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image : alamy |
Above : A Svalbard reindeer |
Stomping around Longyearbyen , it all feels surprisingly civilized : a sprinkling of brightly painted timber lodges shelter boutique hotels , bars and fancy new-Nordic restaurants . A couple of engaging museums zoom in on Arctic exploration and natural history . But the minute you stray even slightly away from Longyearbyen ’ s nameless streets , it ’ s wild out there , with locals strapping guns to their backs just in case a polar bear pops up .
INTO THE GREAT WHITE OPEN
The rumble of the snowmobile cuts through the blue morning hush as ice fog rolls off Adventfjorden . Longyearbyen soon fizzles out and beyond lies the unfathomably vast white wilderness of the High Arctic . Far removed from any light pollution , this , I ’ m told , is where the aurora regularly raves in day and night skies . And a three-night snowmobile expedition properly gets you out there .
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“ Don ’ t worry , you ’ ll soon get the knack ,” my Norwegian guide Marte Myskja Sæterbø assures me , as I wobble nervously on the snowmobile . “ Just stick to the tracks and keep your distance . Lean into the bends and use your body weight for the bends and climbs ,” she continues , revving up alongside me as we bounce through a frozen gully , my visor misting up in the cold .
Marte is right : what initially seems utterly terrifying quickly becomes intuitive . And I ’ m soon confident enough to look up and out at the beauty unfurling around me . Rugged , treeless , snowy mountains rise like ruined forts and ships above ice-patterned fjords , black fangs of rock punch above glaciers . Wild Svalbard reindeer bobble the frozen tundra . A quirk of evolution has made this small species of reindeer fast on its feet , allowing it to race at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and outrun polar bears .
Juddering on south through the Reindalen and Grøndalen valleys , the brief
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WINTER 2023 • 41 |