Gjestehuset 102 (Guest House 102) Longyearbyen

... Pomars - Russian explorers - and whaling. There was also a geology display including fossils found n the area. The coolest thing I saw there, however, was this James Bond-esque hovercraft! <br> <br><br> Back on board at 10:30 and we continued on, sailing through the night to our next destination. We made stops everyday and landings almost every day. When making landings in the Zodiacs, the area ...

Woodfjord and North Spitsbergen July 10-11<br><br>Tundra, Tectonics and Trekking <br><br>In the morning we are told that we are in Woodfjord, so named because of all the driftwood on shore. Since there is no wood anywhere at this latitude, we are told that this wood drifted all the way from Siberia.<br><br>Marcia and I are on the first zodiac and we are signed up for the long hike &#8211; a 4-hour trek in the tundra, climbing to a point 500 feet above sea ...

Our chartered SAS flight leaves on time and we approach the Svalbard Archipelago from the air 3 hours later.<br><br>This land, 60% covered with glaciers, will be our jumping off point for exploring one of the last natural wildernesses on earth.<br><br>In this area we will find clues to the answer of the $20 trillion question facing the world.<br><br>$20 trillion is the cost of replacing the energy producing and consuming infrastructure that is scheduled to wear out in the next 40 ...

Hi Mates!!! an good austrian adage says "one picture says more than thousand words" so here they are =) brief details of our trip from 20.7-15.8.2008 to svalbard spitsbergen, 1. day plane: vienna - munich - oslo - longyearbyen 2. day resting and organizational matters 3. day boattravel to the ghosttown pyramiden 4.-8. day hikes around ...

... we had many highlights, including: - Some fantastic bird viewing (even spotting the Ivory gull, the "crown jewels" of the birding world) - Sightings of polar bears, reindeer, walrus, seals and whales - Crossing 80 degrees North - Ice!!! - sea ice which our ship pushed its way through, glaciers, ice-bergs. - Walking on the glaciers One of the beautiful things about a trip ...

... was packed solid with people trying to get a flight out that day. You could hardly move!! Longyearbyen started out as a mining town, and mining is still an important industry here. These days, tourism is also important for the town. The community is well set-up for people of all ages, with a school, community and sporting centres. The layout and appearance of the town of Longyearbyen reminded me of ...

... timber cutting in Siberia. There were a few glaciers in the background. The temperature was around 6 degrees C with light winds and scattered clouds. While we waited for the other zodiacs in our group to land, I took some photos of the scenery while others viewed the birds that were in the ponds. There was a purple sandpiper (I didn't see it), grey phalaropes (didn't see it either), and a red-throated diver (loon), which I saw. The area where we were was very unprotected ...

... concrete wedge sticking up out of a small plateau on the mountain. Past the World Seed Vault and up a few more switchbacks we got to Mine 3. The outside was nothing special. Just a few buildings that looked rather ramshackle. It was the same on the inside. It looked like the buildings were once full of life, but now are disused. We were ushered into a briefing room and the guide gave a long and detailed talk on the mine and its history. He had good models and ...

... to the glacier straight from Guesthouse 102. The rubble in front of the glacier was loose rock and gravel, cut by runoff streams. We were soon walking up the slope along a stream. At one point we were going to attempt to cross the stream and were told to pick up rocks to use as stepping stones. So, we each hauled a rather heavy rock over to the stream. The water proved to be running too fast and deep, so we ditched the rocks and continued up on the same side ...

... a coffee table, a small clothing organizer unit, and a sink. This place is pretty rustic. The beds are unmade and you have to put the sheets on them yourself. There are community bathrooms. The bathrooms are single occupancy, but shared by everyone nonetheless. The inside is rather drab and looks prefab, like I mentioned in a previous post. There is one long straight hallway on each floor (there are 2 floors). Each floor has a lounge area with a TV, some ...