Arctic Adventure

Norwegian Day and Animals

2009-05-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

My camera is back! A little damaged and chunky but functional.
My first exam seemed to go well, the questions were not too bad and I wrote the whole 5 hours.

On Saturday was the Eurovision son contest for those who weren't watching. We had a big party where we all dressed up in costumes for the countries we wanted to win. Norway wiped out the competition getting more than double the second place votes. So we all celebrated long into the night.

Sunday was the national Norwegian holiday of Independence. So we groggily got up and joined a large parade, with music flags everywhere. It was so fun and jolly, everyone was welcoming and it was lovely to be a part of. Later on the kids did shows in the sports center, cake and ice cream was served, there were concerts, just a day of celebration. Many people were in traditional dress. Each region had their own design, Svalbard has ones with glaciers and flowers. It was made even more sweet by the eurovision victory the previous day.

On Monday evening I met two PHD students doing the course I'm applying for in Southampton. We went out for a meal and discussed what they do. It sounds really interesting.
On Tuesday morning they picked me up and drove me with them to the EISCAT radar. We set up a new interferometry radar grid. If I get the PHD I'll be using the system. I hope I made a good impression and they say good things to thier supervisor.

On the way back from UNIS I bumped into a load of wildlife. The geese are coming back, I met two friendly reindeer and an cute arctic fox. It was starting to malt so I didn't go too close!

Pyramiden

2009-05-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Arctic is Melting! The paths through town have turned to slush, the mountains outside are slowly turning muddy brown and rocks and roads are appearing through the snow.
Dayle and I decided that if we were ever going to make it to Pyramiden it would be now. For those that don't know was a fully functioning Russian mining town as big as longyearbyen 12 years ago. However due to a series of accidents, the collapse of soviet Russia it was completely evacuated and abandoned!
It is also over 100km away. We decided to take a guide with us in the form of a PHD student called Ausmund. He had a powerful scooter, a GPS and all the right gear. I was on Malibu, which we fixed but the way (by stealing parts from a broken scooter left by the roadside) with all my gear on my back.
Due to the melting ice we couldnt go the direct way. We had to go the treterous rout over glaciers, up near verticle slopes and accross slushy water covered ice. On the way we passed seals on the ice, they looked like giant fat slugs. We also saw an enourmous glacier front which was like a mountain only of translucent blue ice.
The weather was grey but we got there in tact. Once there it was very spooky. It unsupprisingly was a ghost town and all the buildings had been boarded up, like in a zombie movie. There were hunderds of birds living in the buildings though, nesting on every window cil.
We wandered around and eventually found a way into the old sports center. It must have been really nice in its day, with a swimming pool and detailed wooden Russian architecture.
Everything had been gutted from the inside except an old springbok and horsebox.

We looked around the town in other places but the buildings had been sealed tight to stop more looting.
After a couple of hours the weather started to get worse so we decided to head back.
On the way back in the glaciers the weather continued to deteriorate. For half an hour we were in complete white out. Dayle's tail light was covered in snow and I could only see him because of his brightly coloured helmet! Ausmund led us with his GPS through the tight cravasses and over the now ever worse slushy ice, the only way was to gun it accross with no control or otherise you may find yourself at the bottom of the sea or lake bed!
But we made it out alive and in to too bad time! It was damn scary but really good fun! On the way back we ticked another box by having our pictures taken by the polar bear sign, its a tourist thing you have to do! I was so happy, Malibu had made it all the way, the longest and toughest jounrney most scooters ever make here! It was something I said I've wanted to do since I got here and so glad I did before all the snow went.

Since then Ive been revising for my exam in two days eek so no more adventures until both of them are over.

2009-05-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

...and then it hits you. The glacier in front of you is white, the sky is white, the mountains around you are white. You can only see 20 meters in front of you. You are approximately 100km from any civilization and any chance of help, in the freezing arctic, in a maze of glaciers valleys and steep cravases. The only things you have to trust your life with are your two mates in front of you, the rifle on your back with 10 bullets and the hunk of junk you are riding, which you payed 10p for and fixed with your own bare hands with parts stolen from the scrapyard. This is the most frightening and exhilarating moment of your life!

more details on my epic voyage to Pyrameden will follow shortly.

2009-04-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

An update from the arctic. Things have slowed down here adventure wise. What with MATlab and GUISDAP computer analysis all day long we havent had much time to go out. We also had a huge report to hand it.

