Back to the glacier, on skis

Yesterday the Frozen Family went back to Longyearbreen - in near darkness, on skis. A surprisingly nice trip, actually, despite the fear of lurking polar bears. It was far too dark to see one at a distance, darker than how it looks on the photos.


But as snow scooters kept whizzing past us (the trip up to the glacier is one of the most popular in town), we felt safe that any approaching bear would turn and walk in the other direction. The scooters are smelly and noisy, so under normal conditions I´d hate them, but as it was, they were kind of comforting.

Here´s three of them coming down the glacier.


And here´s Thomas admiring the view towards Longyearbyen.


Going down again, past Nybyen, Peter and I found a frozen mouse, and we were both very excited. No, we don´t have extremely boring lives - in fact, it is pretty special to find a mouse around here. Mice aren´t a natural part of the Svalbard-fauna, and as far as I know there is only the Østmarkmus (the one carrying parasites) that has been able to establish themselves here (we didn´t touch it!). And they live near Grumant, not here.

It could be a small rat, I suppose, there are some in the buildings by the shore. But this was in Nybyen, three kilometers upvalley.

Anyway, we put it in a plastic bag and took it home, and I´ve sent this picture to the Governor´s (Sysselmannen) office, in case they want to know about it.


I promise to give you all an update about this amazing event later!


I don´t think we´re going to ski to the glacier again, this side of New Year. But as there are some good tracks within Longyearbyen, brightly lit, we´ll be able to do a lot more skiing, if we like. And we like.