frozen toes: Mar 2, 2010

Fjord view

Tunabreen

Blue ice

Looking back

A little light

Our second excursion was to two glaciers about 60 km from Longyearbyen. It is a pretty long drive on a snow scooter, especially in the cold. And was it cold! I had numb feet the entire day and think my hands would have fallen off it it weren't for the heated grab bars on the scooter. It made taking photos hard, as wearing only thin gloves could be only momentary before fingers were too numb to press buttons! Lunch was intriguing too- at such low temperatures everything has frozen solid before you have a chance to eat it. Flasks of tea, and chocolate smashed into shards and melted in your mouth, were the only sustenance that day!

The trip had been brought forward as the excursion involved a drive of a few km along a fjord to the calving fronts of the glaciers, and so required the sea ice to be thick enough. Bar one sudden stop en route, as the first person checked a lead in the ice, we made it there safe and sound. To be honest the smooth ice was a welcome relief after many km bouncing around over bumpy snow on land (when I learnt that it is possible to feel sea-sick on a scooter!). On the way back however, a line of open water had opened up against the shore, and so we all increased speed to clear the gap. No-one particularly fancied a swim! As a precaution when driving on sea ice, we all wore ice picks around our necks in case of falling in, which are spikes to dig into the ice to haul yourself back out- however in water that cold I wouldn't like my chances of being able to manage the picks.

The drive out was beautiful, with clear skies, and a glimpse of the sun between the mountains at one point. I cannot wait for the sun to appear in the town.

Tunabreen is a surging glacier with a steep crevassed front, making for beautiful blue ice sculptures along its length. We couldn't go too close though due to the open water directly against the calving front, but still got some good photos. Von Postbreen has not surged for a long time, and so the front is much smoother. It did however have some fascinating ice which had layers of sediment in it and thick clear ice patches with beautiful patterns and bubbles inside. To reach this wall of ice, we had to walk across some super smooth ice that you just slid across in snow boots, although sometimes the surface cracked under your weight in an alarming way.

Philipp had become my trusty driver, and I was thankful he was driving not me when the weather closed in on the way home and visibility dropped dramatically. Seeing only a couple of metres in front of you is not ideal when driving a scooter! The only way is to watch the person in front, and not let their back light out of your sight. But we made it home safe and sound, and even managed to fix and pick up a broken scooter on the way. Was it ever nice to have a hot shower when I got home though, followed by food and some wine. Not surprisingly I slept well after that!