St. Jonsfjord: Gjertsenodden, Perhytta

St. Jonsfjord: Gjertsenodden

St. Jonsfjord, situated on Spitsbergen’s west coast, is one of the smaller fjords of the island. Gjertsenodden is a small lowland area on the north side. Beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers, the glacier Gaffelbreen (“Fork glacier”) in a bay just around the corner, interesting tundra with lots of plant species, reindeer and frost-patterned ground – a lovely little piece of Spitsbergen. Often, there is a lot of glacier ice on the shore.

The huge moraine of Gaffelbreen indicated how large the glacier was in the 19th century, during the little ice age. But the view is still impressive today.

Gallery – St. Jonsfjord: Gjertsenodden & Gaffelbreen

Some impressions of the stunning scenery at Gjertsenodden and near Gaffelbreen.

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

Gjertsenodden: Per’s hut

“Per’s hut” is an obvious eye-catcher close to the shore if you happen to visit Gjertsenodden. This lovely little log-cabin style hut was built in 1962 by Per Johnsson, one of Spitsbergen’s last polar bear hunters, and Knut Edin. Back then, Johnsson had a job in Ny-Ålesund and built this hut for freetime use. It was never used for wintering. Now it is known as Per’s hut (Norwegian: Perhytta), after its builder. The log construction would have been rather untypical for a 20th century professional hunter: it shows that time didn’t matter too much when it was built. Trappers wanted to build their huts rather quickly, because they arrived late in the summer and then they quickly build or repair a number of huts for the winter hunting season.

Gallery – Gjertsenodden: Per’s hut

Some perspectives on Per’s hut.

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

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