Up in the High Arctic

It was a bit of a last minute decision that we decided to go to Norway but when we saw a trip advertised for Svalbard for what seemed like a reasonable price so we jumped on it. Svalbard is a group of islands way up north in the high Arctic, it’s about as far north as you can get without going on an expedition.

So what’s up in Svalbard? Ice, snow, mountains, coal mining, scientific research and more ice. We got there just in time for the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year, and to see the midnight sun. But we didn’t really need to rush as it’s so far north that there’s 24hr of sun for four months of the year.

Other things to see are the wildlife. Polar bears are pretty numerous, there are more bears than people on the islands. They’re so common that anyone going outside of the town boundaries needs to carry a gun in case of polar bear attack (which does happen). So hearing these stories we were very hopeful that we’d spot one. Unfortunately the closest we got to one was the one in the airport.

We did have more luck with reindeer though. These guys don’t really have any natural predators, so they have no fear wandering around town near people and cars.

There are also a lot of birds in Svalbard. Apart from one species, they all migrate up here to breed. So you get puffins, arctic terns, geese, ducks and guillemots. Guillemots are basically what penguins used to be before they lost the ability to fly. So when a boat comes near them when they are on the water they will desperately flap their tiny little wings as they skim along the surface but never take off because they’re too heavy to actually fly. They’ll eventually give up then dive underwater.

You can even take a trip out to some of the cliffs where some of the birds make their nests. There’s actually so much bird poo built up around the cliffs that it has its own ecosystem and is called the lushest, greenest part of Svalbard (which isn’t really saying a whole lot).

We also went out on a trip to see the Esmark Glacier and the Russian town of Barentsberg. The glacier was a good size with big chunks of ice ready to break off into the sea and other big chunks of ice floating around in front of it. As the boat was coming up to the front of the glacier it didn’t seem to slow down and kept hitting chunks of ice which we could hear slamming into the hull and giving us visions of the Titanic.

But we got there in one piece and once they turned the engine down you could actually hear the fizz and crackle of the ice chunks melting. Glacier ice is full of tiny air bubbles because of the way it’s formed, so when it melts it sounds like a loud version of Champagne going flat. The people on the boat even hauled out a chunk of ice to chill our whiskey.

After our trip to the glacier we had a stop at Barentsberg which is a Russian mining town in Norwegian territory (there’s a long history there). It was bit of a time warp where some parts of the town were still untouched from the Cold War period, but also brand new modern looking buildings with communist slogans, and they even kept their statue of Lenin.

On our last day we had a minibus tour of the town surrounding area and when I told our guide that I wanted to put a foot in the Arctic Ocean, he first laughed at me for being crazy, but then managed to squeeze in a detour down to the docks just for me.

Svalbard is definitely an interesting place to check out, and surprisingly easy to organise yourself if you want to go.

One more photo to finish up, and for a laugh, a picture of us all kitted out in the special gear you need to wear if you go out in a speedboat.