Bjorndalen BBQ- For Margarete's birthday we went to Bjorndalen cabin again. Malibu is now completely broken, so my only method of transport was by sitting on a sledge attached to Dayle's scooter. It was shit scary but such good fun! My bum was very numb afterward.
We had an awesome BBQ. James found a random hole outside and decided to turn it into a chair. Two hours later two very cute and angry artic foxes came around wondering why his ars was in thier house! The were so fun and we played with them throwing snowballs to them. I think they just wanted thier hole back but they seems freindly enough.
On the journey back the sledge linkage broke, I was maybe too fat for it. The scooter kept on going, the sledge dug into the snow and I went flying 3 meters and found myself confused crumpled over my rucksack in the middle of the scooter track! Luckily it was just at the beguinning of town so I could walk back from there.

This weekend we went out for a nice pizza and a few drinks. A few turned into many as it always does and I eventually got home at 6am. Its so freaky, its light 24/7. You look outside and think its only 5pm, when its really 2am, my sleep patarn is completely screwed!

Last night Ben and Ruth (who are Jewish) calibrated a massive Passover feast. Yes its late but they just got the food sent from their parents. It was really nice to be invited and be a part of it. We didn't do the whole 6 hour ceremony we did the shortened version but we still had the bitter herbs in tears, unleven bread with horseradding for suffering, a lamb (paper mache) and lots more symbolic things. They sang the traditional sonds in hebrew and then provided a really wonderful meal. Afterwards we tried the traditional 100% proof plum brandy. My god that was good stuff, but resulted in another lost night though. Pics will follow.
Unfortunately my camera is completely broken so none will be mine and they will be harder to get hold of.

Easter Holidays

2009-04-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

The holidays started with a lovely trip to Templefjord. We dropped a group of friends going on a 6 days skiing trip. The weather was lovely and the drive nice and brisk. The view in templefjord was beautiful when we got there. Unfortunately hundreds of tourists had scared of any polarbears around. There was a ship in the ice, the one they dragged in in January and destroyed all the sea ice for!
A great day out.

Snowboarding. I went snowboarding many times during the break. A few times just practicing where the kids learn to ski, and once in Fardalen, a huge slope you need to drive up with a scooter after. I taught Michie and Dayle how to snowboard, it was so funny, see the video!

Malibu broke down though, there isnt enough vlotage going to one of the cylinders, we got it working but its a tad crippled and its top speed seems limited to 60kmph, looks like templefjord was too much for it :-(

Easter day we bought loads of kinder eggs. As well as that we had a HUGE brunch where everyone contributed something, in the end we had enough that it couldnt fit on two tables and we ate untill bursting and still had loads left.
After brunch I went with a bunch of skiiers up larsbreen to snowboard. BIG MISTAKE, they went up the glacier with ease which I was sprinting through thick snow killing myself to stand up. At the top I lost a screw from my bindings and so my feet were loose. I had no control, I was shattered and so basically fell face first all the way down the icy glacier, I wanted to die, but I didnt.

Unfortunately lectures have started again. Moan is back, I like him, he can teach well. We are also leanring MatLAB which is useful so we can analyse ourselves the data we got at EISCAT.

2009-04-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

This week has been great!

26/03/09 - My snowboard arrived, it looks pretty and is nice and shiny. I cant wait to take it out. Unfortunately the weather is too bad to do it today.

27/03/09 - Dayle and I have successfully rebuilt Malibu's engine again! And once again is alive!
Unfortunately on its maiden voyage the weather was so bad. There were huge drifts of snow which meant you couldn't see more than 2 meters in front of you. At one point Dayle suddenly stopped, I didn't so much and I bumped into the back of Dayle's scooter shattering the hood. DAMN!!!!
After 3 more hours of frantically gluing and tension strips we reconstructed the hood, all cosmetic, no structural damage, it just looks like Malibu has a broken nose now, Dayle isn't happy with me.

28/03/09 - Tested out m snowboard. It works fine, I just realised my boots are huge and only just fit in the bindings, I need to adjust them to fit into them properly. There is so much snow the board just digs in about 40cm and when you fall over snow goes everywhere, but its fun.

