Spring means 2 things, spring expeditions! The past several years have been to Alaska and I was planning on returning to do a sea to summit expedition with Nick Devore and Andy Jacobsen. We kept an eye on conditions and as a very unusually  dry and windy winter unfolded our plans were changed. Snow continued to fall in the Wasatch so we just stayed put. We skied a ton and were lucky enough to be around for Andy Rosenberg’s wedding.

The lovely couple.

In a bit of a last minute rally, Andrew McLean shot over a proposal for a Norway trip and I signed on.  Svalbard had been on the radar for years and there have been some well publicized trips lately, but there seemed to be plenty of good skiing and exploration to be done.

We were planning a sweat and wind powered camping trip for 10 days in an area North of town in Dicksonland. Doug Stoup found out we would be in the neighborhood and he graciously invited us for a week on board the maiden voyage of Ice Axe Expeditions exploratory ski and sail trip. I liked that we wouldn’t be putting all our eggs in one basket. The two separate trips would give us a better chance at good snow and weather.

After 2 days of travel and some lost bags we arrived in the furthest northernmost commercial airport in the world. The town of Longyearbyen exists to support scientific research in the arctic and for tourists who want T-shirts showing off the fact that they went to the northernmost town in the world. And yes, I bought one.

The town was founded on coal mining in the early 1900’s by an American named Longyear. They still operate the mine and power the town with coal.

We walked around town and got to know the layout. That took about 10 minutes. There have to be more snowmobiles (or snowscooters as they call them) per capita than anyplace on the planet!

The sea ice was broken up, but would move in and out of the bay with the winds.

To keep expenses low we camped out in this snowmobile hanger, thanks again to Doug. Rooms at the local Radisson were $400 US per night!! Norway is not cheap in general and Longyearbyen is even more expensive due to it’s remoteness.

Some examples-

Ben and Jerry’s pint=$12, a “cheap beer”=$8, the worst burger i have ever eaten in my life=$20, mountain hardwear conduit sleeping bag (same as mine)=$1,100.

Being here was priceless.

Andrew doing the dishes.

Longyearbyen was bought by a Norwegian mining interest and then after the treaty of versailles the country of Norway gained sovereignty over Svalbard (meaning cold shores). The island is tax free and anybody can immigrate here.

We gathered the necessary supplies to head out into the wild.

And then hit up the Karlsberger Bar where a couple of the locals showed us a good time.

Snowscooters and guides were acquired to take us 4hrs out of town and dump us off for 9 days. Pole Position came highly recommended so we went with them.

And last piece of business was to rent a heavy piece of shit WWII rifle. Bullets were $20 a pop so we decided we would really have to be in imminent danger to unload, and that it would probably work better as a club anyway.

Stay tuned for the nest installment!

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