July 2017 review­ed: the south cape, polar bears and arc­tic Christ­mas

Thu
11 Jan
2018

Con­si­de­ring public news, July was a rather calm mon­th in Spits­ber­gen. Which is gre­at. No news are good news. Of cour­se, the­re is always some­thing, but all wit­hin rea­son. The rein­de­er were doing well, the­re were no avalan­ches and no extre­me wea­ther situa­tions. We could pret­ty much just enjoy!

And so we did, most­ly with SV Anti­gua. We star­ted actual­ly alrea­dy in late June, and the first high­light – I am com­ing to my per­so­nal per­spec­ti­ve – came quick­ly in shape of a rare lan­ding near Spitsbergen’s south cape (Sør­kapp).

Lan­ding clo­se to Sør­kapp (the south cape) of Spits­ber­gen.

Other peop­le who were the­re with me will pro­bab­ly rather remem­ber the Blue wha­le that we saw clo­se up later the same day, or the polar fox fami­ly a day later. And no doubt, the­se are all pre­cious memo­ries. But for me per­so­nal­ly, well, I just love rare lan­dings, the­se hid­den pla­ces that almost nobo­dy knows and even fewer peop­le ever get to. But the­se pla­ces to all have their secrets. More often than not, the­re is some­thing exci­ting to dis­co­ver!

Blue wha­le in Storfjord.

But still, the wild­life is a big chunk of Spitsbergen’s beau­ty. And the sigh­t­ing of a fema­le polar bear with one cub who were feas­ting on the remains of a dead wha­le on Dans­køya were amongst the high­lights of the­se weeks!

Hap­py polar bear fami­ly and an unhap­py wha­le on Dans­køya.

And if you ask anyo­ne who was on board, then I am sure most will tell you that the lan­ding on an ice floe is one of the most pre­cious memo­ries that they took home from this gre­at trip. How often do you have the chan­ce to stand on drift ice on 80 degrees north? Feel like Nan­sen! But not for 3 years … we left a bit ear­lier.

Ice lan­ding on 80 degrees north.

Back in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, I could final­ly finish my arc­tic Christ­mas book (Ger­man only, sor­ry). The second book that I could finish and get prin­ted this year, after the Nor­we­gi­an ver­si­on of my Sval­bard gui­de­book! Final­ly, con­si­de­ring the arc­tic Christ­mas book, as I have to admit. It took me a good 10 years sin­ce I star­ted with this one! Making a book does always take time, but in this case one of the main pro­blems had been someo­ne who would be able to crea­te the drawings that I had on my mind for this book. Until I saw last year – also on Anti­gua, by the way – what Nor­bert Wach­ter could do with a pen­cil and a sheet of paper. So we went, and here we are! Done! 🙂

The arc­tic christ­mas book: final­ly in print in late July.