Advanced Spitsbergen with SY Arctica II, 02nd – 20th August 2016
The first little mountain hike put our surefootedness straightaway to a test, before we continued towards Prins Karls Forland. In Kongsfjord, we found new places and impressions even in a well-known context. In the northwest, we met our first polar bears, before ventured on a slightly foggy, but nevertheless very nice glacier hike. Visits to old whaling stations and Little auks followed. In Raudfjord, we decided after a short hike to leave the area and hopefully the then grey and wet weather behind, making a lot trip to the northernmost areas.
Huts are places of longing, dreams and adventure in Spitsbergen’s beautiful landscape. Even if the modern visitor’s eye may mostly be directed towards nature, most will have an open ear every now and then for exciting survival stories about explorers and expeditions, adventurers and trappers.
These huts are silent witnesses and and every one of them tells a little part of the whole story. The little book “Svalbardhytter” and the poster that is part of the same project make these fascinating places accessible for everyone.
From remote ruins, just traces in a few cases, to “famous” trapper huts such as Fredheim in Tempelfjord and Bjørneborg on Halvmåneøya, the war weather station Haudegen, the former scientific base Würzburger Hütte on Barentsøya and Hammerfesthuset, Svalbard’s oldest building.