Text and Photos: Sergi Reboredo
Polar bears, towering glaciers, glittering sapphire blue icebergs and many challenges to discover. Welcome to Svalbard!
Spitsbergen, or Svalbard as it is called in Norwegian, is a group of islands in the Arctic Sea north of Norway. In fact, they are halfway between Norway and the North Pole. In winter, everything is covered in snow and the average temperature drops to below 15 degrees. Darkness takes over, and the sun is nowhere to be seen. During the day, the brightest light is that of the moon when it is visible. The stars shine as they do in few other places, and the sky offers no clues as to the time of day. Nor does the air, dry and cold. Everything is dreary, monotonous and the island’s 2,642 inhabitants try to survive from day to day.
Akash Verma comes from a small village in Uttarhashi, a region in the north of India, at the foot of the Himalayas, where the river Ganges rises. He works at Gruvelageret, one of the most prestigious restaurants in Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Svalbard. As he himself confesses: “You come here purely by chance, but when you decide to stay, it’s because you’re very convinced. Well, in my case, very much in love because my partner, Paula, who is Italian, also works in the restaurant. It was love at first sight. Workers of more than 50 nationalities come together here, so Longyearbyen might as well be a headquarters of the United Nations. “Everyone here is very open, and you can always find a helping hand or a cup of coffee to share”. The ultimate happiness comes on 8 March, at Soldagen, a celebration to mark the end of the polar night.
One of the best places to learn about the place’s past is the Svalbard Museum, located in a building attached to the university. As well as displaying some stuffed replicas of local wildlife, it visually explains how first the fortune-seeking whalers who began settling the archipelago in the early 17th century arrived in this remote place, followed by hunters and trappers, and finally coal miners who settled in the early 20th century.
It's an exciting time of year and a time of maximum happiness, people sing, there's tea, coffee, biscuits and genuine excitement. Even if we don't mind living for a few months in the darkest gloom, unable to see the warm sunlight, feeling it on our faces again is always a very nice feeling.
Greg Mortimer, an epic expedition to the North Pole
More and more cruise ships with tourists are venturing to the far reaches of the North Pole during the northern summer. Aurora Expedition’s Greg Mortimer is not just one more of them. We are talking about a new generation icebreaker of a mere 104 metres in length, built in 2019. It has only 80 cabins with an X-Bow design, which gives it a penetrating ability on the waves, allowing for less drag and greater speed. It was named Greg Mortimer after the eponymous Australian mountaineer and polar explorer, founder of the Aurora Expeditions shipping company. The vessel prides itself on being one of the world’s most environmentally friendly ships due to its high fuel efficiency and aerodynamic design that offers an 80% reduction in emissions. It also uses a virtual anchor thanks to GPS and steering technology, elements that significantly minimise the damage to the seabed usually caused by conventional anchors. It has a well-stocked library of adventure books and is equipped with a gym, sauna, and two open-air jacuzzies on the upper deck with incredible views of the polar horizons. There are also 15 dinghies with which to experience first-hand adventures in the most remote and inaccessible corners of this frozen wilderness.
Lilliehöökbreen, heading north
Despite being June, the day is grey, and the temperatures are extremely low. Dozens of glaucous gulls accompany us as we leave Longyearbyen behind as we start our 11-day circular route. The first place we call at is the impressive 22-kilometre long Lilliehöökbreen Glacier. We disembark our dinghies and see first-hand the effects of climate change. Deafening thunderous roars mark the crashing into the sea of sections more than 100 metres high, huge masses of ice that cause sudden waves that we must dodge with our dinghies. Svalbard’s glaciers are estimated to have retreated by 12-16% over the last 100 years, something unimaginable to Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen who, as well as being the first to set foot on the South Pole, also formed part of the first aerial expedition to fly over the North Pole.
Sir Douglas Mawson, an iconic figurehead
On the upper deck Greg Mortimer next to the restaurant there is a painting of Sir Douglas Mawson. This geologist and Antarctic explorer arrived in Australia as a baby and became the main instigator of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914). The expedition explored thousands of kilometres of previously unknown regions, collecting geological and botanical samples, and making important scientific observations. Sir Douglas was the only survivor of the three-man Far East Group, who travelled across the Mertz and Ninnis glaciers, so named after his two deceased companions. Their deaths forced him to travel alone for over a month to return to the expedition’s main base. Once safely back, he was knighted. Mawson was remembered on numerous occasions and between 1984 and 1996 was featured on the Australian one hundred dollar note.
