From the 23rd of March to the 30th Tim and I have been visiting Nik in Svalbard. It was an amazing experience up there 78° north, a number you can't forget as it is written everywhere.
We have seen and done so many things, that I don't really know where to start with it. At the airport in Longyearbyen we have seen Nik's family on their way home, which was quite funny, so far from home. And it was very handy, because they gave Nik their big boots and avalanche equipement for us, thank you so much for that! So the first day we were just having a look around in town, Nik and me were still quite sick and the air was very cold with minus 20°.
And of course we met all the students in Nik's house and his new mates, that was very nice and they all integrated us very fast into the student life of Easter holiday. The student housing is actually pretty cool, a little village outside Logyearbyen, so that spontaneous meetings, parties, adventures, skiing trips, etc seemed to be very easy. And also the housing itself is well done with a big kitchen for every seven people where everyone meets, watches movies and so on.
In general I was very impressed by Norwegen student facilities. Everywhere student discounts not only for UNIS students, but everyone and a seemingly endless list of equipement (such as scootersuits, outdoor equipement, games…. ) that can be borrowed from UNIS. What I actually didn't really understand was the way one is allowed to purchase beer in the supermarket. You don't only need your passport, but also your flightticket as alcohol is limitted per person and month. Only a town like Longyearbyen with only one supermarket can do this I think...
During our stay we visited the icecave and the coalmine up the hill behind Nik's house which I won't describe as Nik has allready done it. Furthermore we did two scooter trips. A shorter one to Colesbay and a longer one the last day. The trip to Colesbay was our first real day, so it was very cold outside but sunny. It's impressive how many layers of cloths one needs to be warm on a scooter. It's totally „forbidden“ to „show skin“, as frostbite comes easily with the wind.
And also snow scooters are not as simple to drive as this. Quite easy to handle on plain horizontal surfaces, it becomes quite tough on hills or bumpy tracks which is basicly everywhere, except for a few wide valley floors. You have to sit on the sides so that both runners touch the ground, you are jumping with the whole machine, you are constantly shaken as in winter there don't exist streets but everywhere is a track for the scooter. It can also be quite thrilling that you just can't stop when driving down a slope, but instead you have to feed the motor with more gasoline so it won't burst into flames.
We also learned that the scooters are not all very reliable, even though the cold and the tough environment would require that. So when going out, Nik always made sure, that we had enough spare scooter seats in case a machine wouldn't start or break down in an other way. Actually he had to make sure a lot of things. Enough helmets, avalanche equipement, dryed food, tent and sleeping bag just in case, enough rifles, gasoline and so on, had to be bought or organised from the other students.
In Colesbay we found another abandoned mining settlement. Some houses still had everything inside. Pictures on the walls, trousers in the changing room, chocolate on the bed. Others were empty. A shed with drilling cores. Odd places with lots of things to discover and strange to find houses everywhere in the nowhere, humans using every bit of the earth surface.
The longer scootertrip was 100km to Agardhbukta, Eastcoast. We drove seven scooters. On glaciers and frozen fjords, saw reindeers and an avalanche and so much white around and a blue sky above. It felt very warm with only minus 5. The Island was extremely beautyful, especially as we could imagine to be the first ones to go here, because it had been snowing a lot the two days before (which enabled us to have a very extended easter breakfast) and no tracks were left, just plain snow. Or not as plain as this, as the wind transports it and on some spots you get off your scooter and stand in the snow with half of your body. We ate lunch at the Eastcoast and looked to the half frozen water. Such an amazing site. All the little iceblocks and the crushed ice in between and the waves still coming through. Only the sight of a polar bear would have made it more perfect. A great little arctic adventure!
Another thing we did was building a decent igloo. Dreams of childhood. We watched a tutorial and spent the next 6-7 hours building our little snow house. How does a single inuit man do this within a few hours every night? We cut the bricks out of the slope behind Nik's house from our quarry and carried them with a sledge to the building site. You have to build it in a big spiral and cut the bricks plain. Astonishingly it works quite well and the bricks magically mostly stick together just like this. Only the roof part took us a very long time. Then you need the entrance which is best to dig under the walls like a little slideway so that the warm air stays inside. The little holes between the bricks have to be filled with snow from outside and it's ready. Then Nik built a heat reflector out of a coke and a candle and we had it nice and cosy in our beautiful igloo. Tim and me also spent a night there and it was very pleasant, only a little cold from underneath, I think a fur would do better than a sleeping mat.
Astonishing was also how fast the days grew longer. In the end nights didn't become entirely dark anymore, just six weeks after the first sun. I would really like to know now how the Island looks in summer, what there really is under all that snow and ice. So I'm waiting for some pictures.
Thank you Nik for that premum week, we really enjoyed our time with you!
Thank you Esther, for your visit and this awesome text!
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