Parts of Nyby­en clo­sed becau­se of ava­lan­che risk

The wea­ther in Spits­ber­gen has lar­ge­ly been rather unfri­end­ly for a while with a lot of wind, snow and com­pa­ra­tively mild tem­pe­ra­tures. The Eas­ter weekend was not as ide­al for long trips into the out­doors as many would have wan­ted. A group of ski expe­di­tio­ners who wan­ted to go “Spits­ber­gen på langs”, a deman­ding tour from the south cape to the north point of the main island, had to be picked up by heli­c­op­ter just days after the start.

Gru­vef­jel­let abo­ve Nyby­en (the buil­dings are part of Nyby­en).

Curr­ent­ly, the wea­ther fore­cast again includes a lot of wind and snow for Lon­gye­ar­by­en and lar­ge parts of Sval­bard, and this invol­ves a high ava­lan­che risk. The offi­ci­al war­ning sys­tem

wie­der Wind und Schnee bereit. Daher gilt in Lon­gye­ar­by­en und gro­ßen Tei­len Sval­bards wie­der varsom.no is now on “red” (stage 4 out of 5).

Lar­ge cor­nices have built up at Gru­ve­fel­let next to Nyby­en, the upper part of Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The­se cor­nices may break off at any time and put buil­dings at risk. The Sys­sel­man­nen has con­cluded that the only way to keep ever­y­bo­dy safe is to evacua­te parts of Nyby­en until fur­ther noti­ce. This includes the buil­dings on the east side of the road and the adja­cing slo­pe of Gru­vef­jel­let. Ever­y­bo­dy has to lea­ve from this area until 1800 today (Fri­day). The evacua­ti­on can only be lifted by the Sys­sel­man­nen, and it is not known when this will hap­pen.

The clo­sed area in and near Nyby­en.
Map © Norsk Polar­in­sti­tutt / Sys­sel­man­nen på Sval­bard.

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