SVALBARD 78 DEGREES NOR

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

I looked out the small window, two seats away from me. We had come out of the clouds and were flying down between snow covered mountain walls of both sides of us. It was a bit of a surprise. I assumed correctly that the plane was flying along in a fjord. As we came down lower I began to see the shoreline with various buildings on it.

Then with hardly a bump the Boeing 737-800 had landed at Longyearbyen Airport and I was on Svalbard or Spitsbergen. I did feel somewhat excited and amazed that I was actually here. This is, as far as I can work out, the closest commercial airfield to the North Pole. In fact just a few more degrees northwards and the permanent ice is in place. We were told be the the captain that the temperature was 5 degrees, but I hardly noticed the cold as I walked down the steps and across the tarmac.

I had caught the Airport Express bus and traveled again through the amazing complex or road tunnel under the island hills to come out near the airport. I had noted on the map that there were several entrances which would explain the road roundabout – infact I now think there were a couple. In the tunnel I noticed escape doors and stairs for emergencies and pull over bays. Regularly along the tunnel walls were SOS bases – each with a phone and a fire extinguisher.

In the terminal I worked the check in matching easily but was a bit put out to only find centre seats to choose from. I picked on in row 6. Then at baggage hand in I mentioned this to the assistant who immediately got me an aisle seat 3C. She apologized that all the window seats were taken. Then I had to have a finger print reading of my index finger. This would be my check on ID. Sure enough at the gate some passengers were handing over boarding cards but I joined the finger line and pressed it on the pad. Out shot a seat confirmation and I was onto the air bridge. I was surprised to find the plane already nearly full and little overhead locker space. Then I realised that Tromso was just a stop for a flight which had most likely come from Oslo.

I had a spare seat between myself and the lady in the widow seat. She did cough a lot during the flight.

Free coffee only but that is an improvement for SAS. It wasn't that long ago I had to pay them for even plain water.

At the airport baggage claim area a large polar bear stands guard over the conveyer belt. OK I know it was only a stuffed one but it did look like it was doing that job.

The waiting SAS shuttle bus took me on a tour through the little settlement as it dropped people off at their hotels. My accommodation was two mile up the valley and the last stop. So I got a familarisation tour as we went along.

Guesthouse 102 is where I am staying. I have a nice sized single room with a wash hand basin but the rest is shared. But the WC and shower are just near by. At one end of the corridor is a guests' kitchen and dinning room for our own use. At the other end is a TV lounge. Nice and homely. Once, this building and others nearby like it were accommodation for the coal miners who worked near by. In fact one pit head is right up the side of the valley wall, just along from the Guesthouse. The remnants of the old bucket convertor system are still in place. A series of towers which held the cable still stand and run across town.

To some extent it does look a bit like a ski village just after the main snow has retreated. The ground is covered with stones and boulders. The hillsides have great skirts of scree. On the valley sides and at the top of the steep U shaped sides, there is still a coating of solid looking snow. Anywhere that has an indentation still has snow or ice in it. Consequently the area is a mass of white patches of all shapes and sized.

Just up the road and within a few hundred metres is the end or snout of the glacier which most likely carved out this valley. In this part of the valley, buildings are scattered around, but further down they are closer together and do look more orderly and 'town like'.

I wandered down the road to the small shopping centre although as it was 5pm most of the shops were closed or closing. The supermarket however still had several hours to go before it too shut doors for the night. Besides being a supermarket the shop also sells the range of goods you would find in a departmental store back in NZ. It is not huge but it obviously provides for the small local population.

One unusual feature is to see all the skimobiles parked around the place. Some are in long lines and most have a protective cover fitted over them.

I will leave it to the photographs for you to see what the buildings are like. Most look modern, none so far have a garden and few have any vegetation anywhere. There is a bit of tundra like grass along the road but not much.

It will be exciting to see what I learn about the place over the next few days.