From Iceland to Greenland: Greenland started with Iceland for us, where we spent two days before really taking off across the open sea to avoid some pretty heavy weather. Life was much better in Akureyri’s hot pools, in Eyafjördur with humpback whales and rainbows and on Grimsey, the island on the polar circle.
Then came our weather window for the crossing. Two days at open sea, taking shifts on the steering wheel according to nautical tradition (every group 4 hours on, 8 hours off) – friends of sailing certainly got what they wanted. We opted for some extra curves on our way to Scoresbysund, to avoid some areas of strong winds, so the first part of Greenland that we saw was the rugged Blosseville Coast south of the Scoresbysund.
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.