30/03-02/04/09 - We are doing experiments at the massive EISCAT radar facility this week. We have complete control of both the 32m and 42m dishes. We can control the directions and spin the 32m disk wherever we want. We can choose the pulse codes, duration, power output, everything. The facility and computer systems to control them are colossal, you can see where all our scientific funding goes here, and it's all in our hands, mew ha ha ha! The facility used up to 35% of the whole power output of the island!
It is extremely interesting you can see detailed structures of the ionosphere. After running our first experiment for 5 hours we have to go out to the static 42 dish and spend an hour shoveling snow from it, yes there was a lot and yes it really can effect the sensitivity of the experiments.

AVALANCHE, there was a big avalanche right between town and our barracks! Scary. Jenifer was at the bottom on the road when it happened and had to run screaming out of the way. Luckily no one was caught in it. It completely covered the road. The next day the police chief blow up the remaining cornises on the top of the peaks to stop more, but with little success. Now is probibly not the time to metion that a local died last week in an avalanche across the fjord on a scotter trip, the town was in mourning for a good few days.

We went on a small scooter trip to warm Malibu back into action across the bay. There is a small settlement jokingly called "Advent City". The view of the sun was beautiful and we found an old sail boat half burried in the ice.

Michie and I went on a snowboard session today. It was pretty much his first time. We went to where the school kids learn to ski. It was such good fun. I managed a whole run switching from side to side without falling over! Michie and I felt very happy with ourselves afterward a good session.
So we went out and had the most awesome Pizza in the world.

More mines, cabin fever and BBQ's

2009-03-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

19/03/09 We went on a road trip to a different mine today, mine 6 the latest to be abandoned, by the looks of it in the 80's or early 90's. It was much bigger scale and concrete than the mine 2, still freaky though. At the top all the dogs down the fjord in the kennels started howling together like wolves. It was very freaky.

20/03/09 Our first week day off in ages, unfortunately not for me. I agreed to be in charge of friday gathering so it was my job to buy the booze. Ash nicely agreed to join me. After we went for a walk in the glorious sunlight. The fjord is so beautiful in the sun.

21/03/09 - Bjorndalen. Me and a group of 6 others decided to stay at the cabin in Bjorndalen this weekend. It was where we saw the polarbear tracks last week. Jorgen and I decided to go early to warm it up. We "borrowed" around 50kg of coal from next to the power plant, aparently there is a special deal with the company or something but it felt a bit dodgy to me. The cabin was lovely, just freezing cold. Even 3 hours later when the others finlly arived the cabin had only got to about 0 degrees with a constant fire. It was also very smoky.
Despite that it was really good fun. We had a cozy meal together and a good laugh. I got to test out my new sleeping bag finnally, it was amasing, I loved it, I never wanted to come out.

The weather was glorious the next day. Half of the others went skiing (the norwegian half!), the others of us went on a walk in the beautiful surroundings. We thaught we saw a polarbear but it turned out to just be a yellowish iceberg.

When I got back to the barracks I got a big supprise. The others were just about to a BBQ so I jumped on that bandwagon. I think it actually worked better than at home, the BBQ's burnt at the proper speed. Of course I managed to burn my mouth at -24 degrees though!

25/03/09 - Got really close to another friendly reindeer today. Also I got a reply to go for an interview at Thales today, my first non rejection reply! Wohoo!
We also started dismantelling Malibu again today, we got the engine out and will start on the hard part of reparing tommorow. There is no spark so we think the coil (the part we snapped a bolt of last time) has broken, not an easy job to fix.

Polarbear tracks, Flamable gods, Russians and explosions

2009-03-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

10-15/03/09 Today we decided to enter for the great annual Sledge race. In the process of building it we had a tiny accident. Well Dayle decided to use the angle grinder next to freshly cut fuel lines and we may have set the sledge on fire. Luckily due to quick action it was out shortly but not before me cutting my back and wrist dragging the flaming sledge out.

12/03/09 The sun is here, at last! I haven't seen it for over 2 months. Today we went for a small scooter trip. We just went 45 mins away down the road. On the way back we found polar bear tracks, really fresh ones. Apparently we were a few hours too late the police had to scare it off earlier.

It was great the sea had loads of icebergs in it.

13/03/09 - The sledge is finally coming together we thought of the name, the inflammable god! I'm so happy how its turned out.

I had an ipiphany today. The radar diagnostics course we have been doing he finnaly clicked today. I now understand the process of sampling and decoding signals and the complex mathematics involved. It was so refreshing, I now get it, wohoo!

14/03/09 - The day of the big sledge race! So many people turned up. There were 18 different sledges participating and the entire town came to see them crash and burn. It was so much fun. Ours was an epic tragedy.
We turned around and the others fell off and everyone laughed, however we weren't the last, one sledge was 2 seconds slower, so we didn't even get the wooden spoon.

