About Svalbard
A few years ago I became interested in Svalbard. Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean north of continental Norway, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the North Pole. Svalbard is home to the Global Seed Vault. It’s also the northernmost year-round settlement on Earth (excluding research and military sites), with a population of about 2,700. It’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer, and Arctic foxes.
We Aren’t in Atlanta Anymore
Being from Atlanta, we are not used to the extreme cold weather that occurs in Svalbard. This became a challenge with clothing, which I described in my earlier post “Preparing for an extreme cold weather trip“. I won’t repeat many of the clothing details in this post. The day before we left Atlanta it was 80F, I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. We had planned to spend 3 nights and 2 full days in Svalbard. However, due to a flight cancelation in Tromsø, we were rebooked and sent back to Oslo.
We arrived a day later than planned in Svalbard, and we missed out on a pre-booked snowmobile trip to Barentsburg. The SAS flight from Oslo arrived in Longyearbyen at about 2 PM. Longyearbyen has a small airport with one baggage carousel and gate. There are no jetways to get you from the plane to the airport, they use old-fashioned stairs. As soon as you exit the plane door, you are hit with the arctic air and you know you have arrived at the northernmost full-time settlement on earth. So dress appropriately on your flight if you are going in winter.
Arrival in Longyearbyen
When you exit the airport, there is ground transportation via Flybussen to Longyearbyen and all hotels. Taxis are expensive here, so take the short 15-minute bus ride to your hotel. You won’t need a rental car here, as there are fewer than 50km of roads on the whole island of Spitsbergen. Also, there are no roads between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg or Ny-Ålesund. You have a few transportation options between towns: snowmobile, dog sled, skis, or your feet. The latter option is not recommended by any means, at least in winter. Ny-Ålesund does have an airport, but the town is a research facility and you need permission to go there. It is immediately clear when you walk out of the airport that you are in a remote area of the world.
WOW Factor
I have been to Iceland and the Azores; both are bucket list-worthy. However, neither location provided the same jaw-dropping reaction that I had prior to leaving the airport property in Longyearbyen and airports are not the most visually satisfying places. The above panoramic picture is an injustice (and blurry) to what you will see exiting the front door of the airport.
We boarded the shuttle bus and headed to our hotel. It was a short 15-minute ride through a heavily industrial/shipping area before reaching downtown Longyearbyen and our hotel (Svalbard Hotel The Vault). When I say downtown, Longyearbyen is more like a village with 2,200 inhabitants. We checked into our hotel and adjusted our clothing for the local weather. Most, if not all, hotels and other buildings in Svalbard require you to remove any footwear as you enter the building. There is little to no crime in Svalbard, so your shoes won’t walk off. Luckily, it was not the extremely cold weather we were expecting; it was only -8C/17.6F with an effective temperature of -14.7C/5F.
Missed Snowmobile Tour
We had missed our snowmobile tour for that day due to the canceled flight. We asked the hotel if there were any tours available that we could do that afternoon/evening. Unfortunately, there were only two options: a brewery (northernmost in the world) tour and a hike to the top of a mountain with a 400M elevation. He lost my attention at “hike”. So, we decided to visit the museum at UNIS (University of Svalbard) and headed out into the elements. The museum was a short 10 or 15-minute walk from the hotel past a few rows of stores and businesses. The museum covered the history of Svalbard and North Pole expeditions. We finished the museum tour and headed back towards the hotel.
Dinner and Drinks
It was about 6 PM and we were starting to get hungry. Directly across the street from the hotel was the main shopping area with a grocery store (northernmost in the world), a pub (Karlsberger Pub) and a restaurant (Stationen). We decided to give the restaurant a shot; it was a warm and rustic setting, perfect for the middle of nowhere. The restaurant was decorated with artifacts from the coal mining days. The food was great and it was not expensive compared to mainland Norway.
