* had such good weather for such a long time. And the temperature remained nice and low. At the end, it was quite difficult saying goodbye - after all this is the longest stretch of time I havn't been back to the UK (last semester I went back a few times). We went to the supermarket at the end of the week, and I was treated to not worrying about the bill for once.
On the last night I took my mum to Bjørndalen to say happy birthday to Margrete who was having a BBQ there. That was one of the most perfect moments (I think it must rival when I saw the sun for the first time) ... the sun was setting, the light was amazing, no wind, eating a hot dog, listening to an Arctic fox bark and ... looking over Isfjorden and watching the sea ice break up. Photos don't do any justice.
Tempelfjorden take 2
Tempelfjorden
On sea ice with my mum, with Tunabreen glacier in background
Helvetiafjellet in background
Skiing up Larsbreen
Scootering in Fulmardalen (the black blob at the bottom is my scooter)
Inside the Longyearbeen ice cave
View of Longyearbyen from Hiothhamn radio station
Bjørndalen in April
I wish some moments could last forever ... me watching the sea ice break up on Isfjorden
I never want to leave this place ...
Thursday, 9 April 2009
trip to the East Coast
I'm back from my 6 day ski tour round the East Coast of Spitsbergen :) Overall had a great experience, but have come back with frostnip fingers :S.
We were a 3 man team, with our skis and with our pulks. Route wise I chose a relatively simple, fool proof route, roughly 65km long (without all the wiggling valleys).
Route map
On Saturday morning, we were dropped off by scooter in Sassendalen at the start of Fulmardalen. We then skied into Agardhdalen, then up the Sveigbreen glacier and onto the Hellefonna icecap. We then skied down the Jimbreen glacier into Vendomdalen, passing through Trehogdalen and finally ending up at the start of Eskerdalen. We were collected by scooter at lunchtime.
Being dropped off in Fulmardalen on Saturday morning
Surprisingly, the trip went without any significant hickups. My pulk broke a few times but this was quickly mended. In the end we didn't actually make it to the sea ice which was a shame (we were just a few km away) but we had to carry on with our route.
For the first three days, we were blessed with perfect sunshine and blue skies. It was freezing though (I'll come to that more later). The first day we barely covered 7km, which was pretty rubbish. Going down Fulmardalen was a bit boring, and setting up the tent was a bit of a fiddle. But I guess that's day 1 for you.
First night camping, Fulmardalen
Day 2 we were mainly tackling moraine, before ending up in Agardhdalen, which is absolutely massive. On this day the temperature plummeted. I was so cold at the end of the day, and was even shivering in my sleeping bag. I managed to warm up a bit, but really the temperature was unbearably cold. I think it went down to around -25 to -30C.
Day 2: Approaching the East Coast
Arriving into Agardhdalen (few km from the sea ice)... so beatiful but oh so cold!
Camping on the East Coast, Agardhalen. I had to put my camera battery into my glove before taking this photo as it was so cold.
Again, beautiful but freezing beyond belief
We roped up while going up the Hellefonna. It was spectacular, but just quite difficult pulling your sledge for hours up a glacier. I remember looking at a piece of rock on the mountain side as reference point, and I never seemed to get any closer to it. We set up camp at the base of the icecap dome, probing around us to ensure there were no crevasses below our tent. As we went to bed we spotted a few clouds rolling in ...
Day 3: Approaching the Sveigbreen glacier, Hellefonna Icecap in background
The next day we woke up to slightly milder temperatures, but it was snowing and quite windy. We set off, and got some nice patches of clear sky (still windy) ... we even saw a halo. However when starting to descend the Jimbreen glacier, the wind really took off and there was very poor visibility. Because I was at the front of the rope, I could kinda decide when we would stop. For some reason I was feeling really energetic and was so determined to get down the glacier as it really was quite horrible... and we basically did not stop until we reached the end. I think I basically knackered everybody else out, which was silly on my part. Anyways, we later set camp in Vendomdalen and had a pretty stunning campsite.
Day 4: waking up to a whiteout on the Hellefonna
Heaven of Hell: Halo on top of the Hellefonna Icecap
Descending the Jimbreen glacier from Hellefonna. Lots of wind. Glad to get down it
Day 5: our campsite in Vendomdalen the next morning
Day 5 was meant to be quite straight forward: the last valley was only a few kilometres... but it took us all day, since it kept winding up and down/in all directions. There was quite a lot of cornice/avalanche debris in many parts, so I was glad to get that valley over and done with. We finally got mobile phone reception at the end, and organised our pickup the next morning.
Entering Trahogdalen. Vendomdalen in background.This slope had really unstable snow. Avalanche beacons ON!
Contouring round all the wiggly bits. Lots of cornices :)
End of day 5: campsite in Adventdalen (start of Eskerdalen)
Now that the ski trek is over (I'm still slightly exhausted) I can look back. I really have mixed feelings about it. The thing is, just like with any other trek that I do, I don't always enjoy on the moment because it's so physically and mentally difficult. But once it's done, I want to do it again.
Looking back and asking myself "would I do it again" I probably would. But the past few days were soooo cold. My feet were frozen most of the time, and setting up camp and cooking outside in the cold wasn't always the most enjoyable experience. It's funny cos' I did this for 3 months back in 2006 (camping everyday on Svalbard) and loved it. But then again it was much warmer in 2006. The past few days have brought back so many memories from 2006. I can remember how much I hated my first week on Svalbard back then, and in a sense I felt the same this week. But then again, I think it's because I had just left civilisation and knew I would be coming back to Longyearbyen shortly. It really makes me appreciate having a proper bed and hot showers again. Had it not been so cold ...