15/03/09- Barrentzberg and tragedy. We decided to take Malibu on a larger trip. He went great all the 2 hour trip there. The weather was so beautiful, couldn't have been a better day.
Barrentzberg was crazy, it was like going back in time 50 years and heading to soviet Russia. As you can see there were statues of
Lennen and amasing views. We had brekfast including loads of interesting russian food but it was really good. Nearlly all the buildings are abandoned as they are slowly closing down the mining operations.
It was full of soot and smoke and steam appearing from every crack, including the ones in all the walls.

On the way back there was a horrific disaster! Malibu died. Down a hill there was two distinct bangs like a car backfiring and it never started again. I think the piston has gone again, bugger! We dragged it back all the way, nearly two hours. The view was great, it was just hard to enjoy it being towed rather that speeding along under my own steam. We will have to drag Mailbu to the sea garage open him up and get a post mortum, please cross your fingers for us!

It's Alive, ALIVE!!

2009-03-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

See for yourself the blossom of all Dayle's and my work! A weeks work and its was so worth it to hear this glorious noise!

Dayle, Malibu and I

2009-03-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

25/02/09 - Malibu is ours! We got custody of our own (not fully functioning scooter today). After 3 hours we managed to get it to the sea Garage. In the arduous process dragging her back a magic Eskimo man managed to get her started, well on one of the two cylinders.
When we opened her up we founds why the other wasn't firing! Can you see the problem? That's right pistons arn't meant to have gaping big holes in them!
26-27th/02/09 We found the manual for our scooter in the internet, printed it out and had it bound. Dayle and I then spent the next two days until 11pm every night taking her apart piece by piece. TO get out a piston you literally have to dismantle EVERYTHING in the snowmobile!
With a lot of swearing and WD40 we now have the piston out and a lot of parts.
To get a new piston we have been quoted £200. We are going to try and find it cheaper on the net. Or steal another engine from an identical broken scooter, there are a few lying around.

Friday night we had the gathering again at UNIS and it spilled over to the barenzpub just up the road, good fun!

28/02/09 - Today is the last day you can travel to the Balterdalen cave since as of March its a no scooter zone. Lisa on the picture to the left in the middle very kindly lent me her scooter. It was so nice, it went beautifully and damn fast, I hope Malabu works like that when she lives again!
Unfortuately after 5 hours of searching we didnt find it :-( . We did however chase some reindeer for a while, they didnt realise that running down the scooter track wasnt the best way to escape scooters!
On the way back Dayle let loose with the gas and went airborne at one point. Ill tell you what 80 on a snowmoble is damn fast!

We later on had a karioke party at Dayle and Lisa's barrack. As usuall it started slowly as people got more enibrated the more people started to sing. I was shattered though so I had to bow my head and go to bed early.

01/03/09 The day isnt over yet but I just went snowboarding again with Laura. We were sharing Pirka's board and she was just as bad as me so it was fun. Cant wait until my own board arrives now!!!

Two weeks worth

2009-02-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys Ive been lazy, not enough pics to justify but a lot to talk about.
So...
14/02/09 - Valentines day!..with no valentine.
So instead of moping I sweetalked Andrea into teaching me to snowboard. I borrowed Espens boots and Pirkas board.
Andrea was such an awesome teacher. Apparently I learnt really fast and after 3 or so runs could with a lot of effort get up by myself and steer the board down the hill. I was hooked. I guess it helps to learn if your being taught buy a cute instructor you might want to impress. I loved it, so much so I'm buying my own board now!!!

That afternoon there was a huge party and everyone got VERY wasted, particularly the singles it seemed :-p. I had to drag Dale out of the loo, he was thretening to beat me up, but seing as he couldnt stand I didnt take it seriously.

15-18/02/09 We have been frantically preparing for the Icebreaker party. Ash has spent 4 hours a day making decorations. His viking ship loooks awesome.

18-20/02/09- This week we are doing field work trying to observe aurora at the Kjarl Hendix observatory from 5pm until midnight every day. It really messes up your time cycle.
Unfortunately the weather these 3 days are cloudy and results in only 2 mins of aurora in over 21 hours of waiting. We basically watched 10 blank screens of clouds for 7 hours a day.
To stop us from going insane we were made to calibrate all the equipment which meant lots of twiddling knobs, turning off and on lights and going outside in the freezing cold roof and shivering to death while shining a light into a dome. Very educational but I hope its not a view of things to come as a scientist.