After dinner, we walked around the shopping center and visited the grocery store. On the way to the hotel, a quick stop in the pub was appropriate. It was a nice cozy pub with a rustic feel similar to the restaurant. The beverage selection was great and they had some beers from the local brewery. Above the bar, they had a couple of shelves with similar looking bottles. These bottles contained Armagnac for every year from 1908 to 1989. They also had a very special bottle (one of two in existence) in a case; this one was found in a shipwreck and dates back to 1802 (per their website). They claim to have one of Europe’s best selections of whiskey and cognac, boasting more than 1000 varieties. I was impressed by the selection for a bar in a location this remote.
Snowmobile Time
Our tour provider would be picking us up at 8:30 AM the next morning; we would need to eat breakfast and layer up our clothing prior to then. It was a 10+ hour snowmobile trip and a good night’s sleep was needed, not to mention the night before was a late one. We headed back to the hotel after a short walk.
The next morning we woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel and put on our multiple layers of clothing. The temperature was -12C/10F and felt like -20.5C/-5F. The tour company (http://www.poliarctici.com) arrived at 8:30 AM and we proceeded to pick up other passengers at nearby hotels in town. By 9 AM we were at the tour company office and started adding the outer layer of clothing to protect us from the arctic cold. I began to sweat in the building once I had put on the outer layer of clothing, but that was a short term issue. Once dressed, we moved to the building next door for our introduction to snowmobiling and a safety briefing.
Arctic Wilderness
It was now time to explore the surroundings: we were heading to the east coast of Spitsbergen for a 140km roundtrip tour. We had our first break about 4km away from the office to check our clothing and if anyone had any questions. The view was spectacular as we were outside the city and amidst nature.
After the short break, we left civilization as we know it. The tour operator had planned stops every 45 minutes or so to give us a chance to stretch our legs, or take pictures. Our next stop was overlooking a fjord in the distance. The only sign of life out there was a dozen or so Svalbard Reindeer that we passed 10 minutes before, and they only acknowledged us with a slight glance our direction.
The views were amazing. The landscape seemed untouched and we felt like we were the only people that had ever been there. We knew that was not the case, but it was the perception as there were no signs that people had been there other than the snowmobile tracks in the snow. All of a sudden, I had a pain in my fingertips. Stupid me forgot to turn on the handlebar warmers. It took a few minutes to get that sorted out and my hands were warm again.
Arctic Blast
We continued the journey towards the east coast for another 45 minutes and it was time for another break. We stopped in an area near a frozen lake where there were some frozen ice formations. This was the last break before we crossed the glacier and worked our way down to the coastline. We were instructed that there may be some visibility issues as we crossed the glacier and to keep an eye on the snowmobile in front of you to prevent getting lost. We had a tour guide in front and behind the group, so if we did stray they were there to help get us back on track.
The next few minutes were not much different, other than we were climbing in elevation at a quicker pace. Once we were nearing the top of the glacier, visibility went to about 20’/6m and we were traveling at 30-40mph. The wind was blowing and we started to feel the cold as the temperature dropped to about -42C/-45F. This was the first time that I could really feel the cold through my balaclava. The limited visibility lasted for about 15-minutes and then we had a great view down to the coastline, or what would normally be the coastline. The area was covered in ice and snow as far as the eye could see. The time was about 1:30 PM and it was time for lunch.
No Facilities
Since there were no buildings along the tour path, we had no place to take cover from the weather (or go to the bathroom). This was also the case for our lunch spot. The wilderness is your only option, and with several layers on, it would have been quite a mission to go to the bathroom anyway. Unfortunately, my urge to find a bathroom started as we descended to our lunch location. I decided it was best to hold it for now and wait until later if possible. Several people on the trip did move away from the group to use the bathroom, but I was not ready to commit to that.
We stopped by a frozen bay with views of a glacier and the wide-open frozen ocean. Our tour guides informed us to keep an eye out for polar bears. They will hide behind some of the ice and rock formations looking for seals. Our tour guides were armed and ready if there were any dangerous situations that required protection. It is a law that if you leave town you must be armed and able to use the weapon.
