Pla­tå­berg

The moun­tain Pla­tå­berg ist situa­ted direct­ly west of Lon­gye­ar­by­en and it is what they call the “Haus­berg” in Ger­man: the moun­tain next door that you natu­ral­ly choo­se for a hike if you just want to go some­whe­re without put­ting to much thought into it. It is just natu­ral to go the­re and many locals do it qui­te often, more or less year round. Also for tou­rists it is very popu­lar. A hike up to the pla­teau usual­ly starts at Skjæ­rin­ga (the part of Lon­gye­ar­by­en bet­ween the church and the power plant). For trai­ned moun­tain hikers, it is not a big deal to reach the pla­teau in an alti­tu­de of about 400 m. For the less expe­ri­en­ced hiker, the rocky ter­rain and steep slo­pe can actual­ly be qui­te chal­len­ging. And it can be real­ly chal­len­ging, if not impos­si­ble, when the­re is snow or the the rocks are cove­r­ed with ice.

Var­den (stone man)

Depen­ding on snow and wea­ther, avalan­ches can be a hazard, and of cour­se the­re could be a polar bear any­whe­re – in 1995, a young woman from Nor­way was kil­led by a polar bear on Pla­tå­berg, clo­se to Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

On the pla­teau

For a litt­le hike, peop­le often just go to the cairn (or “var­den” in Nor­we­gi­an). At 300 m alti­tu­de, it is quick­ly reached and it pro­vi­des a stun­ning view over Lon­gye­ar­by­en, Advent­fjord and Advent­da­len. Of cour­se, the view is just get­ting bet­ter as you get fur­ther up! In the sum­mer, you will be sur­pri­sed about all the flowers that grow along the edge of the pla­teau towards Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The pla­teau its­elf is com­ple­te­ly cove­r­ed with frost-shat­te­red rocks, many of them arran­ged into stone rings and other kinds of frost-pat­ter­ned ground by the cold cli­ma­te. It is com­mon to see rein­de­er and ptar­mi­gan on Pla­tå­berg.

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New book

my new book is in print and it can now be orde­red 🙂 it is a pho­to book with the tit­le “Nor­we­gens ark­ti­scher Nor­den (3): Die Bären­in­sel und Jan May­en”, with Ger­man text Click here for fur­ther details!