Kicksled

A perfectly functional vehicle in Tromsø in wintertime. In Norwegian its name is Spark.

A Roald Amundsen day in Tromsø

Today, we had typical Tromsø winter weather. Snow dumped down in mild temperatures. This makes most people wet and miserable (unless you are a skier, or a long gone legendary polar explorer in bronze).

Landing across the ice at 80° N

Amongst my favorite moments in expedition cruising is when the conditions are such that you don't have to use other landing crafts than you own two feet. This is from Chermsideøya high north in the Svalbard archipelago.

What the future brings the Polar Bears?

An important meeting with the signatory parties of the Polar Bear Agreement is taking place in Tromsø between 17th and 19th March 2009.

In 1973 the countries with a polar bear population (Russia, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, USA and Canada) managed to agree on the protection regime for polar bears. Only traditional hunting would be allowed. In Spitsbergen the polar bears are not hunted at all by indigenous peoples - hence the local population is functioning as a reference.

However, the Norwegian Minister of Environment, Erik Solheim is pointing at excessive tourism as a potential threat towards this population (in addition to sea ice reduction and long-transported pollutants that bio-magnify in the food-web and ends up in high concentrations in top-predators). He is off course right, excessive and irresponsible tourism is a threat - but not the only.

Over the years, I have conducted about 60 sea-born expeditions with tourists to the areas of Svalbard with the highest concentrations of polar bears - the eastern parts of the archipelago. Once, I have flown with helicopter over some of the same areas.

Obvious to me; My one helicopter ride caused more stressed polar bears than all my 60 expeditions combined (by far).

Tourism flights with helicopters are prohibited in Svalbard. Tourism and conservation in Polar Regions are highly compatible and should be used for what it's worth to advocate the polar bear cause.

The pictures below are calm and easy going polar bears, on the east side of Svalbard.

Chinstrap Penguins at Baily Head, Antarctica

This picture is taken very early in the morning. I was guiding a group of hikers across from Baily Head, Deception Island, Antarctica to Whalers Bay. This is a fantastic hike that takes you through one of the largest chinstrap penguin colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula.

Hammerfest

Travelled through Hammerfest a while ago with Hurtigruten. What a city! Quite colorful and thriving on the natural gas taken ashore on the nearby Melkøya, where there is a plant that is, essentially, a giant 10 billion $ fridge that makes it liquid and transfers it to Liquid Natural Gas vessels that takes it to the markets.




A few hours further north, before you arrive the port of Havøysund, you witness another method of luring energy out of nature. The giant windmills dot the spectacular cliff in an intriguing way.

Skiing; somewhere 20 minutes from Tromsø

This was a couple of weekends ago, at the darkest of polar night... My best outdoor experience so far this year :-)

Nisse

You can notice it from the little nisse-men ducking up from nowhere - x-mas is close. Here is the nisse-man aboard MS Lofoten, a beautiful vintage vessel sailing along the coast of Norway.

Fast ferry to Harstad

I took Hurtigruten from Harstad to Tromsø on friday. On our way we met the fast ferry going in the opposite direction in fantastic winter light.

Hunting the Light

Sailed from Tromsø to Bergen this week. Fantastic light - forget the midnight sun and all those things we've seen a million times.