21/02/09 - Icebreaker party. Getting there as soon as I could after waking up I spent ages helping arranging the last touches to the party.
The party went amasingly. The decorations were unbelievibly good, it looks so great. The food was awesome with a 30kg cake with over 120 eggs in it for desert. Everyone had awesome costumes. The party was really fun and lasted until 5 am at UNIS.
I had an amasing time. Thank you so much Kristine, I just wish you didn't have to go back on Wednesday. xxx Story of my life!

The next day we had to go down and clean it up. Neals was still there unconscious on a sofa upstairs and there was one hell of a mess. luckily I was in charge of alcohol storage and sound equipment so I was busy with those tasks. I feel a bit bad as I got there a bit later than the others.

24/02/09 Snowmobile! An awesome PHD student Jeff who suffered with us at the observatory has offered to give us his knackered snow scooter. He says its too expensive and old to get the shop to repair it but we can have it and try to fix it up ourselves. It sounds like a cracked engine block or piston shaft, which if we can get a replacement part quite cheep can be fixed with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It should be a fun project before my new snowboard arrives!!

Aurora as Promiced

2009-02-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

As promised here are some pics of the awesome aurora the other night.
Yeah they maybe weren't quite as good as the pics made them look, ash has a stupidly good camera and left the shutters open for ages so more light than can be seen by the eye is taken by the camera. But they were still pretty damn awesome.

In a a completely unrelated incident, yesterday I bought what I thought was frozen pork. When I got back Celia laughed at me for about 5 mins and told me I had just got 1kg of reindeer fat! Luckily the shop accepted it back the next day.

The guys also built an awesome igloo this weekend. I helped...with one brick, and then helped celibate by drinking in it, it was so manly. Typical British builders though, the roof collapsed after just two days!
Good times, and today we went sledging on those tiny bum handle things you sit on, you know what I mean. Anyway James fun the fastest and most fun way to travel was backwards when you cant see a thing!

Scooters, Abandoned mines and Ice Caves

2009-02-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

06/02/09 - To be able to go on excursions with UNIS we had to spend the day doing Snow scooter training so we would be safe drivers. It was really great fun. Eric didn't have a license and so rode on my back. We only nearly flipped over once but we managed to right it the way we were told not to because if it didn't work we could have broken our legs of ended up trapped under the scooter, but we were fine.
Makes me wish I could afford to get one of my own now :-( .

In the evening there was an awesome free concert by a famous Norwegian singer in the Huset. It was great,everyone was dancing, such fun.

07/03/09 - We went and visited the ice cave we tried to find last week. The cave had been opened up properly by the tourists. Luckily only a small number had been in, but you could still see they had managed to smash off hunders of stalegtighs already.
It was so beautiful. More ice spikes than you could ever could count. The walls were like icy marble with gorgeous bobbly and wavy. textures.
It was very icy and slippery though, getting bacj was a struggle. We could only go a kelometer down it as it got too slippery and steep and we wouldnt have been able to return. It looked like it went of much further but we needed more equipment for that.

08/02/09- Michiel, Kristian and I on a spur of the moment decided to viset the old abandoned mine on the mountain above our Barracks. It was far harder work than we thaught to get there.
Once inside it was so worth it. Everything was as it was left. Spooky and dark.
There was still old porn on the lockers and stuff, so funny.
It was really big and creepy and so fun to see all the old equipment and where the guys had to work, it must have been a tough life!
The trip down was much easier but the trip tuned out to be far more fun and adventurous than I initially thought. I got back just in time to go to kyak polo. So much for my quiet weekend!

2009-02-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

31/01/09 We went on a big skiing adventure today up the big glacier Longyearbryen to try and find the ice caves. Some went by snowmobile but we went hardcore on cross country skis. It took over an hour to trek to the top. The light is really starting to come back. It gets really quite bright on the horizon around noon and every day the light gets brighter and longer.

When we go to the top the snowmobiles arrived and we searched for ages but couldn't find the entrance. Obviously there had been too much snow and it had been covered and or blocked.

So we went back down. Holy crap that was scary, and so fast. By then the light was going and the only way you knew how fast you were traveling was by putting down the ski poles and feeling them being wrenched behind you! As I handn't learnt to stop or turn yet I ended up painfully stopping with my bum and twice with my face. The bum is more preferable!!
I made it back bruised but alive, great fun!

