Norwegian Day and Animals

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

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.

...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.

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

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.

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

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.