Svalbard

... leaving town for 3 months... (help! did I pack everything I needed? too late now...)

A short pause whilst on sea ice in Tempelfjordur

By some persuasion I have here some pics of my recent trip to Svalbard (Spitsbergen). I was away with some students from England, co-leading a small expedition for the British Schools Exploring Society (see http://www.bses.org/ for more, especially http://www.extremearctic.blogspot.com/ ). I was one of 2 Science leaders, Biology being my speciality ;) and there were 7 of us leaders, accompanying 15 young explorers on a mixture of science and adventure for almost 3 months.

We left on 2 April with skis and pulks (=baggage on ski-runners, designed to make life easier (debateable...)) and returned 16 June (without skis anymore!).

Not surprisingly, Spitsbergen was a stunning place to explore, and I was so lucky to work alongside a really great team (students and leaders combined). We saw only a very small section of the land there but it was a good taster. I enjoyed the pleasures of chilblains, (not as much as some suffered!) and yes, we saw many polar bear prints (no actual bears - ok by me! as I have seen enough of these in Canada, and being in a tent camp in close-quarters with a bear is not so comforting I didn't imagine). A big highlight for me was sightings of walrus and beluga whales. We also saw Svalbard reindeer, fox and ptarmigan a-plenty (which we endeavoured to count, despite hard conditions some days). It was a rollercoaster of weather, but mostly fine and clear, with coldest lows of -30C and highs of, (er) probably about +10C ;) We had a week of Cold Enough weather (to coin a phrase I used to use: "What's the temperature, anyone?"...(answer) "Cold enough!") and tips of fingers have remained a little tingly, (even now), yet thankfully I didn't suffer too much from cold toes, (as some did) and it was remarkable how quickly we missed -10C conditions when skiing.

I stayed on Spitsbergen after the expedition a few weeks more (thanks Ulli and Maret!) and ended up hitchhiking back to mainland Norway on a boat... as you do! (two days of ocean sailing and more whales :)). In this spell in Longyearbyen (the main town) prior to departure I ended up as impromptu Tour Guide for the day for visiting cruise ship tourists from England. It was a surreal twist for me to be in this role, at the end. What did I know about Longyearbyen's history of settlement, mining, etc.? I had just been out on the land, and a long way from the tour guiding world.... I soon had the visitors out of their tour bus and onto the tundra, examining the micro-world of arctic plant life :) They thanked me profusely for this small side-track to the main tour. It was odd and yet strangely touching. I was no arctic explorer by a long shot, but it must have been obvious to the group that the sight of varied plant life after 3 months in the snow was something worth sharing!

Now it is back in Målselv, to the trees, and the relative luxury of mile upon mile of 'green-ness'. I enjoy the contrast, and yet I do already miss the open landscapes further North. There is so much more up there to explore yet....

Photos will never quite do the trip justice, but here is a - very - short selection. Enjoy!

(...er, and I didn't pack all I needed... blister kits and anti-inflammatories were a little lacking from my kit. ....Ah well, Next Time...)