01/02/09 - Amasing northern lights!!!!!!! At last. We have waited 4 weeks for them but my god it was worth it, so beautiful. Ash got lots of pics and they will follow I promice!

I also found out my flat mate has a spare snowboard that I could use and I found another friendly person here who said they could teach me to use it! Cant wait!

Ice Caves , Lifeguards , Skiing and Skinny Dipping!

2009-01-24T03:02:00.000-08:00

18/01/09 - I went skiing for the first time today, on cross country skis. After only being able to find shoes 6 sizes too small and putting on the skis I stated to wonder "how do you stop in these things?" as I quickly gained momentum skidding down the road. I found aiming for large banks of snow was the only way. Needless to say I returned covered in bruises.

21/01/09 - Dale's birthday. I missed one of my lectures today, I instead had to take a lifeguard test so I can lifeguard at swimming and kyacpolo. I am now officially certified as a Norwegian lifeguard! Suck on that Hasslehoff, there's a new kid in town!
For Dale's party we went to the caves, they were gorgeous! So crazy and pretty, just amasing. It was really good fun, we had taccos afterward.
The ceiling was covered in ice and rocks that looked like diomonds and the floor a large part was just ice and we slid around and got very dirty crawling through tiny gaps to get to breathtaking caverns.
I cant believe this is the least spectacular cave and its 5 mins walk from our Barrack.

21-23/01/09 - Nothing special, I have been working and revising, just to let those of you who worry about me not doing any work and revision, don't worry I have been doing some.

23/01/09- Had my first day off today, spent most of it revising. After doing all I could I joined the others at the uni and we went for a dip in the freezing fjord!!! Its a competition 1 points for going in and 1.5 for going in nude. Of course being competitive I went for full points. There are pictures of all 30 of us running ( only 6 of us starkers) into the water, crazy freezing fun. Before you ask, no, I haven't got any because I was taking part rather than being a photographer. We then spent a stupid amount on beer for the friday gathering, and it ran out again!! 8 crates my god!

Courses and Outings

2009-01-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

11-16/01/09 The last week we have started our courses. They are really interesting but involve a lot of Electromagnetism, good revision, in my spare time I have mainly done revision.

I have also signed up for loads of student responsibilities. A large one is the Friday gathering which involves buying over £200 worth of alcohol, organizing and clearing up after a party at UNIS every Friday, a lot of work. My first day ended in us running out of beer, opps!

We had a great time at the party anyway and continued it later at the pub. That was crazy. It was like World War 3 and I was the oil, and no I'm not going to elaborate.

17/01/09- Waking up with a big hand over and grin on my face after just 3 hours sleep we started the morning by climbing, literally climbing almost vertically at some points up the glacier at the back of longyearbyen. It was knackering and went on forever. However the view at the top was awesome.

Safety Finale

2009-01-11T01:05:00.001-08:00

Svalbard is awesome!!!!!
Yesterday was just amazing. It started the worst days weather so far with temperatures of -30 and gale force winds that cause frostbite in a second, almost blizzard conditions.

After hiking to the mouth of the glacier we started putting into practice all the skills we have learn over the last week. How to set up a base camp in horrendous conditions. We had to rescue and get warm an injured person. We did an avalanche simulation and had to find three dummies buried in a mountainside.

We also simulated rescuing people from a glacier creating our own pulley systems from ropes and rappelling down, I was the victim for that one.

It was a grueling 5 hours but really great fun too! At the end the emergency helicopter came and showed off its stuff with a guy rappelling out and lifting and flying off with one of the girls on the course!

The best thing on the way back was the weather greatly improved and with the full moon the view was absolutely breathtaking.

When we got back we had to do a short exam and after were given free beer and Pizza! We partied until 3 am. The most knackering and extreme day of my life, just awesome, this is why I came to Svalbard!!!

Oh yeah and James (the American on the right) got very drunk and danced very inappropriately with me, so if your his girlfriend in Alaska, watch out!

2009-01-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

09/01/09 - I got new face mask today, makes me look like a mix between Saw and a ninja.
We also learnt to use the emergency camping equipment including trip wires for flairs to scare of Polar bears.

After we did Glacier rescue training in which we learn to tie knots and create winches to lift tapped people out. We tested it by repelling and lifting people off of a second story stairwell.

