Tell me Breen, where is the sun

[Polar Bear]

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.

 

 

[Polar Bear]

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:

[Johan2000]

Bike generator... Great idea!

Have you seen any traces of the sun yet?

[Dag G - Evje]

Are you sitting on Birkafjellet, you probably see the sun mid February.

Meanwhile, keep on biking....

[Polar Bear]

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

 

 

[Kjell Iver]

@Polar Bear did you do any treks in the area? Any polarbears around?

[Polar Bear]

@Polar Bear did you do any treks in the area? Any polarbears around?

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.

[Polar Bear]

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.

 

 

[Dag G - Evje]

Looks like a great winter.

All these candlelights in the caves ?

No raining ?

[Gisle Uren]

I think maybe the candles you had were mosquito candles. You were lucky, they gave light and kept the bugs away.

[Polar Bear]

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:

 

 

[Polar Bear]

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.

 

[Johan2000]

The bike generator idea should be developed more. Either as i DIY project or comersial (or both!). Especially these days then "everyone" is toiling around GPSs, smartphones, cameras and other electroic devices on tour.

[Polar Bear]

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: