Raudtind in Tromsø

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

Polar Bear Stuff

Tromsø is the un-disputed polar bear capital of Norway. No, they are not roaming the streets like in the old days, when trappers brought with them live cubs from Svalbard. Some of the trappers handled them like dogs, walked them in a leach and tied them up outside bars and shops. Anyhow, today, it's the capital of stuffed polar bears, and I have a goal of documenting as many as possible of them. This is the first, from the hall of Norwegian Polar Institute.

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...

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.

Ice Cutting in Tempelfjorden, Spitsbergen

This is the highlight of my winter. I took part in a logistic operation with Spitsbergen Travel. The task was to cut out ice-blocks from glacier ice. The best spot for this was about 60 kilometers out of Longyearbyen. In February the light is fantastic.

Pinga and Geir hiking

Pinga is following in the footsteps of Geir Borch Karlsen on a hike at Kattfjordeidet, Kvaløya, Norway. We are waiting for the big snowfalls.

The Polar Circle in December

I drove from south to north in Norway last weekend. I had a magic morning when I crossed the Saltfjellet (a mountain). It was almost no traffic, It was blue light and I just had to stop at the Polar Circle to take this picture.

White Sea - Russia

I was just stuck in a hotel in Moscow. Bad luck, but at the same time it gave me an opportunity to re-live yesterday. I had a memorable day on the Northern Dvina River. Together with my Russian friends; Olga, Vladimir, Jury, Natasha and Anna I had the pleasure exploring the borders of the White Sea. It made me feel like continuing an ancient tradition of keeping up the good relationship between the Pomor People and Northern Norway. Mayor of Patrakeevka; Petr Ivanovich Kopytov (you see him in the only portrait below) had a first class, number one welcome in his village, that's for sure. In excitement I took a few pictures...

Arkhangelsk Airport

Had this view at the Airport in Arkhangelsk today.

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.

Sleepwalker with Frost

Another interactive post on the blog. This time because I really like the video from Aggie Peterson aka Frost. Aggie is the grandaughter of Herta Grøndal, who photographed Svalbard in the pioner era when coal mining was the only way of life in Longyearbyen. In this music video you see footage captured in the sixties. You see historic events like when the first plane landed on the permafrost runway in Adventdalen. Aggie Peterson is from Tromsø, Norway.

Where the hell is Matt?

Last year I met Matt on a trip to Antarctica on one of his travels to shoot dancing. I immediately fell for his concept and offered to be the man behind the camera. I did the footage of the two Antarctic sequences. I challenged Matt to come up to the Arctic and I would film him dancing on a lonley iceflake in the Arctic Ocean (Matt; if you read this...). Perhaps you could dance away global warming... This is one of the most viewed on You Tube. Enjoy!

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.

About South Georgia in Islands Magazine

In the March 2007 issue of National Geographic Islands Magazine there is a story about a trip I attended as an Expedition Leader last year. The writer and photographer is my good friend Jad Davenport and the article is made available here with his permission. Download the PDF here or click on the Islands Magazine front page (to download). I know that many of my readers have been to South Georgia, so this may lead to many a recognizing nod. Enjoy.

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.