Back in Obbola – 20 hours Apr 3 2023

Sunday 10:30

After a breakfast in the sun heated winter garden Annika and I dress for a kayak tour. Special challenge today is not the frozen bay but the deep snow in our garden. I plunge through the snow, Annika is taking snowshoes while dragging the kayak behind. We are walking over the ice to the small skerry island Lillskär and then turn left until we approach open water. There we start the tour. I give Annika a push, then be both are sitting in our kayaks hopping forward until we reach open water.

We paddle to the islands Obbolstenarna. The way there is fast, a clear sign that we have tailwind. And true, the way back takes much longer. Yes, we are cold, but the winter garden is very warm and soon are we.

Paddling through slush (Photo:Annika Kramer)

Annika on snow shoes pulling back the kayak after the tour.

Sunday 17:00

A friend from Stockholm is visiting us today. Time to dig out our barbecue place. The two benches are covered with 20-30 of snow and it takes a bit of digging, until they are usable again. On the photo you still can see last day’s ski track crossing the bench.

Sunday 19:00

It gets cold and we have moved to the winter garden again. Blue sky, blue sea, blue snow, blue hour.

Sunday 20:23

A bright greenish light crosses the night, much faster than a plane. What was that? Many other sightings in Sweden confirm my thoughts: it was a bolide, an extremely bright meteor. I never saw anything like this. Since it was a matter of seconds, I couldn’t even think of taking a photo.

Monday 5:45

I wake up. Unnecessarily early for having vacation. Anyhow I peek out of the window. A beautiful morning, and with -13 °C a cold one for beginning of April. I pull ski pants and a down jacket over my pyjamas, slip into my boots and go out to take photos and wait for the sun. The icy edge at the horizon is already sunlit and I can see a weak light pillar above the island Bredskär. Fifteen minutes later the sun rises over the forestal island and I enjoy the sun for a short while.

Monday 6:30

When I’m back in the house it is still early. Time to take off the warm overclothes and continue sleeping …

Colder days in Longyearbyen Mar 16 2023

This article is part of the series “2023-03: Svalbard”.

Two days ago on 14 March 2023 it started getting colder in Longyearbyen. Yesterday temperatures were around -19 °C, today around -21 °C.

Yesterday I took a walk after work and took some photos with my tiny Sony camera that worked surprisingly good in the cold when being kept warm.

While light was beautiful yesterday, today it was magic. After work I went to my apartment. Round about 15 minutes later I left it with all my camera gear and went to the shore. Due to the interface between the open water and the cold air ice fog covered large parts of the Adventfjorden. While I looked for good places to take photos the setting sun and the altering fog changed the mood every minute. Extraordinary beautiful!

Like the days before the sunset colours on the snow covered mountains became warmer and warmer until they reached a delicate but intense purple shade while the sunlit parts rose higher and higher until only the tops stayed in the sun.

Remember, these photos were not taken in the wilderness, I’m in the settlement Longyearbyen and my apartment lies just 500 metre from the nearest photo spot.

As already mentioned today’s temperatures were round -21 °C. With a moderate breeze of 6 m/s that felt like -32 °C. Pretty cold and the ice fog didn’t make it warmer.

After work snowmobile tour Mar 14 2023

This article is part of the series “2023-03: Svalbard”.

This week I’m working at UNIS, the university centre in Svalbard together with friend and colleague Luke Mardsen. He is data manager for The Nansen Legacy. This week we collaborate on some of the software he wrote for this research project. Interesting stuff, but maybe not for this blog.

Today Luke invited me to an after work snowmobile trip up the glacier Longyearbreen. I borrowed a helmet, ski goggles and warm mittens from the Norwegian Polar Institute whose colleagues I had coffee break with today. Then I dressed like being in the high Arctic, but hey, I am in the high Arctic. Luke picked me up from the UNIS Guesthouse and then we started the tour. Luke was driving the snowmobile, I was sitting behind him. First through town, under the water pipes – duck! – and past Huset, where Annika and I had food ten days ago. Then we ascended the valley and then the glacier. Today we have had the finest whether thinkable: crisp, clear, blue sky and so we got to see the beauty of the sunset colours on the snowy mountains around as well as on the other side of the Adventdalen.