Signehamna Bay
As we move away from Lilliehöökbreen, huge, glittering masses of sapphire-blue ice pass us by. Their peculiar shapes attract the gaze of every traveller. This compact ice, which usually forms at the bottom of the accumulation zone of the glacier, leaves hardly any space for the sun’s rays to penetrate between the bubbles trapped inside, hence its deep indigo colour. Our first landing on dry land is at Signehamna, a bay and natural harbour in Albert I Land. It is located on the western side of Lilliehöökfjorden. The Gunnarpynten promontory in the middle of the bay, which separates Signehamna from Nilspollen, forms a kind of natural harbour ideal for smaller boats. Signehamna is included in the Nordvest-Spitsbergen National Park, a place where relics such as the first weather station, called Knospe and built in 1941, can still be found.
Howard Whelan is our expedition guide. He proudly explains that he was one of the first to hike the 4,000-kilometre Pacific Crest Trail from Canada to Mexico, crossed the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea and spent three months in remote Russia writing for America’s Outside magazine. He was also the cameraman who accompanied the first Australian to climb Mount Everest. Howard is armed with a rifle due to the ever-present threat of polar bears, which outnumber the locals. No one is allowed to travel overland without having the means to defend himself against these creatures, which can weigh up to 700 kilos!
Smeerenberg is our next stop. A group of walruses rest peacefully on the shore as a group of kayaks pass by. Smeerensburg was once a whaling station on the island of Amsterdam in the northwest of Svalbard. It was jointly founded by the Danes and Dutchmen in 1619 as one of the northernmost outposts in Europe. With the local Greenland whale population soon decimated and whaling turned into a pelagic industry, Smeerenburg was abandoned around 1660. This inhospitable place came into the limelight thanks to the 2019 Oscar-nominated animated film Klaus, written and directed by Sergio Pablos, in which a postman, sent against his will to this island in the Arctic Circle, befriends a mysterious carpenter named Klaus.
Meeting the bear in Phippsoya
The journey leads north to the edge of the ice floe, an area with rugged islands, huge glacial cliffs, vast tundra, and a unique animal world. The vegetation in this landscape is rather sparse, but there is a fascinating variety of species of fauna. While only mosses and lichens grow in the arid, ice-free areas, the archipelago in northern Norway is home to Svalbard reindeer, arctic foxes, seals, huge colonies of birds and walruses, whales, and polar bears, which in the polar summer often live on the edges of the ice floe in front of the seven roving islands. Observing the animals in their natural environment and the magnificent natural spectacles make this expedition cruise between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole unforgettable.
The Greg Mortimer’s public address system announces, ‘bear in sight!’ The engines automatically halt, and camera shutters do not stop. Closer and closer he comes, albeit slowly until he can practically sniff the hull of the boat. His curiosity knows no bounds. He turns and sets off again. It is by no means the only bear we will see, in fact, on most days there are sightings, some even of entire families.
The walruses of Torellneset
On arrival at Torellneset we are surprised by a large colony of walruses who seem to be posing in every position, although in fact it is us who surprise them.
The Alkefjellet cliff is quite a spectacle. Tens of thousands of thick-billed guillemots inhabit these rugged mountains. They are excellent divers and can reach incredible depths of up to 150 metres and stay underwater for up to four minutes. Their squawks are deafening as they bounce off the magmatic rock walls. Photographing them in flight is a difficult task.
The walruses seem to live in harmony with the reindeer as we arrive at Faksevagen Fakse Bay at the entrance to the Lomfjord. They rest in a secluded cove and the reindeer graze on the tundra just a few metres away. In the afternoon, our icebreaker heads south through the uninhabited islands of Barentsøya and Edgeøya to call at the walls of the Samarinbreen glacier. A beautiful mountainous landscape sheltered by a bay, perfectly reflected in the crystal-clear waters south of Hornsund Fjord. The glacier is named after Samarin, a craftsman, fisherman and member of Arctic expeditions between 1899 and 1902. The sky is clear, and the sun seems to be trying to warm up the icy landscape. Some take the opportunity to take a dip in the deck spa, others opt for a polar plunge, a terrible rite of passage for visitors to the Arctic that involves jumping into near-freezing sea water.
Our last hike is at Ingebrigtsenbukta, a bay on the south coast of Van Keulenfjorden within the Sør-Spitsbergen National Park. The three-kilometre-wide bay runs from Kapp Toscana in the west to Ålesundneset in the east. Here you will find Bamsebu, a wooden hut that built by whalers and is still in use today. On the door and windows, you can see the long nails sticking out to prevent bears from forcing their way in. Near the hut there is a small storehouse and an upside-down wooden boat, called Kjeftausa, which was also used for shelter and storage. Beluga whale bones are piled up by the hundreds, carried by the currents.
On the last day, before reaching Longyearbyen again, we deploy our dinghies at Gasbergkilen, where hundreds of birds nest on the rocks. Suddenly a polar fox appears on the scene, trying to sort out the day’s dinner, and we all watch for the result. In the end the birds seem to warn each other, and the canid is left without a feast. The perfect culmination to an unforgettable journey in which we almost feel like explorers.
