I spent a couple of brief days in town in Longyearbyen before embarking on an Arctic photo expedition, which took us around part of the western coast of Svalbard and then to Greenland, finishing in Iceland. I loved it! But I like cold, as long as it’s not extreme with wind and rain, and as long as I have proper gear. I don’t recall a lot to do in town, other than walking around taking photos (which is what I do everywhere!), but I found it fascinating, as the world’s northernmost “city.” It’s friendly and has that old mining town quality I’ve also found in some remote western US towns. It’s great for seeing Northern lights, if you go the right time of year when the skies are dark at night.
The real magic is experienced from the water, in my opinion. We saw seals, polar bears, and whales, calving glaciers and icebergs. On our expedition, each day we took a couple of excursions out in Zodiac crafts in small groups of 8-10 people each, to have guides take us to areas where wildlife was likely to be, or to hunt down the beautiful icebergs to photograph.
I love snow too, and we don’t get a lot of it where I live, but there is a dusting outside this morning and it’s pretty!
Pics below are two of my favorites from Svalbard — a distant glacier that has retreated over the centuries, and a glacier than dramatically calved while we watched from the safe distance of our Zodiac. The other pics are little abstract details around Longyearbyen.
That trip was September 2012 — I can’t believe it was that long ago!
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