But beside of marvelling the beauty of nature there were other attractions waiting. Another ice cave, probably larger than that Annika and I visited a week ago and a bit more need of climbing. We got a tip of a colleague of Luke to visit a side room and it was astonishing. A large and high, beautiful room with a roof covered with large feather-like ice plates. I never saw something like this before. Without torches it was pitch black in the cave and so photographing took more time and efforts. I managed to take some snapshots anyhow.

After some exploring we returned and climbed up the ladders to the cave entrance. Now the blue hour had started and the light was less colourful but equally beautiful.

On the Longyearbreen in the blue hour of the evening

Back we went on Luke’s snowmobile. He in the front, I in the back. It was only two hours later when we arrived at the guesthouse again, but I had completely fallen out of time, especially in the ice cave.

I lack the words to thank you for this wonderful after work trip, Luke. See you tomorrow in the office.

Sol, sol, kom igjen, sola er min beste venn! Mar 10 2023

This article is part of the series “2023-03: Svalbard”.

It is 8 March 2023, a special day in Longyearbyen. While polar night ended already three weeks ago today is the first opportunity to see the sun in Longyearbyen above the mountains in the south. A special day after the sun disappeared in October last year. And as you can see it is a big celebration!

After some singing the moment has come. All people are shouting: “Sol, sol, kom igjen, sola er min beste venn!” – Sun, sun, come back, the sun is my best friend!

But the chanting was in vain: the sun didn’t appear. Some children are in doubt – was it the clouds or didn’t they shout loud enough.

But now it’s only a matter of waiting. Already in six weeks the time of polar day and midnight sun will begin.

Kudos for the musicians. Must be hard to play guitar or piano when windchill is round -23 °C. Brrr!

Tromsø – waiting for the sun Jan 29 2023

This winter polar night in Tromsø was from 26/27 November till 15 January. While the sun has been above the horizon at noon since 16 January it took some additional days until it could rise above the mountains to be seen in Tromsø. That day was last Saturday, the 21 January. It is called soldagen (the sun day). On this day it is tradition to eat “Berliner” doughnuts called solbolle (sun bun). When I went shopping in the afternoon only a few were left in the shop. But I already ate one in the cantina in advance the day before.

Saturday, 21 January

It is soldagen today. I walk to the bay Telegrafbukta at noon. Other people have gathered waiting for the sun. Some of them are barbecuing. But it is too cloudy to see the low sun itself. So: no sun.

Sunday, 22 January

Weather has changed. It has been raining at temperatures up to +7.6 °C. All the ways are icy. A misery!

I take a walk in the afternoon. Sunset has been one hour ago but through the thick rain clouds still comes a purple-violet shade of light. It looks very dramatic. But no sun.

Tuesday, 24 January

While I’m working some heavy snow showers move over the city. The large cruise ship that moored in the centre is almost hidden from my view through the windows of Framsenteret. Definitively no sun today.

Thursday, 26 January

It has become slightly colder and 15-20 cm of snow have fallen since last night. I walk home early, the first time not in darkness. It’s bright, but – no sun.

27 January

Warmer again. And today it really rains a lot. While I’m out at 15:00 it just pours down and large and deep puddles are everywhere. And wet ice. A real misery! And of course: no sun even today.

28 January

I take a long walk by the coast of Kvaløya. Temperature has dropped to +1 °C and it snows a lot. The snow is wet and sticky. Later it clears a bit but still no sun.

28 January: the wet snow is pretty sticky

29 January – today

Will the sun ever come out? Even today it snows and it is quite cloudy. Since I can see some small blue patches between the clouds and want to get some fresh air anyhow I again walk to Telegrafbukta as eight days ago. There are a lot of clouds and there’s a ship in the distance.

A ship? If I have time I always check which ship it is using the app VesselFinder. OK, let’s see … . What!? I’m really surprised: It is the Kronprins Haakon, the very ship I’ve been on at my polar expedition last year. I didn’t know that it arrives in Tromsø today. I directly get a strong longing to be on that ship cruising to the high Arctic again. (Spoiler alert: I may, later this year.)

