Polar Bear

Cold shoes is no problem, wet shoes is the problem. I use 2 small 1/2 liter sigg bottles with hot water, and place them in the shoes, it will dry the shoes.

I have been thinking for years to make something to use my pulk as anchor in case when falling in a crevasse. Finally I got a good idea with using the pulling frame and two large aluminium poles (which I also use for making the tripwire around my tent), so I won't have to carry to much extra weight/equipment to use it. The two Aluminium poles will be pressed into the snow by two metal springs and also the Pulling frame (fold in) will hit the snow. This idea come up this weekend, now the next step: make it and be sure that it will work. I hope to test it this winter in the snow and finally use it on Spitsbergen. I don't think that anyone has ever make something like this? But if anyone knows or saw someone using a pulk as an anchor, please let me know. I will give updates about the progress of this project the next months.

Actually, I was thinking of putting a nameplate above the door. Something like: Dutch Polar Cabin, just because I mostly don't heat up my cabin during the winter.

In the Netherlands I moved to another small house on wheels To guide me to the new front door I placed T-signs Also nice for decoration

The McFjellburger looks good! I hope to be in Rondane in September

Here two pictures from me (in the kayak) and the Polarbear (on a riverboard) eating Cookies

...... some wood to make a perfect underground for the tent. This was a perfect sleeping place. I had to wait for the sea to calm down, so I made this from the wood. The floor is still in place, for anyone to use it

Hot water bottles will work good. Put it in your wet clothes or roll the bottle over your clothes. I dry every thing with this method, down sleeping bags, down jackets, matress, snowscooters suits, shoes. It is some work but I never start a trip before my equipment is dry, just for safety.

I was already warned yesterday after a nice swim during the afternoon at Bovaer beach, which is a nice sandy beach at the oceanside, there where some flies overthere, but this was nothing comparing to the next. In the evening I walked up to a mountaintop on the shadowside, it was very warm, so the shadowside was a good choice. Walking up with a lot of musquito"s around, but ok, you just accept them. Reaching the mountaintop with some light wind and the musquito"s where gone. I only took the inner tent with me, it was so warm so that was more then enough, I only used it for protection against the musquito's. This morning I walked down, together with a lot of flies who wanted to bite. No other choice than to put my jacket on and handgloves for protection. With a temperature raising to 30 degree C it was very very warm. See the second picture............

For Polarbear this was his "Perfekt Turbil". Enjoying a round view sitting in a kayak on the top of a LT van. He saw everything on the way from Oslo to Tromso, including many smiling people. Well, after heavy snowfall he was sometimes complaining that he couldn't see anything (see the second picture).........

This winter route can also be found in DNT book: Pa ski in fjellet. Check the avalanche conditions before you start this trip! From Sprongdalshytta go east to the highest point 1320. From there up to the Greinbreen, enter the glacier between 1400-1500 meter. On the glacier up to the South and ski down the glacier to the 1500 meter line. Travers in south-east direction between the 1500-1400 lines until it is possible to ski down to Tverrbotnen, see the map. Might be a good idea to put some points in your GPS for this part, in case the weather turns bad. From Tverrbotnen into Rausdalen to Arentzbu. From Arentzbu to Nordstedalseter we didn't go over point 1700 on the Harbardsbreen (winterroute) be we stayed south of the Harbardbreen and skied from Gravdalen to Steindalselvi and then down to Nordstedalen. (You can't ski down from gravdalvatnet directly to Norstedalen).

Years ago I did ski Sota-Sprongdalshytta-Arentzbu-Nørstedalseter-Trulsbu-Sota with good snowconditions. We followed the summertrack from Sprongdalshytta to Arentzbu, directly from Sprongdalshytta steep up, might be tricky depending on snowcondition. There is also a winterroute to avoid this steep part. I remember that the cabin in Norstedalseter was small, but good for 2 persons, we always carry our own food (no food in Norstedalseter). The Trulsbu cabin is very luxery comparing to Norstedalseter.

Here two short video's from Svalbard: The first one has been filmed in January 2014 and shows the inside of my big igloo, see also the pictures here above: The second one has been filmed in May 2014 while waiting for the ship to pick me up. I am on the sea ice on Billefjorden. I did climb the mountain in the middle of the glacier (Nordenskiold glacier), Terrierfjellet, in very good weather. For this video I used a selfmade slowly turning (90 degree) tripod:

This is a new warning system, when a real polarbear sees this he/she will laugh so loud that it will wake me up (do not try this out, I am not sure if it will work .................)

In December 2013 I took a Full Moon picture at my campsite. Of course I had to take a Full Sun picture at my campsite last Sunday. Look at the text on the ski"s .......... I also re-opened my snow cave, it was still possible to sleep in it.

