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.

Beluga Boats

On a recent visit in Fleur de Lyshamna in Van Keulenfjorden in Spitsbergen we visited the site of what once was a Beluga fishery adventure. These fisheries were ecologically insustainable and luckily it ended before the population of this magnificent High Arctic whale were were depleted. Today you can experience Beluga in the fjords of Spitsbergen. They come swimming in groups along the shores. If you're lucky they twist their head (unique feature for the species) and takes a look at you.

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.

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.

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.

Weekend in Havnnes

Havnnes is an old merchant place where fishermen have been delivering fish for centuries. Archeological findings proves this to be a dwelling place as old as 6000 years. Havnnes is situated on the island of Uløya and you need to take a short ferry ride to get there. The total number of inhabitants is about 55. This a fantastic place to retreat. You can rent a house for about 100 Euro that sleeps 6. When we arrived it was even lit up in the fire place and we could start relaxing immediately. You can also rent a boat if you like to tempt your luck with the fishing rod or you can go the easy way of buying a dried, tasty fish at the grocery store. This is a great place that will never become over-crowded - it's you, the locals, maybe a few Czech fishing enthusiasts, clean air, magnificent views and the occasional sea eagle.

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.

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.