29 January: Kronprins Haakon arriving in Tromsø I

29 January: Kronprins Haakon arriving in Tromsø II

But I can see something else. While I take photos of the bright spots between the dark clouds I spot a bright orb through my telephoto lens. The sun, the sun! Can it be true?

I check the photos at home. Although the orb is not visible on the photos (too bright) the altitude fits. So now I’m sure I saw the sun today, at least for some seconds through my camera.

This year will be a bit special. If everything works out Annika and I will see the sun coming back again in five, six weeks. In March work in Longyearbyen on Svalbard for a week and before that Annika and I stay there as tourists for about a week. One of the events I’m looking forward to is the 8 March: A quote from visitsvalbard.com:

[…] Marking the sun’s return is a long-standing traditional for the residents of Svalbard. When the sun returns on 8 March, we gather on the old hospital steps to celebrate the ‘sun’s return’. The saying here goes that ‘the sun is declared back in Longyearbyen when its rays reach the steps’. […]

Addendum: 30 January at lunchtime

30 January: finally a sunny day (taken from the canteen)

SE—DE—NO Jan 5 2023

Sweden—Germany—Norway, that’s the short version of my travel route the last two weeks.

Obbola – Sweden

Christmas was less than two weeks ago but it feels much longer. The kayak defrosting in the winter garden on Christmas Eve to prepare for a last paddle tour in 2022 with Annika. The drag marks of her kayak in the snow the day after. Last year. Long ago and far away.

On 25 December we travelled to Germany – a 24-hour train journey from Umeå to Bremen to celebrate the 90th birthday of my mother.

Bremen, Oldenburg, Münster, Heidelberg, Düsseldorf – Germany

After two days of celebration we visited friends in Oldenburg and Münster and then continued to Heidelberg by train to meet my old and loved friends I got to know in Munich many years ago. I love the north but I miss my friends in Germany. Some of them I haven’t met for many years. But that’s another story.

On 30 December we travelled to Heidelberg by train, our southernmost destination in Germany. From Tromsø, Heidelberg is further away than the North Pole though much easier to travel to ;-).

While the weather in Bremen was partially rainy, New Year’s Eve in Heidelberg was warm and sunny. The temperature of 18 °C was much warmer than usual for the season and felt like a warm spring day in Obbola (or like a great summer day in Tromsø).

In the air

On 2 January we took the train to Düsseldorf Airport, from where we flew home the next day. I travelled to Tromsø in Norway with an early direct flight, Annika to Umeå in Sweden some hours later. I could see the sun for many hours while flying on 11000 feet altitude but it didn’t reach the earth. Norway lay in the shadow. In Southern Norway it was too early, in Tromsø the sun won’t rise before 16 January.

Tromsø – Norway

Today has been my 2nd work day in Tromsø this year. With temperatures round -10 °C it’s almost 30 degrees colder than in Heidelberg 5 days ago. I enjoy spring but I embrace winter. I feel home in the North. And when I can watch polar lights from my doorstep with just a parka and warm boots over my pyjamas I realise how privileged I am that I may live here – both in Obbola and Tromsø.

The last two kayak tours 2022 Dec 25 2022

It’s Friday and the day before Christmas Eve. It’s actually my last working day but I worked only short, thanks to flextime. At 11:10 I stopped developing software for this year and went out kayaking.

Two days before the sea was open between our small ice covered bay and the islet Lillskär. Today it is covered with a layer of new ice. I drag the kayak to the end of the bay and start the tour.

Just crossing the 100 metres of ice seems to take ages. The ice is too thick to paddle through, too thin to walk on and too soft to push oneself forward with arms and ice claws. So it’s a lot of back and forth to get a bit of momentum to crash another metre with brute force. The stiff neoprene of my survival suit does not make it easier and I’m so exhausted when I leave the ice behind. I change plans. I won’t visit Obbolstenarna today (farther away) but the island Bredskär again. I turn the kayak and paddle north. Partially to open water, partially through fields of thin feathery ice. Let’s see, how far I’ll come.