Overall though I had the best time. I got to see the most incredible scenery again. I had been dreaming about doing a trek like this since I got here last July, and now I feel fulfilled. I am also more confident about organising a trips like this ... who knows what's next? Maybe I'm analysing this all too much.
I do however think that unless I set myself a specific challenge, that in the future I want to enjoy myself a bit more, for instance spending a night or two in a cabin and then camp for a few nights etc, instead of just nailing the route. At the end of this week, my sleeping bag was a wreck and iced up in many places - which really wasn't pleasant. Maybe I am becoming more of a wimp.
So that's my love/hate relationship with the outdoors for you. For some reason I have signed myself up for the OMM again this year. I did it back in 2007, damaged my knees and nearly got hypothermia. Why oh why ... ?
Being picked up on day 6 :)
Friday, 3 April 2009
SvalSat
Not long ago we visited the SvalSat (Svalbard Satellite) ground station found on Plateaufjellet, right over Longyearbyen.
SvalSat
Even though I quite often see it from mountain tops and hear about it all the time, I didn't actually really know what it did.
So in simple terms lol: in those massive domes lie satellite transceivers. They send data out to polar orbiting satellites (for example: asking one to take a photo of an oil spill when it orbits over that specific location) and then acts as a receiver when the satellite hovers over Svalbard an hour or so later. Another use is to download weather data (in fact, most of Europe's weather data is downloaded here).
A satellite will orbit over the poles 14 times a day. And so in order to receive data at every orbit, it only makes sense to have the tranceivers as high up north as possible. Because of it's location, SvalSat receives data from 14 out of 14 orbits, unlike other ground station further south which only receive a fraction of this.
We were really lucky to have a sneak peak inside (closed for public normally), and even got to go inside one of the domes. All very interesting stuff.
SvalSat, with Hiorthfjellet in background
Inside one of the domes
Thursday, 2 April 2009
stressing
I really havn't been up to much lately, in terms of excursions. I have had so much homework for this week, and had to stay indoors today even though it was the best weather outside :(
It was freeeezing today. So cold, like -28C I think, and I was still in my jeans and trainers :S (with a thermal under lol).
So anyway, I have a few days off coming up and so I'm planning a 1 week ski trip to the East Coast. Last time I was there (in 2006) I didn't see anything and was caught in a blizzard. This time round I hope there will be better visibility. I am slightly worried about meeting a hungry polar bear :S ... we have all the kit we need, but still we will be completely by ourselves... so right now I'm frantically trying to pack/get organised while trying to write my term essay due this Friday (we leave Saturday morning).
Hopefully I'll have lots of stories to share when I get back.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
POLAR BEAR !!!
There are so many stories and photos I have not yet uploaded. I might put them up later when I have the time, or might skip them altogether ... because right now I have the best story!
So yesterday I went off scootering with BSES to help get Base Camp 2 set up. The weather was so perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind. But it was very very cold. -30C, without windchill, and no exaggeration. The base camp is located in Sassendalen ... right next to Templefjorden! The last time I visited Templefjorden back in 2006 was one of the most magical times... and so we decided to quickly scooter over.
Frozen boat in Templefjorden
The sea ice this year over Templefjorden was amazing, and so flat that we managed to gain lots of speed! Anyways, as we moved closer to the glacier snout, and at the distance was a fat polar bear looking for seals !!! It saw us, but really couldn't care less of our presence and continued sniffing at seal breathing holes. Of course we all took our cameras out, but mine froze :( so I had to somehow quickly warm the battery up. I was sooo annoyed: this had to happen at the wrong moment. I still managed to take a few:
Polar bear looking down seal breathing hole
:)
zooming into the above photo ...
What an incredible day :)
Friday, 13 March 2009
can't think of a better title
Urg I'm sooo rubbish at this blog !! Quite a few things have happened since my last post.
Two weeks ago, I went to Barentsburg: the Russian coal mining settlement. Possibly the most disgusting place on Earth. It was my first very long scooter trip. As we approached the settlement, the snow got dirtier and dirtier, and there was this horrible cloud of smoke surrounding it. It was sooo filthy. I have no idea what they are still doing there (well actually I do). But they had a fire down their mine not long ago (it's shut now) and so there is nothing to do. It was like walking into a ghost town. It was also really creepy how it was gently snowing - reminded me of Silent Hill (movie).
On another note, I can't believe how quickly time is going. Yes I know I always say this, but it really is. I'm having the best time here, and I can look at the clock and it's moving in fast motion. It's gone by so fast, that I feel like I haven’t done anything yet. I need to find a way of returning here in the future. Maybe it's lame to come back to a place you already know, but there are so many things I want to do but just don't have the time for right now.
Random but I just opened my window. Not a sound outside. NOTHING. I later hear an Arctic Fox barking ... And some random snowflakes gently falling....
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
sunshine and coldness
Ever since the weather got better, I have been out every single day :) . It's soooo cold right now, I think my skin will soon be peeling off my nose :(
On Monday we scootered up to Boltodalen, and visited the coolest ice cave
Scott Turnerbreen glacier, Boltodalen
inside the cave
And then yesterday (Tuesday) we scootered across the fjord between lectures to the radio station on Hiorthfjellet, to catch another glipse of the sun. Unfortunately there was a thin layer of hazy clouds and so we didn't actually see it.
And so today we returned to the same spot, except this time saw the sun and also climbed up to the ridge, to get a view of the other side.
yay sunshine
Cool ridge
dum dee dum ...
In other news, we had a blackout last night in entire Longyearbyen. Nothing worked at all, not even the water supply. It was pitch black everywhere down even in town. What's more the internet had stopped working earlier on in the day, and one of the major mobile phone networks was down on the island too.
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