Kapp Linné with UNIS

At the beginning of Septemeber I went to Kapp Linné with a hydrology bachelor course from my department at UNIS. As part of their course, they had a 4 day field work trip and as part of my position I was asked to help out with the logistics of the field work.

The week started off with a zodiac boat trip to Isfjord radio at Kapp Linné. I'm sure all of you know by now that Oskar and I love it there! So I was thrilled to join the course field work and stay at this hotel. The weather was not very nice on the trip out, it was raining a little and very windy, there was so much fog on the water that we couldn't see the mountains on the other side of the fjord, but it was a nice trip nonetheless. Once arrived at Isfjord radio we settled in and had lunch (of course the food was delicious) and then we went out for a small hike to a close by river and tried out the field instruments we had brought. We had a nice relaxing evening and headed to bed early.

The next day we left after breakfast and started our hike towards Linnévannet (the lake nearby).

 After two hours we reached the southern point of the lake and it was here that we all broke into our groups and took off to different points in the valley, some groups were continuing on to another lake, others were taking measurements on the river leading into Linnévannet and then my group was continuing on for quite a ways to reach the glacier that fed these lakes. So for another two hours we hiked until we reached the moraine. It was here we stopped and had a nice lunch before trekking up the moraine (not easy walking, as there are just loose sharp rocks cut by the glacier and no vegetation between them to walk on). After an hours walk on the Linné glacier, where the students measured the ablation stakes put there some years ago and marking the GPS coordinates of the front of the glacier, we started our hike back to Isfjord radio. For the better part of the day we had fantastic weather and beautiful views of the Linné valley, it was only the last two hours of our trip where the weather turned a little sour. We had lots of wind (nearly pushing me over) and some rain. Many of us were very tired and I would say the last 6 kilometers were pretty tough. We would start laughing about how we thought our feet hurt 6 kilometers ago, no now they really hurt!

We arrived back at Isfjord radio at 10:30pm after a 38km and 15.5 hour hike. Dinner was very good, and so was the beer!

 There were many river crossings, thank goodness for waterproof hiking boots!

The next day we didn't have any field work to do but we took a 15km hike down the coast to see some walrus that had been spotted there for a couple weeks. We were able to get quite close to the two walrus that were on the beach and it was really nice to see a few more playing in the water. Then it was back to Isfjord radio for lectures and calculations.

 Whale bones.

 Old man walrus with one tooth.

 The weather changes pretty quickly up here. You don't go anywhere without a rain coat in the fall.

The last day we were picked up by zodiac boats and because the wind had really picked up by the time we took off the waves were pretty high and it was a bumpy ride back. Though I would never complain because I can't, I get paid to do this.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Thanks for reading :)

Long summer and fall...

So, my summer has been long, and it turns out, it lasted through fall... I have been working with all sorts of weird people and projects, and even managed to squeeze in a trip to Spain and a sailing holiday with best bud Henning in there somewhere...
Here are some pictures... I didn't take all of them my self...Thanks Kristine and National Geographic...

 Spain...

Throwing rocks at the beach with Julie and Oliver. 

No, we didn't give Julie alcohol then took pictures of her...

Simply a girl exhausted after a long day on the beach 

Celebrated midsummernight (june 23. ?) with Kristine down at the beach in L'Albir 

Pool time for Mia... and julie, and kristine, and mom... 

Wine tasting with Kristine... 

Guided some photographers around for some days. For the company I mainly work for, BaseCamp, showing of our great lodge Nordenskiold 

 This one i actually took...

What i like to think i do for a living every day... Fancy new green pants though... 

I was head of safety and logistics for the Swedish Polar Institute on a trip this summer, with some help from this fellow; Ozzy.

I don't think he had any idea there were 3 polar bears behind him when i took this picture. 

Henning and i, on our way somewhere. Best trip ever. We never knew when we went to bed, were we would sail of to in the morning...

Henning loving boat life... the faster we sailed, the happier henning was...  8.2 knots, just saying...

We met up with great friends, Børre, Katarina and their son Albert. Børres boat "Polarulv"

One day we hiked across a huge island to look for some hairy cows... found them eventually... Not to impressed, so didn't put up a picture of them... Albert was super tired at the end, as he pointed out, it was really tiresome to sit at dads shoulder for 10 kilometres. 

Met up with another old buddy, Tommy, proud owner of his boat "Gamle Øksnesværing".

Not to bad this one either...

 Even managed to squeeze in a 3 hour trip with dad in he's boat before he sold it... Best weather we have ever had in this area...

At one point this summer, I even met up with a pig called Oskar. The farmer said i could buy him december 14th if i wanted to, or what was left of him anyway... Jessica said no... 

Back in Longyearbyen and sure enough we had some snow in July. 

10 day polarbear watch for some geologist... best job ever... 

Once again... best job... 

Came across this cool thing... an old Polarbear trap...