The Arctic – Svalbard, Norway

Longyearbyen situated in Adventdalen on Isfjorden

Flying into Longyearbyen on Svalbard Island in the Arctic, as we broke through low clouds I was scanning the terrain for polar bears. Although I couldn’t see polar bears there were huge herds of reindeer. My first steps off the plane reminded me how much I enjoy and prefer cool high latitude weather to the warm weather of the tropics. A few days earlier I had been steaming in the summer heat of southern China and now I was looking at snow-capped mountains in the Arctic.

I went for a couple of hikes during the past couple of nights. It’s actually a nice routine – come in and do some post-doc related work from about 1000 until 1900, then go for a hike.

The wonderful Norwegian architecture at the University Center in Svalbard.

With the bright blue skies of the past few days its difficult to sleep anyways, so I just head outside and hike. The downside is I can’t really go too far because the sun has melted all of the surface snow. I end up post-holing up to my thighs – plus my feet get soaking wet because I don’t have gaiters.

Hiking above Longyearbyen with my rifle.

It is frustrating not to have the outdoors gear I carried for so long. From New Zealand, I sent home the gaiters, snowshoes, mountaineering boots, and gaiters. If I had brought these items, my evening hikes cold be way more productive.

However, I am indebted to two German grad students, Peter Leopold and Lilith Kuckero, at UNIS who helped ensure the success of our AUV work and my evening recreation.

Peter, me, and Lilith on the small boat used for our glider operations.

Peter and Lilith helped me navigate through the UNIS bureaucracy to get ship time and maintain garage space. They were also both amped to get out on the water and help with both recoveries and deployments of the gliders. Without their help, the glider-work would not have been successful. And beyond helping make the science happen, Lilith was super-cool and invited me along on hikes with her and some of the other grad students. One night the two of us climbed up to the top of the highest nearby peak (whose name eludes me at the moment).

Lilith and me on the summit at about 1 am.

Lilith also was kind enough to hook me up with some cross country skis and boots which allowed me to spend another night hiking up a different peak towards the backside of the glacier near town.

Skiing to the peak in the background with my trusty rifle on my shoulder.

The ridgeline of the peak was amazing and lead to a sweet summit block with excellent 360 degree views.

Summit block of the peak I hiked solo.

I reached this summit at about 1 am also and the temp in the bright sun was about 7 C, so I took of my shirt and basked in the summer sun.

Definitely a solid couple of weeks of intense work and play. Just the way I like it.