Our fourth excursion was to Bakaninbreen. This glacier lies at the head of Van Mijenfjorden, near the mining settlement of Svea (or Sveagruva). It was our longest drive yet, and involved a lot of driving on sea ice which was slightly unnerving. As we were travelling on sea ice, with the potential for bears, we had rifles evenly dispersed along our caravan of skidoos.
We all wore ice picks around our necks in case of catastrophe, and stopped when we reached the start of the sea ice to be shown what to do and how best to get back out if we did fall through the ice. Driving across the sea ice is more uncomfortable than over snow, as the ground is much more rigid, and so after a while you felt a little as if your brain was being worn loose. It was a cold drive, and I constantly had to break the ice off the nose holes on my face mask to allow me to continue to breathe.
Bakaninbreen is another glacier with a beautiful blue calving front, although we didn't stay long near the calving face as bear prints were discovered in the snow where we had stopped. Instead we gathered closer to the ice wall, a stunning curve of ice covered sediment and rock.
Before reaching Svea on our way home, we spotted a lone polar bear, walking across the sea ice some distance away. It was amazing to see a polar bear in the wild, in its natural habitat. Although we were a good distance from the bear, for safety reasons we were not allowed to stop and had to keep driving at a steady pace so we didn't alarm it. It didn't appear to notice us.
The light as we passed Svea was beautiful. I have the dark silhouette of the mine against the sky forever emblazoned on my mind. As we got closer and closer to home, the sun sinking, the sky became more and more purple.
On our return to the University, each of us was checked for frostbite on our hands and faces, and instructed not to put any warm water on any suspect areas. A few people had frostnip, particularly on their lips and noses. I thought I'd got away with it, until taking a hot shower later when I discovered that one toe in particular was cold and white and wouldn't warm up. I may have some permanent damage there. This is the one area I have really struggled with out here, keeping my hands and feet warm. With reynaulds, I have poor circulation anyway, so no amount of layering seems to keep me warm. I have also discovered that using heat pads has no effect as they don't seem to activate in the cold, and only start to warm up when I get back inside.
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