Svalbard Expedition 2018
Mar 22
#2: Great Start
Published at 21:10
We left the harbour at 12.30 and motored for almost 4 hours, muscling through brash and pack ice from time to time before reaching the ice edge in Tempelfjorden. In the last couple of years the fjord hasn’t frozen but this year it has become solid again.
Stig backed the boat into the ice and we lowered sleds and ourselves onto the frozen platform before bidding farewell and watching him chug back through the channel he’d broken.
The sun was already lowering over the western mountains so we readied ourselves quickly and sledded towards the west side of Tempelfjorden. Skiing for a couple of hours we finally reached solid land after 6pm. The snow here is a bit scant but we managed to find a strip big enough for our 5 tents (Anthony and Matthieu are training for solo South Pole expeditions and are renting alone, as is Sean. Jonathon and DeNise are together as are Ilse and I.
Now surrounded by our perimeter trip wire connected to 4 independent bear banger flares, and armed appropriately, we are ready for action lest Ursus approach camp.
Pics:
1. Offloaded and ready for adventure
2 and 3. Reaching the beach
Stig backed the boat into the ice and we lowered sleds and ourselves onto the frozen platform before bidding farewell and watching him chug back through the channel he’d broken.
The sun was already lowering over the western mountains so we readied ourselves quickly and sledded towards the west side of Tempelfjorden. Skiing for a couple of hours we finally reached solid land after 6pm. The snow here is a bit scant but we managed to find a strip big enough for our 5 tents (Anthony and Matthieu are training for solo South Pole expeditions and are renting alone, as is Sean. Jonathon and DeNise are together as are Ilse and I.
Now surrounded by our perimeter trip wire connected to 4 independent bear banger flares, and armed appropriately, we are ready for action lest Ursus approach camp.
Pics:
1. Offloaded and ready for adventure
2 and 3. Reaching the beach
- Name: Camp 1
- Elevation: 12 m
- Latitude: 78° 23’ 10” North
- Longitude: 16° 50’ 2” East
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image2
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