Tony

Had a fabulous few days of hiking across the mountains of West McDonnels NP, NT, Australia with Tony Dorr. We used to work together as Zodiac drivers in Antarctica back in the days. Tony is super.

Skihytta in Lyngen

This is a great, short stroll on the mountain skiis. If you like, continue towards the higher peaks; Goalsevarre or Rørnestinden.

Jon the Fisherman

Not exactly what Jon (Sumner) gets on the hook in Darwin, NT, Australia where he comes from. Jon is a super fisherman and one of the kindest persons I have ever met. He visited Norway twice in half a year and I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with him.

Ptarmigan at the North Cape

Only some 200 meters from where eveyone gathers to have their picture taken I met this guy. This meeting gave me a much stronger experience. This is a Rock Ptarmigan - a true Arctic species.

Skiing at Rotenvikfjellet, Lyngen, Norway

Great conditions on the mountain these days!

Hunting the Light with MS Richard With

Sailed from Kirkenes to Sandnessjøen with the Hurtigruten vessel; MS Richard With. Had a great light, was hunting the light with my camera.

The Arctic Circle

This is what it looks like as seen from aboard a Hurtigruten vessel sailing southbound along the Norwegian coast.

Urban Tunélls Klezmerband

I shot some images for the band and the concert arranger last week. Fantastic music and a great live band!

Ptarmigan hunting in Svalbard

This image is taken on a hunting trip to Svalbard. The scene is in Adventdalen.

Salt & Pepper Bear Cubs

These two guys live in Polar Zoo in Troms in Northern Norway. Salt & Pepper are 10 weeks old. Visited them yesterday, you can follow them on THIS live stream.

The skiing is perfect - silkeføre

These are condition we call silkeføre. Silkeføre is soft, easy, really fantastic snow conditions. In Norway the expression is used in many other contexts - when something is really good.

Kicksled

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

The Thing - Mats Gustavsson

The jazz-café; Circa in Tromsø is hosting concerts, often on weekdays and Sundays. Yesterday The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, and Paal Nilssen-Love) visited. Being one of the hardest playing trios on the Scandinavian contemporary jazz scene they made a blasting Sunday evening for everyone in place. Below you see Mats Gustavsson who is also known for his projects with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The homepage of Smalltown Superjazzz says: Mats Gustafsson is currently Sweden's and perhaps Europe's most well-known artist within free improvised music.

1949

The year my father was born. Tromsø had about 10000 inhabitants. A 60 years old iron gate.

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.