Longyearbyen, Norway

 

June 22

The first thing we noticed, at 5am, was the view.

 

                            

Strange name, Longyearbyen.  It is actually named after an American who came here to mine coal.  He named the town, the river and the glacier after himself.  He sold his mine, but left his name.  There were a total of 10 mines here, but only #7 is still operating.  They mine very “clean” coal.  Clean coal or oil is very hard to find.

Anyway, there are about 2,000 people living here.  Many go to the university and many work in the tourist industry.  Why tourism, you ask?  Longyearbyen, also known as Spitsbergen, is the northern most populated area on earth.  It is an island off the coast of Norway, and part of Norway.  That is its claim to fame.  People come from all over the world to see the northern lights in winter, which lasts 8 months and to see the midnight sun in summer, which lasts 4 months.  OK, that is not exactly true, but you get the idea.

We went on an excursion this morning.  We were surprised by what the excursion really was, verses what the description said it would be.  We went to find fossils on the Longyear glacier.  So, we expected to get driven to the glacier and look for fossils.  Nooooooo.  We were driven 5 minutes from the ship to the edge of town.  We disembarked the bus, expecting another vehicle to pick us up and take us to the glacier.  Nooooooo.  We had to walk to the glacier.  Over rocks of all sizes, through snow that is now slush, and over (and in) riverlets of melting snow. 

                                                         

                                                                         

1 1/2 hours into our hike, I decided that the next riverlet ford and snowy bank and the next steep hill of rocks was more than I could do, knowing that whereever I went, I would have to come back from. 

So, Duane continued up and over and I turned back.  Oh, did I mention that we had 3 college students as our guides and each was armed with a rifle?  No….well they were.  You are not permitted to leave the town without a weapon.  Why, you ask?  Polar Bears, I answer….

                                   

(The dog is a retired sled dog, as you can tell by the tension in the leash)

Polar Bears are not nice, we are told.  So we must have armed escorts.  OK.  So, when I decide to turn back, I have no such escort.  Other passengers have already bailed out on the walk and one of the guides went back with them.  The other two guides are with the ones going on.  So I make my way up the slushy hills and across about half of the loose rock field.  Without someone to help steady me, my sneakers are not good footing for this rock field.  So, I found a rock that was pretty stable (did I mention that the rocks in this field move?  They do) and sat down.  I was going to wait for Duane to come off the glacier and go back with him. 

No guide, no gun, just me.  Anyway, the guide who went ahead with the others, came back and helped me balance over the rocks and guided me to the others.  Then the 8 of us went back to the beginning of the hike and waited for the strong ones to return.

Duane brought back pockets full of rocks, but alas, no fossils.  Turns out they never went on any ice, just on the moraine in front and on top of the glacier.  Thinking we were going to spend the morning on ice, we packed all the cold weather clothes we brought.  No need for any of them.  We were sweating like crazy.

So, all is well.  We are tired.  Right now, at 4pm, Duane is asleep.  I am OK as long as I don’t stay in one position too long.  Then I get stiff. 

So tomorrow I will know whether I overdid it today.