Outdoor Dining
Our lunch was hot tea with couscous or reindeer soup; you just had to add hot water to the pouch and mix it up. My lunch ended up being a cup of hot water because I didn’t want to complicate my current bathroom situation. Unfortunately, my phone was stored in my snowmobile suit pocket and it had a layer of ice on the screen. Also, my wife had some hand lotion in her purse, which was a block of ice. A lighter in my backpack had frozen as well.
We spent an hour for lunch, then we went out onto the frozen ocean to have a better view of the glacier and surroundings. The views were amazing and since the sun never rose, the lighting was like dusk. The ice was not there a month ago, so we were riding on “thin ice” of only 18″/45cm thick. The guides did not want to go further out as the ice may not have been thick enough. We did see other snowmobiles in the distance, but for safety reasons, we did not proceed.
Back to Civilization
It was almost 2:45 PM and we had a 3-4 hour trip to get back to the tour company’s office, so we started the return trip. This was great, although I still had the urge to go to the bathroom. I was very relaxed as we were going through a low-speed area. The next thing I knew, the skid on my snowmobile pulled to the left after hitting a rocky area, the snowmobile was on its side, and my wife and I were in the snow.
We were only moving at about 12mph/20kmh when it happened, but it was very embarrassing. I felt like an idiot as it was a slow-motion tip over. We were able to get the snowmobile upright and on its way. It was a good thing that I was wearing a balaclava as my face had to be bright red. We stopped again about 20 minutes later for a break and had a beautiful view of the dusk sky and the moon.
The short break was over and we continued on our journey back to town. As we slowed down through a bumpy area, my snowmobile stopped moving; the engine was revving but we were not moving anywhere. Again, I was holding up the trip. After some troubleshooting, the guides determined that it would have to be towed. They removed the belt from the engine to the track and placed it behind one of the guides’ snowmobile. My wife and I had to partner up with other drivers for the remainder of the trip.
Driver vs Passenger
We were told that the passenger will feel the cold more than the driver, and now I was experiencing the cold air more than before. My fingers were cold, the wind was also hitting my knees and redirecting to you know where. I still needed a bathroom and this was not helping at all. Our next stop was at a frozen waterfall, but my phone was not happy – it was too cold to use the flash.
So, I was not able to capture the waterfall as I wanted. We had about 1.5-2 hours left on the trip and almost everyone was starting to feel the cold. We continued on and had one more stop on the other side of the ocean from town. At the time, I just wanted to get out of the snowmobile suit and find a bathroom. We had a 15-minute break and then we started the final leg of the trip. We needed to refuel the snowmobiles and return everything to the tour company.
The Tour Company
Stefano and his team at Poli Arctici were great to work with. Stefano went the extra mile to help us out for the missed tour. He offered us another trip the next day if we were able to take it. Unfortunately, we were leaving and none of the options would work with our schedule. He did provide us a partial refund, which he did not have to do, just great customer service. If you ever visit Svalbard, I would recommend his company.
All the equipment was returned, the bathroom was utilized and all was well with me and my urges. They shuttled us back to our hotel and we went immediately to dinner. My cup of water held me over, but now real food was in view. We chose the same restaurant again and had another delicious meal. It was a long day, my shoulders were tired from driving the snowmobile for most of the day. We relaxed for a while and then walked around for a few minutes.
Time to Leave
The next morning, the normal routine of preparing to leave, packing, final walk around town, pick up gifts, and then the ride to the airport. I hated leaving without seeing everything we came to see. Unfortunately, that is how it goes when you travel. The pictures below were taken in town and on the way to the airport.
Although I wanted more time to enjoy the peaceful serenity that is Svalbard, staying longer was not an option. Unfortunately, we had to move on to our next stop. I want to go back and hope I can at some point. This is a definite bucket list location, but don’t cut your visit too short like we did. We were able to get some great morning pictures before we left town. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have visited. As we were boarding the plane, I had to take one more picture; this place is unbelievable.
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