Velkomstpynten

Vel­komst­pyn­ten is on the north coast of Spits­ber­gen, on the nor­the­as­tern cor­ner of Reins­dyr­flya, in the ent­rance of Wood­fjord. It is part of a rocky coast, sepa­ra­ting the low­land of Reins­dyr­flya from the arc­tic oce­an, com­po­sed of beau­tiful Devo­ni­an Old Red sand­stone and cover­ed with lar­ge amounts of drift­wood. A rare evening with such bril­li­ant wea­ther, calm sea, abso­lut­e­ly no wind, warm mid­night sun light in such a place, just under 80 degrees north, is one of the most beau­tiful things I can ima­gi­ne!

The hut at Vel­komst­pyn­ten was pro­ba­b­ly built in 1930 or 1932 by Sven Ols­son (“Stock­holm-Sven”). It is a ruin now.

The hut was men­tio­ned by Chris­tia­ne Rit­ter in her famous book “A woman in the polar night”. She win­tered tog­e­ther with her hus­band Her­mann Rit­ter at Gråhu­ken, on the other side of Wood­fjord, in 1934-35, and in spring, she con­vin­ced her hus­band to make a trip over the fjord ice to visit their nea­rest neigh­bour, Stock­holm-Sven. He was not at home, but he had pre­pared ever­y­thing for visi­tors: the hut was clean, the oven rea­dy to lit a fire, cof­fee and bread were rea­dy.

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