Pinga in Fall colours

When the fall arrives the ban on unleashed dogs disappears and Pinga thrives.

Bleik in Vesterålen

At 69°16′13″N 15°57′26″Ø the small village Bleik is situated on the sheltered side of Andøya in Vesterålen, Northern Norway. The 500 inhabitants can enjoy this paradise at all times of the year - in different light and in various conditions. The beaches here are magnificent and the bird island off shore is full of puffins and other seabirds. The great White Tailed Eagle is numerous here.

The images are all a variation of Bleiksøya - the Bleik Island.

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 :-)

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.

Raudtind in Tromsø

Dark season skiing in Tromsø is great. Not too much light, but enough to have a great time on the mountain.

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.

Spitsbergen in October

The tourist season is over in Spitsbergen and the community of Longyearbyen has geared down. The day is getting about 15 minutes shorter in each end, every day and the light is fantastic. At night you can get lucky and have clear skies with aurora borealis like we did on our hike to a cabin outside town...

Stetind - the ambolt of Gods

I just had a day of driving from south to north of Norway. The most spectacular part of the drive was passing (through) Stetind in Nordland. A couple of years back Stetind was nominated the national mountain of Norway and it's known for its majestic shape. The height of it is about 1350 meters (4430 ft) and as you can see, it's straight into the fjord. The fjord is an arm of Tysfjorden which is know for attracting killer whales hunting for spring spawning herring that pulls into here in the winter time. As you can see from the pictures, Stetind is subject to a rather interesting contradiction. It's illegal for climbers to drill holes in the mountain and mount bolts, but the Norwegian State has drilled a very large hole in it in the interest of motorists wanting to zoom through in high speed. Several philosophers in Norway have treated this issue. Climbing the mountain is relatively straight forward if you know how to belay. I did it many years ago and we had the first winter snow on the mountain that year. On the top it's a large flat area and it's quite thrilling glancing over the edge right into the fjord below.

Hiking on a beach near Tromsø

I spent the first of May hiking along a beach for four hours. The weather was variable and the sky was changing all the time. This season is great for big backcountry skiing trips followed by some layed-back life on the beach, a bonfire and good food.

Evening light in Tromsø

The light yesterday evening was so nice that I had to mount my long lens and go out on my veranda to shoot this picture. I thank the fisherman that conveniently came sailing in from Sunday overtime.

In Arctic Air Space

The sun is almost back in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. These pictures are taken from the flight in yesterday and out today. The landscape is extraordinary fascinating in the blue ambient light from the sun below the horizon. The reason I was in Longyearbyen this time was to launch the Norwegian Polar Institute Cruise Handbook for Svalbard (sorry, only in Norwegian, coming in English by the summer), the project I have been working on this winter.

Tromsdalstinden, Sálasoaivi

Conditions for skiing is better now when the sun is back in Tromsø. Today my dog, Pinga, and I went into the backcountry and we experienced being alone on the mountain. That is strange because more than 50.000 people live within a short drive or walk from this area. Pinga and I don't mind being alone in the backcountry and we had a really nice time seeing the landscape being partially lit up by the sun (because of some overcast) and the sun set creating beautiful pink skies and a blue snowscape. We were out a few hours but didn't get very far. Instead of covering distance we consentrated on having a good time and taking some pictures. On the first picture you see Tromsdalstinden, here also mentioned with its Sami name. The mountain is 1.238 meters high and is regarded a Holy Mountain for the Sami (indigenous people, also called Lapplanders).

Architecture Svalbard

Longyearbyen is becoming a place where modern high tech and architecture goes hand in hand. The new university is an excellent example. The new part of the university building is designed by Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS and have been nominated to the prestigious Miles van der Rohe-price. This is the European Union price for best contemporary architecture.