Easter keeps the winter’s promise
After a disappointing early season, the Easter weekend brought dream conditions in Spitsbergen: good terrain conditions for tours and bright sunshine. All those who went out on tours by snow mobile, ski or dog sledge could enjoy wonderful days in a friendly winter arctic. Traditionally, both locals and tourists are out in these days in considerable numbers. Nevertheless, it was a calm weekend for the emergency services: a polar bear that was seen near Longyearbyen turned out to be a reindeer, and an avalanche triggered by a a person on ski did not do any damage.
Even the ice seems to come to the coasts slowly, both the drift in the north and east and the fast ice in the fjords, but not to the degree that is normal in April. The sailing boat Noorderlicht, that is usually frozen in the ice in Tempelfjord, even visited Longyearbyen before Easter, but returned to stay in an ice channel that had been created in 7 hours work with axes and chain saws. The first visitors could already be welcomed on the “ship in the ice”.
The only bad news seems to be rumours about repeated disturbance of a young polar bear family on the east coast of Spitsbergen by inconsiderate or even reckless snow mobile drivers. It is said that these are individual locals from Longyearbyen. Complains have been filed both by other locals and by organised tourist groups.
Ski hiking in Spitsbergen.
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last modification: 2014-07-01 ·
copyright: Rolf Stange