I reach Bredskär and start to circle it. Looking at the right I see snow covered islands in the distance and ice fields. It feels and looks quite arctic.

This impression changes directly when I look left and see the forest of Bredskär passing by. Looking straight ahead gives another view: The port of Holmsund with the ferry to Finland. Between that and me: many ice fields.

I pass the small bay with the sandy beach and slowly follow the shore line. When I want to turn left again to enter the sound that leads back I am stopped by another ice field, this one thicker than the others. I remember the first 100 metres today and decide not to break through but to turn. It will make the tour a bit longer but I have holidays and I’m not cold. The outer side of the island is beautiful anyhow in the light of the lowering sun.

Ice and rocks at the outer shore of Bredskär

Yes, the sun is lowering. The tour took longer than expected. I decide to watch the sunset from the kayak and slow down a bit. My fingers are getting a bit cold, but it’s worth it.

A good two hours later I arrive at the first ice field again. The ice channel that I had created by breaking through has frozen over again but breaks under the weight of my kayak. Shortly before 14 o’clock I stand on the bay ice again. The tour was a bit demanding, but impressive and beautiful. A great start into the Christmas holidays!

End of the kayak part – now I have to walk the kayak home

I’m however quite sceptical about Annika’s and my idea for tomorrow: Christmas eve paddling together. With temperatures round -10 °C the ice will probably be too thick the next day. A pity!

One day later – Christmas eve. Annika and I peek through the spotting scope to check the ice situation. Looks like the ice has gone. I walk to the ice edge and see our observations confirmed: Yesterday’s ice has gone and beside of some new and thin ice fields the water is open. So let’s take a kayak tour together!

Me sitting on an ice floe (Photo:Annika Kramer)

This paddling tour was magic. The sea surface was smooth as silk, the sun felt warm and the new ice was easy to paddle through. The air was so clear that we could spot islands far away and there was almost no wind. Beside of the high frequency noises when crushing the ice with our kayaks and a dog at land barking at us it was completely silent.

It was Annika’s first winter paddling tour and I’m glad and lucky that it was such an exceptionally great one. May many other tours follow in the future! In spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Break at work IV – skiing through the forest Dec 16 2022

It’s Friday, the last day before weekend and the last opportunity this week to take a break at work.

In the morning I participated a workshop via video conference from my home office in Obbola. I just love the view through the window, where I can see the sun rising over the Baltic Sea and the snow covered backyard.

The workshop ended at 12:20. Right after that I took my old backcountry skis and dressed for a ski tour through the forests. Sunny, calm, -12°C. I wanted to go “Spåret”, a local forest trail. I followed the gravel road, crossed a ditch and followed the trail. Some hundred metres I was lost. When the snow is fresh everything looks quite alike. So I just made my own path. The fluffy snow was as deep as on the trail.

Later I found Spåret again and followed it. I walked through the shadows because the sun didn’t rise more than 3.3° above the horizon today. But at the part north of the treeless swamp the sun had a chance to peek into the forest edge.

At the road I decided to walk straight ahead instead of turning right to avoid the asphaltwith my skis. This was when I lost Spåret for good. Mostly I followed animal tracks because optical orientation is hard when it looks like this:

But it was fun because there was always something to see, even in a forest covered with 40 cm of snow. A frozen puddle at the rim of a swamp – a small pine covered with rime – thick animal tracks – the temporary (and abandoned) snow cave of a black grouse.

Sometimes I could see a roof of the house or hear a car. It’s Obbola, no wilderness. And so I came to the road that we use to take to town. I didn’t follow it but took a side road today. Less asphalt, more snow!

I arrived home at 13:55, some minutes after sunset. Again the horizon was coloured orange – and again I had a video meeting.

Break at work II – ice paddling Dec 14 2022

Today has been another clear and calm day. It was colder than the day before with temperatures round -19 °C. Today’s plan was paddling, at least round Lillskär, the small skerry nearby.

