Svalbard
April 11–17, 2006
Longyearbyen (population 1100)
Map
Also know as Longyear, Longyearbyuen, Longyearbyn, Longyearben. It’s actually spelt Longyearbyen, in honour of the settlement’s founder: his last name was Longyear.
It’s all there, spread out before you:
The settlement is so unremarkable that one of these pylons was drawn on the tents for the centenary of the settlement’s founding (since 1906).
On the upside, Gagarin lives here.
This bench is made out of a mine cart.
Spend a few days here and you’ll hang yourself out of sheer boredom, just like these deer did.
Take a step in any direction and you’re surrounded by mountains and valleys, not a soul in sight. On the upside, there are so many polar bears around that no logo is complete without them.
No one leaves the village without a rifle. You’re supposed to try and scare off the bears first, shooting is the last resort (shots are only fired a couple of times a year). On the eve of my departure a bear came right up to the houses. I didn’t see it, but I did spot a few others in the distance.
We set off on a snowmobile.
The weather turned while were on the road and as a result you could no longer tell where the sky ended and the snow began.
The weather then let up, showcasing local splendours.
This ship became icebound on purpose, for the tourists’ benefit. Readers, let’s move on.
Pyramiden (population 1 nut job)
Map
On a snowmobile it takes about five hours to get to Pyramiden, a Soviet-era mining site.
The settlement, more substantial than Longyearbyen at the time it was built, was abandoned once and for all about six years ago.
The last tonne of coal was also abandoned, quite literally.
This is the last tonne of coal ever transported from the Pyramiden mine on 31 March 1998.
There’s one nutty German guy living here. Now it’s his town.
Nutty German guy
This is where they used to mine the coal.
Dormitories, a hospital, a hotel, warehouses, and offices stand untouched, their windows intact. There are still books in the library and sports equipment in the gym.
Life here came to a standstill just like in Bradbury’s short story, the one where a family’s shadows are left imprinted on the walls of their house.
That logo’s got a polar bear on it.
Arctic Coal
Svalbard
No film screening at the house of culture today.
The world’s northernmost Lenin monument gazes at the forsaken expanse. There aren’t any tears running down his identikit cheeks.
Not that Svalbard cares anyway.
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