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Nofretete and a champagne glass. Longyearbyen snowfields

Posted on 11. June 2022 by Rolf Stange

A lot of the snow around Longyearbyen has already disappeared recently. The warm days in late May, when the warmest temperatures of the months were measured that Longyearbyen had seen in 46 years with 12.9 degrees centigrade on 30 May, made the turnover from winter to summer a very rapid affair this year, at least locally: it is actually very normal that the snow-melt in and near Longyearbyen starts earlier and happens faster than elsewhere. You may get an impression of full early summer in Longyearbyen while there is still full arctic winter something like 50 kilometres away to the north, east and south (and maybe even to the west, although this is less reliable). In Longyearbyen, it may be difficult to access the fuel station by snow mobile while you can enjoy the winter season at its best north of Isfjord or around upper Adventdalen – if you can still get there, that is.

Those who know Longyearbyen well also know the snowfields “Nofretete” and “Champagne glass”. When the snow goes, some snowfields stay behind for quite some times, and some of them have prominent shapes in a very similar way year after year. The following two are the most famous ones. Let’s start with Nofretete:

Snowfield “Nofretete” on the north side of Adventfjord. You can’t see it from central Longyearbyen. The similarity to the famous bust of the old Egypt beauty is striking, even though she gives me the impression of being in a bad mood here. But who isn’t, every once in a while.

The “Champagne glass” is even more famous than Nofretete, probably also because you can see it easily directly from Longyearbyen. It is a snowfield of the shape of – guess what! – yes, a champagne glass on Operafjellet, east of Longyearbyen.

The snowfield “Champagne glass”, not yet entirely free from the surrounding snow,
on Operafjellet east of Longyearbyen, late May 2022.

The “Champagne glass” comes with a little story that attracts public attention in Longyearbyen year after year. The progessing snow melt reliably leads to the breaking of the stem after the glass has got its perfect shape – the cup itself being a bit less high and slim than with most real champagne glasses. “Stetten går”, as the Norwegian-speaking locals say, “the stem goes”. The exact day then the stem “breaks” is the final one in a series of events in nature that mark the annual transition from winter to summer (the first one being the arrival of the snow bunting in April).

The stem usually breaks in late July or early August. You can try your luck and place a bet with Svalbardposten, the local newspaper, about your best guessing of the date. Honour and recognition in case of success.

This year, it was Sarah Gerats who proved her instincts and knowledge about the local nature, developed through years of life in Longyearbyen and on boats in local waters. Sarah was not the only one who predicted that the stem would go on 06th June, but she was the first one.

The champagne glass with broken stem on 6th June, 2022.

Hence, this year’s day of the broken stem is amongst the earliest of its kind in recorded history, due to the above-mentioned unusually warm days in late May.

Sarah Gerats, winner of the 2022 champagne glass contest.
Here together with Mario Czok, then Captain on Antigua, at Bear Island (2018).

Congratulations, Sarah!

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