Tomorrow we try all the stuff out in real conditions on the glacier behind the accommodation for 5 hours! Apparently last year 10 people feinted from cold and exhaustion. Plus the rescue helicopter will come at the end. Very cool. Then we have to go straight down for an exam on the procedures. Ill probs tell you how its went with a really bad hangover on Sunday.

2009-01-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

07/01/09 - It happened again this morning, but this time I was prepared. It was so close and completely docile, even when my camera flash went off it didn't blink. What a cute reindeer. I could have touched it but we had been warned not to due to diseases.

Rifle training was awesome. But as a left hander I had to learn to shoot right handed. I was rubbish at first but greatly improved later. The bullets were massive. We are told they can travel more than 5km and still be deadly at this range, so we should be careful where we shoot!

It was very cold but with the moon up its been the brightest since we got here. So I took some pics of our surroundings.

We also did CPR and first aid survival rescue, it was good stuff to learn and thank god in the warmth.

Avalance rescue and Snow Rugby

2009-01-06T14:40:00.000-08:00

06/01/09 - Sorry no pics today. Now it really was cold today -32. I had to do avalanche rescue training in the morning which involved being put into an ice cave and being prodded with 3 meter sticks from above. We also learnt how to use all the survival grear including survival beacons, walky-talkies and satellite phones. During the course of which I lost all feeling in my hands and feet due to the extreme cold and on the way back home my eyelids froze together- nice.

We then found out snow rugby was at on later, it was crazy but great fun, rugby in -30! The ice cave also got a bit bigger today, we fit 2 and half people in it today. Tomorrow I do rifle training, Im so excited. But its forecast to be -35! SO an extra layer all around is in order. Im exhausted and aching. What a weird day!

Start of Survival training

2009-01-05T14:12:00.001-08:00

03/01/09- After recovering from a bout of dry mouth I went to try and purchase alcohol and more supplies from the Co-op. I found pout when there that I needed my boarding card as it is rationed and I had left it at the barracks! Oh well.

Later we decided to try and build a snow man. However the snow was so cold you cant do anything with it, its eighter ice or falls to pieces like dust, its crazy. So we decided to build an ice cave (see left) Its an ongoing project.

For all those guys out there who think Scandinavia is just full of beautiful blond athletic women...your damn right it is! ;-)

04/01/09- We found out Sunday was sports day. For some reason we were convinced that giving Polo Kyacing a go was a good idea. Thats right, playing waterpolo in kyacs in a swimming pool when its -22 outside, it was just bazaar! It was great fun.

05/01/09- Started out safety courses. It consisted of a set of really boring talks by people who could speak or spell English that well with some gruesome images of injuries from frost bite and polar bear attacks with "blod" and "svelling".
Two reindeer were just outside the uni, as it was snowing I almost walked into one, well I was few meters away, I thought it was a rock before it started pooing! It gave me a bit of a fright. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. Tomorrow we start the training proper and over the week learn glacier rescue and rifle training, first aid, skidoo driving etc.

First Steps into the wilderness

2009-01-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

31/12/08 - Ash and I fly to Oslo Airport fueled by the idea of a night out in Oslo. When we arrive the airport is dead and we are informed that Oslo is the 50 min taxi drive away. So defeated we instead have a quiet night in at the hotel.

It was so cool all the airplanes were covered in snow and ice as well as the runway!

01/01/09 - We fly off to Svalbard. As we travel across Norway the landscape was completely barren.
As the plane continues the light disappeared until we were surrounded in pitch blackness.

When we got to Svalbard "flyplatz" Ash and I got on the wrong bus but luckily realised this before we were dropped off 2 miles away from our houses and jumped onto the right bus.

Went for our first walk. It was fecking freezing!!! -18 degrees. We later found the local pub/restaurant and had a meal and a small beer costing £5. Jup alcohol is that expensive here!

02/01/09 - Ash and I poped to the Uni and CO-OP for some food. It was an hour's trek round trip. The Uni was very cool and swish inside. The co-op was just like a co-op back home except you couldn't read what the food was! It was a bitch to bring it all back, absolutely nackering with all the 4 layers of clothes as well, but we made it, not like poping across the street in Aber.

New people arrive!!! Also there is a friday party at UNIS where beer is cheap... and illegally sold. Dale and Colin arrived too.
Had an awesome time and met loads of new people. Ash and Colin got very tipsy.

p.s Don't worry I wont add this much for every day its just because its my first few days!