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).

Arctic Ocean Cathedral, Tromsø

The “Arctic Ocean Cathedral” is a famous landmark in my hometown; Tromsø. The building was completed in 1965 and is an example of the work of Jan Inge Hovig, a famous architect and husband of Ingrid Espelig Hovig who was the firs TV-chef in Norway. These pictures are showing fractions of the building in the landscape. I like the trees.

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.

The Sun is back in Tromsø

...Jippi!! The sun is back and I saw it for the first time today. Nevermind the dirty office window and the rubbish mobile camera the picture is taken with.

As you see, my solar charger from solio.com is charging environmental-friendly energy for my iPod and my mobile.

I will try go get some better pictures at a later stage of this planet (that we don't take all that much for granted up here in the Arctic).

From the 20th May to the 22nd July it is Midnight Sun in Tromsø. (doesn't set in that period.)

TIFF '07

Tromsø International Film Festival (tiff.no) is going on and it's peak season for cultural events in Tromsø. The Film Festival is the most influental Film Festival in Norway and it is a very inclusive event where northerners like myself can make "travels" to exotic places and cultures in the cinematic darkness. Close to 45.000 tickets are sold during the six days of the festival and between viewings it seems like everybody is drawn to the local waterholes to zip a wine or a caffe latte. Social life is booming and it's just a very nice and social atmosphere in the city. My personal favourites of what I've seen is the Mexican 'El Violin' directed by Francisco Vargas Quevedo and Tommy Lee Jones' 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'. They both had a setting in Mexico - I think I have to go there some day...

Kattfjordeidet revisited

Sunday offered snow, low visibility, and wind. That's why Olof and I packed telemark skis and drove about 20 minutes out of Tromsø to go backcountry skiing at Kattfjordeidet. Conditions were quite good, but visibility was not much to talk about. Here is Olof struggling his way up while I just trail in his tracks behind. The shoot just above his head in the background offers good skiing when the snow has set later in the season.

Waiting for the sun...

Been lazy posting here lately. I'm working on a project at the Norwegian Polar Institute at the moment and they have been kind enough to supply me with an office with a magnificent view. I took this picture today. In about ten days I will see the sun for the first time tipping up from behind these mountains.

October Svalbard

It is beautiful weather on Svalbard today, ÷10 C and just a little wind. Snow have started covering the landscape and it is totally different compared to summer. Twilight is looong and you can enjoy how white is changing to pink and then to apricot and then to coldish blue. Enjoy 20° in middle Europe, in the Arctic winter is taking it's grip.

First Skiing in Lyngen

The snow has started falling in the mountains around Tromsø and our hypothesis was that it would be skiing conditions at higher altitudes in the Lyngen Alps. Shure enough, the hypothesis was verified at about 800 m.asl. and it was beyond expectations above 1000 m.asl. where powder was present. We even decided to abort our try on one of the summits due to avalanche danger. It is not every year you can go powder skiing in Northern Norway before October.

I look forward to an eventful season in the backcountry. I'd like to thank the two superbros from Sweden that initiated this firs trip of the season; Olof and Kalle Selander. We also met some eager students from my old telemark-club; TULL, at the University of Tromsø.

The pics here are some from the trip, the panorama is taken of the Lyngen Alps when arriving with the ferry at Svendsby.

Fall in Greenland

Greenland is the largest island in the world. It contains a lot of ice but on the coasts are rather green... Polar Star is sailing along the coasts of East and South Greenland in the Fall, after the Svalbard season. Crossing from Svalbard over to East Greenland is always very interesting, you never know exactly where or when you are going to hit the ice that are migrating out of the Arctic Ocean south through the Fram and Denmark Strait. The seaice you are most likely to meet is no-non-sense ice, meaning multi year, packed and hard ice. If you manage to get to the coast you can find that even in late August some of the fjords north of 76° is still covered with first year fast ice. This ice is an effective moderator for visitors, and some of the places I have visited, I would be the only visitor that year or even that decade.

Coming to the coast of Northeast Greenland is a dream. It is like coming to a place empty of people (there is only 27 persons living within the national park) and only nature have worn and torn the landscape over millions of years. The natural beauty is beyond words. The mere feeling of being alone and in the wilderness is overwhelming. The national park is 972 000 km² or 375 291,3 sq miles - that is eqivalent to Spain and France combined. ¾ of this area is covered by ice, but it still leaves about 250 000 km² without ice, in comparison the island of Great Britain is 209 000 km².

Anyway, enough statistics. Enjoy the pictures and make sure you experience Greenland once in your lifetime.

Fall in Tromsø

This picture is of Kvaløya as I see it from my window at home. The mountain most prominent is Blåmannen, 1044 m.asl. The sun and the skies are amazing at this time of the year, it changes all the time. One of these days I saw Aurora Borealis east on the sky while the sun was setting in west - that was quite intriguing.

Brunnich Guillemots on Svalbard

The Brunnich Guillemot is a member of the auk-family. It is similar to the Common Guillemot ut have a more northern distribution than the common. It´s a little smaller, has a blue/gray line on the upper mandible and do not have the white ring around the eye that some of the commons get. It is nesting in cliffs on Svalbard and one of the largest colonies is situated in the Hinlopen Strait on East Spitsbergen. Last week we had the conditions to do the first Zodiac-cruise (small boat cruise) in front of this cliff and it resulted in these pictures. Many think about penguins when they see the guillemot. They are not related but are subject to something called convergent evolution, meaning that they adapt to similar environmental challenges. One example is that they are white on the chest and black on the back - this means that they are camuflaced in water from preditors both from above and below (white against a light sky and black against the dark abyss). The guillemots also have very short wings that they use for propelling in water. They have a large chest bone that support big muscels, but they are rather inefficient flyers.

Polar Bears in Svalbard

On request from one of my readers I´m posting some pictures of some of the polar bears we have seen so far this season. It is very little sea ice this season and it seems that the bears are congregating where there still is a sufficient "hunting platform" for them. We have seen a lot females with two cubs this season - mabye they are the ones who didn´t make it when trying to follow a fast retreating ice edge this year. Last week we observed 39 polar bears - this is a new record for Polar Star.

A few days in Lyngsalpene again...

North Norway is shining at the moment. The Lyngen Alps is one of the jewels not far from Tromsø for skiers that don´t need lifts and comfy infrastructure (there are accommodations...). Trond Aalde and I went to Nord Lenangen (a place in Lyngen) to ski, take photographs and have a nice time. Skiing with Trond is super, a good pal and a super skier (former world champion telemark skier) trying to hang on to down the mountain sides is challenging, both for me and my dog; Pinga. Trond also gave me the opportunity to try out next years skiis, bindings and boots. Canadian skis - Genuine Guide Gear (G3) and Dynafit boots and bindings. He imports this stuff to Norway and his mission is off course to have everyone in the world using it. I can sign on that what he gave me works, you can see the signature down on front of the mountain Storgalten in Northern Lyngen. We did all our skiing trips in the evening to get the best light and the best snow (the last pic of me skiing down is at about 9:30 pm) - no alpine start necessary. Take your tent, rent a car in Tromsø, drive out to Lyngen and find a beach and camp and ski a nearby mountain or just stroll along the coast for a while looking at rocks and shorebirds. Good luck. (all pictures here are taken by Trond exept the one of him that I took).