Last Saterday I went back to my igloo on the Tellglacier to see if it was still standing. Surprise for me, it was still standing, also the second floor was there, only it was to low to sleep there, so I slept on the first floor. Amazing to see that after 5 months the igloo is still up. It will melt down in 3-4 weeks On Sunday morning I took this picture:

Here are more pictures of my 9 weeks stay on the Tellglacier during December-January-February. Take a good look at my big igloo pictures (you can see the second floor and some of the stairs). I go back next week to the Tellglacier to see what is left over of the igloo. Picture: 1: View (after Christmas) from inside my snowcave over the Tellglacier. 2: Inside the snowcave 3: Spooky landscape with the moon shining through a half cloudy sky. 4: First sun on the clouds, giving the snow a red look. 5: My igloo (before digging in) after throwing up snow: 5 meter width and 4 meter high. 6: The bike-generator inside my igloo. 7: Inside my igloo: Some of the stairs and my sleeping place (on the second floor) under the palmtree. 8: Inside my igloo: Down: My bike-generator. Up: My sleeping room (foot-end side). 9: Full moon at my campsite. 10: Full moon at my campsite. 11:The bike-generator inside the ice-cave. 12: Candles inside the ice-cave. 13: Campfire at the entrance of the ice-cave. 14: Campfire deeper inside the ice-cave.

At that altitude on the Akademikerbreen it should be no problem to find enough snow. I digged myself in on the Kvitglacier (close to Akademikerglacier) at about the same altitude and hit the glacier ice after 2,5 meter. To make a snowcave at sea level on Svalbard might be difficult due to lack of snow, but not higher up on the glaciers. If there were tourist in that group, you can't blame them on having less wintercamp experience. It is the guides who must correct them and tell them how to place a tent in the snow and how to prepair the campsite against strong winds. We don't know what had happened there. Newspapers don't write always the thruth about these resque operations.

27m/s is a heavy storm, every tent will have problems with that. I saw this news on Svalbardposten. It is hard to say what have happened without knowing all the facts. On the Svalbardpost picture I see all the tents standing in a good shape but without a snowwall. So is this the right picture? In a situation like this I should start digging a shelter under the ground (snowcave), take my tent down and wait in the shelter for better weather.

Just find a glacier with an ice-cave, go inside that ice-cave, place one ice-screw in the ceiling and connect the tent with a rope on the ice-screw, see the picture. This picture is from Spitsbergen at the Tell-glacier. I was drying my two tents inside this ice-cave, which was a great success. The first tent is a special tent with the inner tent 60cm deeper then the outer tent, to create a lot of space when camping on the snow, while the tent won't catch a lot of wind. I actually slept in this tent, with the ice-screw lifting this tent, just for the fun.

I haven't seen any Polarbears tracks. This area is perfect for daytrips when you camp on Tellglacier. If you look at the map you can ski from glacier to glacier and ski down to another valley.

I am back in Longyearbyen now after 9 weeks out in the field. The winter was warm on Spitsbergen. I could receive radio NRK 1 at my place and heard also the weather on the Norwegian coast, what a wind up there. I will place more pictures soon, but here is mu favourite one: The entrance of the ice-cave. In february I had the luxery to have 4 places to sleep: The ice-cave, my tent, my snowcave and my igloo. I managed to build an Canadian igloo with inside a stairway to the second floor: my sleeping room

10 days now out in the field, nice place, windprotection from wind of the east. Best pictures have yet to come when the moon starts to give me some light I have made allready a second sleeping place, a big snow cave, just for safety. Here some pictures:

This monday I will start a trip on Spitsbergen to look where the sun is, So this trip will be up until february 15th. I will stay on the Tell glacier, relative close to Longyearbyen (look at the name) Here a picture of the place where I will stay (picture from October 2013), and a nice drawing, just to keep me motivated during the bad days. As you see, I can charge up 12v batteries, with my bike generator. The bike generator has a double function: It keeps me warm (it takes some hours for charging a battery) and I can use the batteries for charging headlights etc..... This bike generator has been used allready 2 years..... I will place here more pictures during my stay, I have full cell Phone reach, up there.

What to say about this................. The only way for an active outdoor tourist to get mentioned in an Norwegian Newspaper is if he/she had to be rescued or died during an outdoor activity. If an tourist is making an outstanding excellent new trip/activity in Norway, which no one has ever done before (including Norwegians) you don't get mentioned in an Norwegian newspaper......... so as usual only things which goes wrong get mentioned in a newspaper. But that is not only in Norway, it is worldwide. So beside all the accidents which tourist make, there are many successful trips you will never noticed that.