svalbard week 1...

since i came here i have been working on some courses i have in iceland and also enjoying the weather and scenery. monday and tuesday the weather was very nice and very cold, between -22 and -31,8.
then the bad weather started and it was snowing and blowing most of the time. the road down to school is 30 min walk , each way, so at least you wake uop on your way to school ;0)

yeasterday my barack started to fill up with students in my course and the weather turned out perfect. we found a rifle and 4 girls and me put our skis on and walked uop to the top of the Longyearbreen glacier. that took 2 h 10 min and then we had a good down hill back home. i was the only one without skins on my skis and was also on normal skis, not mountain/telemark skis. do you think i will do that again...No. hehe there was a layer of 30-40 cm of powder snow every where and around a 1000 snowscooters passing us on the way.

today we had safety course, learning how to shot, put up a tent and so on, but it's all been tried before...

tomorrow i have my last day at the safety course, driving scooter. brum brum. 2 people on the course doesn't have a drivers license so the have to be back-seaters... to bad for them.
Anna is also arriving so it will be fun to show her everything and see how she copes with the cold;0)

haven't been here since december 2004...

it's good to be back in the Arctic. yeasterday i arrived in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, after being away since december 2004. a lot of things have happende here, new buildings and stores everywhere, the university has been expanded a lot, but the people are the same.

lots of people i knew from last time are still here enjoying the life of the Arctic.

i'm attending a course in permafrost at the university and look forward to that.

yesterday it was calm weather, no clouds and -22 degrees.

this morning it was -30, so it wasn't that warm to walk the 3 km down to school and then back again this afternoon. but i really enjoy life in the Arctic.

while walking on the road i figured out that i haven't spent one single winter outside the high Arctic since 2001!!!

enjoy spring back at your place

busy busy

i have been quite busy this week, went to school both saturday and sunday afternoon to try to finish some work.

on friday i will go to norway to visit my family and friends and pack the arctic gear...

because on monday i will be going to svalbard to attend a course in permafrost for 6 weeks.

 this will be great...

SH7 in Danmarksfjord March 2007