Step 1 – fetching the kayak

I knew exactly where our kayaks are. They lay in the garden – hidden under a layer of powder snow. So the first part of my paddle tour was digging out my kayak.

Step 2 – dressing and get equipment

Survival suit · thick mittens · ice claws · smartphone · camera · waterproof bag for the camera · paddle. Just the basics, I won’t go far.

Step 3 – crossing the ice

After some frosty days the ice on the shallow bay seemed to be thick enough to support my weight. I walked over the ice dragging the kayak behind. At the edge of the bay there was an ice range that I had to cross. I entered the kayak and mostly I used my ice claws to drag myself forward. Sometimes the ice supported the weight of me in the kayak, sometimes we broke through. Although the ice range to cross was only 100 metres wide I had to take several breaks. Some to take photos, some to catch my breath.

Step 3 – paddling

Then I reached open water. Almost. The water was covered with a thin layer of transparent ice needles that made the water look crystallised. It slowed down the waves and I could hear the high-pitched clinking while I was paddling through. Very fascinating!

In addition to that the sea was smoking. When it is as cold as today, the surface water evaporates and quickly resublimes to tiny ice grains that build this moving fog that colours the sea in a pale white.

Step 4 – visiting an ice exhibition

When I passed Lillskär I bent right to the mainland. There were some ice-coated rocks and thicker ice floes there – an extremely beautiful view in the low sunlight. I just went straight ahead. The first ice floes were split by my kayak, on the thicker once I had to use my ice claws again to move forward.

Step 5 – back to land

I realised, that my tour has taken much longer than planned, although the distance was tiny. I was clad in my survival suit, the kayak was on the ice and in 20 minutes my video meeting would begin. I had to hurry up!

The ice near the mainland was too thick to paddle through, but too thin to walk on. So, ice claws again. Not easy, when you lack trained arm and abdominal muscles. When I approached another shallow, I just left the kayak, splashed a bit trough soft ice and knee deep water until I reached the bay again.

From there I could walk on the ice and drag my kayak behind until I reached our property. I went to the house and transformed from paddle guy to IT guy as fast as possible. I informed my boss and colleagues that I would by 5 minutes late. That gave my the chance to take a hot shower, because I was freezing.

Did I miss anything of the meeting? No, the others had to fix audio and that took longer than my shower.

After the meeting, round 12:15 I walked out again to make a photo of the cloud bank and the sea smoke in the low winter sun.

Tomorrow shall be another cold and sunny day. Let’s see how I’ll spend my work break …

Finally it’s sunny again home in Sweden! Dec 7 2022

After a period of dull and cloudy weather that felt like ages the sun finally came out yesterday. Since I was flexible with working hours in the morning I could make a small kayak tour.

The first part was easy. Since our house in Obbola is on the coast I only had to change my clothes and drag the kayak from the house to the bay. The bay was covered with ice. As usual I just sat in my kayak and started pushing myself ahead using ice claws. This works surprisingly well until you have a lot of water on the ice as I had yesterday. Although I wore neoprene gloves I got cold fingers. As usual this took some time but finally I reached open water.

It was then that I realised that I had forgot my paddle. Fortunately the bay is shallow and I could leave the kayak, step on the ice and carefully walk back to land to fetch the paddle. Some minutes later I sat in my kayak again ready to circle the island Bredskär. I watched the hooting whooper swans and even four flying goldeneyes, a species of ducks. At the northwestern tip of the island there was a small, slushy ice field, the rest was open water. The big freezing hadn’t started yet. When I reached the eastern side of the island I could watch the sunrise some minutes after 9 o’clock.

The last part of the otherwise calm tour was surprisingly wavy. When one breaking wave came out of nothing and of course directly from the side I was afraid that I could capsize but the wave just lifted me gently up half a metre and down again. I was lucky. Sometimes it’s nice to own a less agile but super stable boat.

Even it was only some degrees minus the kayak was covered with a layer of frost that glittered in the warm light of the sun. I just had to take another photo when I was back on land.

And then? After taking a hot shower I made it to the 10 o’clock meeting. In time!

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