Panoramas Billefjord Nord

Urm­ston­fjel­let is towe­ring high abo­ve its icy sur­roun­dings south of upper Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen. This is the ama­zing view from its nor­the­as­tern cor­ner. In the west, you can see Bil­lefjord and, if you look careful­ly, the Rus­si­an sett­le­ment Pyra­mi­den. The huge gla­cier Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen is domi­na­ting much of the sce­n­ery. In the east, it leads up to the ice cap Lomo­noss­ov­fon­na.

As so many of its kind, Nor­dens­ki­öld­breen has retrea­ted in recent years and thus some small, rocky islets came out under the ice – again, as they had been ice-free befo­re and were cover­ed by the gla­cier during an advan­ce. The rocks are among­st the oldest known in Spits­ber­gen.

Fro­zen lake bet­ween Rag­nar­breen and its morai­ne.

Hør­bye­breen nor­thwest of Petu­ni­abuk­ta. The moun­ta­ins the­re are among­st the most beau­tiful ones in Spits­ber­gen, inclu­ding the ciant stone spi­der Taran­tel­len. Geo­lo­gi­cal­ly, the area is also very inte­res­t­ing: the Bil­lefjor­den Fault Zone, an important set of now inac­ti­ve geo­lo­gi­cal „cracks“, is well visi­ble the­re. Hør­bye­breen is in win­ter part of the rou­te to Pyra­mi­den, in sum­mer it is a pos­si­ble trek­king rou­te to Ålands­vat­net and Aus­t­fjord.

Upper Hør­bye­breen.

The incre­asing­ly strong spring sun has mel­ted, or rather vapo­ri­zed, much of the snow here in lower Ebba­d­a­len on the east side of Petu­ni­abuk­ta, giving way to a desert-like impres­si­on of spring in the arc­tic.

The ent­rance hall of the cul­tu­re house behind the Lenin sta­tue.

The sports hall is also part of this sov­jet-style cul­tu­re house.

One of seve­ral rooms on the second flo­or of the cul­tu­re house.

The swim­ming hall is in a sepa­ra­te buil­ding not far from the cul­tu­re house, next to the open air sports are­na “Gaga­rin”.

Lar­ge room on the second flo­or of a house bet­ween hotel and cul­tu­re house.

A lar­ge buil­ding with accom­mo­da­ti­on for miners. Today, it is only inha­bi­ta­ted by Kit­ty­wa­kes that nest in the win­dow frames, making a lot of noi­se. You can also see hotel Tuli­pan (tulip).

Bar and restau­rant of Hotel Tuli­pan, not long after the re-ope­ning of the hotel in spring 2013. Not a bad place to spend some time: the ser­vice was sur­pri­sin­gly good and the food rich, but Rus­si­an style: don’t be sur­pri­sed about chi­cken and rice for break­fast. The pri­ces remind, howe­ver, of wes­tern capi­ta­lism, Lon­gye­ar­by­en-style.

Room in hotel Tuli­pan. Every room has its own toi­let. But the show­er is some­whe­re else and cos­ts 50 NOK extra.

The famous “bot­t­le house” just out­side of Pyra­mi­den on the settlement’s wes­tern side (away from the fjord). One can only guess how much time it took them to get the buil­ding mate­ri­als rea­dy 😉 Said to be 5308 bot­t­les! The bot­t­le house was built in 1983.