heyyyaa! my apologies for not writing in over a month, no good excuses really, except it's hard to find the time to sit down and write for a long period of time.
I don't even know what happened to February! It went by so quickly. Daylight which lasts throughout most of the day has returned to Svalbard, which after almost a month in the dark has been amazing. In the next few days the actual sun should reach over the peaks and shine down on Longyearbyen. It's crazy how fast the daylight is returning! I think it is coming back at around 15 minutes per day which is much more noticeable than daylight returning at home. I am loving the fact that I can see all of my surroundings now. Being constantly amongst huge, snow-covered mountains with jagged rocks, avalanches, huge bowls, plateaus, cliffs, chutes, etc., makes one feel very small in the world. I was talking about it with a friend the other day, about how it is so quiet and peaceful here, but at the same time the land can turn on you at any minute, and can be truly destructive. Although I love being up here, sometimes I really believe that humans do not belong here, and I hope that everyone here can appreciate the opportunity and experience of living/visiting here.
I think I have been doing a good job of appreciating my time here. Even during lecture I get distracted every five minutes it seems like because of the incredible mountains staring down at my from across the fjord. Since the light has come back I have been exploring a lot around Longyearbyen and the surrounding areas. I ended up splurging for an entire new ski set-up, so I have been taking advantage of my new babies. About a week after I arrived here I realized that I needed to ski and it would be unbearable to live here in the middle of mountains for 6 months without skis, so even though my entire summer savings are gone, I think it was completely worth it. My new skis are HUGE! so they took a little getting used to, as well as the alpine touring set-up, but I am growing to love them! It can be a bit of a pain in the ass to hike everywhere, but there is definitely something satisfying about earning your turns. So many students have snow machines as well, so I have been able to get some rides on other people's sleds. Its actually crazy how many people have bought snow machines since getting here, but I am beginning to realize that money is not an issue for most of the Europeans here. Sure, it would be nice to have my own sled, but I am more than happy with my ski purchase!
I think skiing here has also made me a much more aware skier. Here we always take out an avalanche beacon, probe, shovel and rifle. We always have to take care to be aware of the snow conditions and the slope we are skiing on, and to be aware of polar bears as well. The polar bears may not translate to home, but I am more than happy to be gaining a better understanding about avalanches both from skiing and from our lectures as well. Another thing I am learning to be aware of is the cold. When I first got here it was unusually warm, but recently the weather has been freezing! It got down to -40 with windchill, which for a southeast AK girl is pretty darn cold! I have been getting some minor frostbite on my cheeks, so doing a better job covering up my face is a must.
Last week I got to go dog sledding which was really fun! My friend won a dogsledding/ice cave trip from a ski race he was in so we went last Thursday when we had a day off from school. The trip was so much fun! We drove out the road close to one of the mines here in Svalbard. The dogs were all insane. At the dog yard they were jumping around and howling at each other. We got to harness up a team and then headed off up to the Scott Turner glacier. The ride up was a bit of a struggle for the dogs, and we ended up having to push the sled up a bunch of the hills. When we got up the glacier we went down into an ice cave, which was awesome. This was nothing like going under the Mendenhall glacier at home; instead we climbed quite a ways down into the glacier through a hole in the snow and ice and then explored around in the tunnels. It was unbelievable down there! There were tons intricate ice formations and we could see old crevasses and fractures. Considering a lot of the glaciers on Svalbard randomly surge from time to time, it was also a bit unnerving. Another good example of a place where humans do not belong. The craziest thing was probably how warm it was in the glacier! I would guess it was probably 10 degrees warmer than outside. On the way back down the glacier the dogs didn't struggle at all. We flew down the valley, and at times we had to jump on the brakes to keep from crashing down the hill.
Other than some good adventures I have actually been going to school. Lectures have been good, we have been learning about glaciers, avalanches, permafrost, coal, different rock formations around Svalbard, etc. I have started my project on coal sedimentology and I am planning on looking for a correlation between coal seam thickness and roof sedimentology, hopefully working with people from Store Norske, the local mining company. For my other term project I am thinking about doing something on human interference with glacier formation.
Alright, that is all I can write for now, maybe I will get better about updating this. Hope you can see my pictures on facebook (although they really don't do this place justice!) and hope all is well with everyone!
Sara.
