The Voyage Begins!
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
10
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Longyearbyen,
Svalbard and Jan Mayen,
Norway
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The day's activity was for us to visit Mine 3 and take a tour. A bus came to pick us up about 9:00am. We were not all ready. I thought John was going to have a heart attack he was so worried about us getting going and someone holding up the show.
We made the winding journey up the mountain to the west, past the airport. Along the way we drove past the World Seed Vault. This is where the Scandinavian governments decided to archive seeds of the world so that in the event of a catastrophy plant species will not be wiped out. It is closed to the general public for security reasons, but you can see the entrance easily enough. It looks like a big 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 maps of the mine itself. He also had many old mining related items as props. He finished with a short safety briefing. Methane is released when coal is mined, and it can build up in the mine. For that reason, smoking is not allowed in the mine (of course) and no electronics are allowed either. This includes cameras, so I couldn't get any pictures down in the mine.
We went into an adjacent room and put on coveralls, gloves, helmet, and lights. The helmet was nothing like my climbing/caving helmet. It was more like a construction-type helmet and much heavier. The light was a heavy-duty electric mining light. It had a large battery pack that was worn on the waist and a big circular reflector that was clipped on the helmet. Also on the belt that the battery pack was on, was a personal air supply. It was to be used only in the event of a fire or other emergency.
Into the mine we went. As soon as we stepped into the tunnel the temperature dropped and it was nearly freezing. Mines on Svalbard are horizontal or nearly horizontal. There is a little folding, which in that case makes the coal seam run in a diagonal direction. The tunnels are dug fairly horizontal, though. The place where we entered the mine was a largish area with a bunch of old mining equipment strewn about. There were old train-like vehicles on rails that were used to haul the coal out from the mine. There was also a lot of old pipes, beams, tools, and other random odds and ends everywhere.
The guide said a few words and we walked down the main tunnel for maybe 350 meters. Toward the entrance, the air is still humid enough to cause frost to form on the walls. Dripping water turned to ice on the ground. There were tracks on the ground that were used by the coal transport system. You could easily see the coal seam on the sides of the walls. The seam itself, when viewed from above, would cover a large flat area on the ground. The mine consisted of long tunnels with smaller tunnels branching off. The shape of each branch is similar to an old-style TV antenna. The result was that a lot of coal was left in the ground. Attempting to remove the coal that was left could result in the collapse of part of the mountain.
We stopped a few times along the way and the guide told us bits and pieces about the geology and the mining. He also told us stories about how the miners got their nicknames. One guy was named "Porno" because he projected a pornographic movie on the side of a mountain, which was covered in snow. Eventually, we made it to the "production area." It wasn't really a production area because it was no longer being used for mining - only tours.
The guide gave us a little talk on how the mining was conducted. It was done in 3 shifts. The first shift cut out the coal. They used a large chainsaw-like device to cut a space at the bottom of the coal that was to be extracted. Then they bored holes at the top of the seam and put explosives in it. The explosives would crush the coal into the space that was cut out. The second shift used a large scraper to push the coal into a waiting rail car. The coal seam was at the top of the tunnel and there was a wooden platform where the miners worked. The scraper pushed the coal off the platform and work area. Then the coal was transported out of the mine on the rail cars. The third shift put up supports to keep the ceiling from coming down. Apparently this was the most dangerous job because supports needed to be moved. When the supports were being moved, they weren't doing their job of holding the weight of the mountain. Collapses were more likely to occur at this time.
We were invited to craw up into the work area next to the coal seam. We climbed a ladder onto the platform and crawled on our hands and knees, and sometimes belly, through small, loose coal. We went back maybe 15 meters, but tunnel kept going and going. Back down the ladder at the production area, there was another walking tunnel that we could follow for another 30 meters or so. There was a yellow extension cord suspended between two oak columns that marked the end of the tourist trail. Beyond the extension cord was a hall that went on for maybe 150 meters. It had many, many other passages leading off of it in a regular pattern. I had a strong desire to keep going and check out the other passages. I guess that is why I like caving so much. I can explore in a cave. The only problem is that in a cave, the passage has already collapsed into a stable configuration. However, in a mine, since it is relatively new compared to the millions of years that a cave takes to form, it has not had time to settle. So, it can be unstable. Indeed, past the extension cord you could see where the ceiling had started to collapse. The wooden supports were also looking stressed and compressed. On the way out I picked up a few pieces of coal, which we were allowed to take as souvenirs.
That was pretty much the end of the tour. We walked back to the room where we entered the mine and retrieved our cameras for pictures of us in our mine gear. The guide said some parting words and we boarded the bus. We wound our way back down the mountain and back into Longyearbyen. We got off the bus at the Radisson and went our separate ways. The ship left at 4:00pm, so we had about 2.5 hours to get lunch and finish up souvenir shopping.
I went into the library and wrote some emails and worked on sorting some pictures. The Internet connection there was pretty bad, despite it being where the connection was broadcast from. I attempted to upload some pictures to Liquid Web, but the connection was too poor to make any progress. I bought a few more Russian pins and then headed to UNIS to meet the group and head to the dock.
It took us probably 20 minutes to walk from UNIS down to the dock. The dockyard area in Longyearbyen is much different than the commerce and residential areas. It is where the power plant (coal-fired, of course) and all other heavy industry is located. So, it is pretty dirty.
When we got to the dock, we noticed that the Vavilov, which was docked when we drove past it on the way to the mine was now anchored in the fjord. We were at the dock at least a half an hour early. We wanted to meet our luggage there, which was being dropped off by the people who ran Guesthouse 102. So, we ended up waiting for quite a while on the windswept dock. The time came to board the ship, but it wasn't pulling into dock. There was another ship docked there instead. I noticed a whole bunch of life vests stacked up off to the side and wondered if we were going to the ship via zodiac. Sure enough a Vavilov crew member starts asking if we were going to the Vavilov. They brought several zodiacs over to the dock. We strapped on life vests and boarded the zodiacs for the short cruise to the Vavilov. The wind was blowing pretty good, so it was a rather wet ride.
We pulled up along side the ship and got off the zodiac on to a set of aluminum stairs that were deployed along side the ship. Once we climbed the stairs we ditched our life vests in the "Mud Room". We got our cabin assignments and we able to relax for an hour or so while boarding completed. I ran around and took a bunch of the pictures of the ship and the view of Longyearbyen. There was a short snack and briefing session in the bar/lounge area. Dinner was at 7:30 sharp. The crew introduced themselves and told us a little on how life on the ship was going to work. Then we had the rest of the evening to ourselves.
I have a cabin to myself. It is ridiculously nice. It is also nice to settle in. We will be on the ship for 10 days/9 nights. We have stayed at our previous three hotels only 2 or 3 nights. Knowing that I don't have to pack up my stuff for 3 times as long is a nice feeling.
I retreated back to my room and got my clothes and electronic equipment organized. I sorted some more pictures, read my Svalbard guidebook, and talked with Madison. I was in bed by 11:30 and slept soundly.
