Scooter trial to the north coast (Verlegenhuken)

We prepared our trip for weeks.

we planned to cross 80°, go ice fishing on laksevagen and bring some friend up North for their amazinin skiing trip back.

We put a Depot on half way, tested the Scooter, got a cabin and asked for advice for the best route.

 

However, we didn't came further than Wijdefjorden (79°).

And the Scooter season ended for me.

 

We started in complete Whiteout, with minimum speed, incredibly high fuel consumption and a way without any scootertracks and three scooters. But the weather changed right after Sassendalen and everything seemed fine. So we arrived in pyramiden, were we left Tuomas.... thats the end for him due to Sysselmanns regulation that Non_locals are not allowed to drive a Scooter further north.

 

So we continued with two sledges and our german friends on the Back.

Austfjorden presented perfect smoth and thick sea ice.

But everything changed on wijdefjorden.

The sea ice became more and more ridged and it felt like driving on rocks.

Finally i got a crack in my belt - the end for the trip and my scooter.

So, we drived slowly on shore and put up a camp.

 

henrik drived a bit further north to check out the cabins and saw a smal Polar bear family.

So we crossed 79° and he saw his first polar bears... at least something :)

 

So, we spent the night in the tent and fired our firewood for the polar bear guards.



the next Morning, the germans skied further north and we headed back...slowly with a broken belt

with an average speed of 7km/h we could enjoy the landscape.

but it would have been better without the fear that my scooter might stop driving.

 

this happened close to pyramiden.

A fuse just burned down and all the spare fuses as well.

So we towed the Scooter back for the last meters to Ebbahytta.

 

There we met Tuomas again, who lost one of his scooterwheels.

Finally we came back with one and a half Scooter and three sledges.





Birtday in Pyramiden

My Birthday, should be somewhere in a small cabin next to a beautiful Arctic landscape.

We didn't get any hunting cabin, so we drived to pyramiden again and used ebbahytta :)

 

 

 beautiful weather all the way

 

An the pyramiden hotel fox showed up

this time we brought a lot of time to visit the town

 

And we used the way for a short trip to Austfjorden.

My favourite place on Svalbard, until now.

And for a visit of the Glacierfront of Nordenskiöldbreen

Our cabin, tiny but cosy

and finally we needed to use the weather and visit Tunabreen

East coast 5

back from the 6 day Scootertrip.

And my Scoter trip group planned another trip back to the East.

It was impossible to resist.

 

So we drived back and enjoyed the ice bergs and glaciers again

 

and ended the eveing in a cosy cabin with whyskey on glacier ice

Back over agardhdalen

our Scooter leading the way

6 day Scootertrip

It started with a simple plan to book the cabin next to Pyramiden and test the sea ice in Billefjorden.

however, one day before we started, i met some awesome Norwegian guys at the Friday gathering with the offer of my life.

a 6 day scootertrip From the westcoast to the Eastcoast and abck over Tempelfjorden.

everything was planned and my fuel ready on their sledges.

Everythin they needed was a local, for the Eastcoast.

 

So we started our trip to pyramiden

 

 tempelfjorden was not a problem and we did it to Gipsdalen.

Still with some Tracks to follow.

However, the tracks disappeared on Nordenskiöldbreen and we need to find our way.

After some time a deep meltwater channel appeared next to us, partly covered by snow.

So we were forced to drive higher and higher up the slope, until we decided to probe the way over the scary channel.

No tracks on the sea ice, so we tested the thickness every few meters

with a beautiful background

However, the further we drived from the glacier front, the thinner the ice became.

So, we decided to continue on the shore on the other side of the fjord.

in the end, a cliff made it impossible to continue so we tested the ice again and.. it was hick enough again.

So we finally managed it to pyramiden as first Scooterguests of Vitaly

On the way back we missed the tides.

Anyway, it looked scary but the scooter made it over the crack.

back in longyearbyen, the Norwegians waited ready to start adn we continued over barentsburg to kapp linee.

the next morning, we drived slowly along the west coast and enyozd the beautiful sunny day

Polar bear tracks, everywhere

And another glacier front

Another long day to the East coast

... were the clouds and fog waited for us

together with stable sea ice and a beautiful scenery

AAND finaly the first Polar bear 

the way back, we drived over glaciers and Nunataks to Tempelfjorden and finally back to longyearbyen.

 

Our route in Overview