Pyramiden & Billefjord

A snow mobi­le tour of three days in ear­ly May 2013 to Bil­lefjord and Pyra­mi­den. Bil­lefjord is, in my opi­ni­on, among­st the most scenic parts of Spits­ber­gen; the moun­ta­ins the­re have cha­rac­ter, you will reco­gni­ze them on any pho­to. And Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen is a very impres­si­ve gla­cier. An evening walk in beau­tiful wea­ther over the fast ice in Adolf­buk­ta near the ice cliff of this gla­cier is some­thing that you just can’t beat. Just in case anyo­ne is won­de­ring: Adolf­buk­ta is named after the famous Swe­dish polar explo­rer Adolf Erik Nor­dens­ki­öld, just as the gla­cier.

It is pos­si­ble to do the snow mobi­le tour to Pyra­mi­den as a day trip, but that is real­ly a long ride and many beg­in­ners will expe­ri­ence it as a tough one, pos­si­bly more stress than fun. Depen­ding on the rou­te, the dri­ving can also be a bit chal­len­ging. A com­mon rou­te will take you through Advent­da­len and Sas­send­a­len to Tem­pel­fjord and from the­re through Bün­sow Land to Gips­da­len. Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen is not far from the­re, and then it is across the ice to Pyra­mi­den. Alter­na­tively, if the ice is not safe, you will take the rou­te from Sas­send­a­len up Rabot­breen and across the wide inland gla­ciers, around the upper rea­ches of Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen and via Rag­nar­breen down to Petu­ni­abuk­ta. This is a long trip and for tou­rists, only legal­ly acces­si­ble in the com­pa­ny of a gui­de or a local.

An over­night in Pyra­mi­den or two will make ever­y­thing much more rela­xed, and then you will obvious­ly have more time to look around the­re. The aban­do­ned Soviet/Russian coal mining town Pyra­mi­den is a fasci­na­ting place in its­elf. And if you have a full day in the area, then you can go and explo­re a bit in Bil­lefjord or Dick­son Land. We went to the nor­t­hern part of Bil­lefjord, an area cal­led Petu­ni­abuk­ta. The­re is ple­nty of stun­ning places the­re to explo­re.

But have a look at the images and the lin­ked pan­ora­mas. What do you think?

spits­ber­gen pyra­mi­den (gal­lery)

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

We couldn’t have ima­gi­ned a more fri­end­ly fare­well from Bil­lefjord than with the Beard­ed seal near Bruce­by­en. Just if anyo­ne is won­de­ring: Beard­ed seals are often not afraid of peo­p­le, as long as you are calm and avo­id sud­den move­ments and noi­se. In the end, we were just a few met­res from the seal, but it was by no means annoy­ed or dis­tur­bed. It was still lying peaceful­ly next to its water hole when we were alre­a­dy far away again. This is of cour­se some­thing you can only do if you are on your own.

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