Above Longyearbyen, there is a glacial moraine that is popular with fossil hunters. The glacier (Longyearbyen Glacier) has retreated further up the valley. Our guide, Lassa (1) had a flare gun and rifle to protect us from polar bears (should the need arise) and brought along 2 retired sled dogs.
The tour company supplied us with prospector's hammers and we all happily hacked away at sedimentary rocks on the moraine. My wife found the fossilized remains of what looks like the needles of a pine tree (2).
A later walk along the road to the east of town (3) revealed a large flock of birds running across the road; while Barnicle Geese can fly, their goslings cannot (4). There are signs at the edge of town marking the point beyond which polar bear protection is necessary.
In the narrow space between the road and the sled-dog pens east of town, there are about 300 recently-abandoned eider nests filled with fluffy eider down from the recently fledged chicks. About 10 years ago, a few pairs of eider nested there. They were protected from their two main predators because the polar bears do not like to go into town and the constant barking of the dogs kept the Arctic foxes away. Apparently word spread among the eiders and a large nesting colony has developed over the last decade.
Svalbard is a nifty place to visit. You keep seeing the same people, including your guides, around the town. There are signs at the bank reminding you not to bring guns in (5); rifles sticking out of backpacks are ubiquitous in town
(1) His main activity is sled dog expeditions in winter. He hopes to join the Danish Army's sled dog patrol in Greenland and is in Svalbard to gain experience.
(2) Visiting the Svalbard museum later, we guessed the needle fossil were from the Triassic period, about 210 million years ago, when the land that would become Svalbard was close to the equator.
(3) There are no street names in Longyeabyen. The town is named after an American named Longyear, who opened the mine here.
(4) The parents cannot feed the birds either. At a very young age, the gosling chicks simply walk off the cliffs where they are born and hope for the best: https://youtu.be/H1S6UCX4RAA
(5) Unlike similar signs at (say) the Starbucks in downtown Dallas, the signs make sense here. There is a legitimate threat in Svalbard (from bears) for which a rifle is an appropriate caution (a)
(a) A few days later, we were chatting with a couple who had gone on a "catch of the day" tour, The tour does not go fishing; a boat goes across the Isfjorden to see what wildlife there is to take pictures of. They showed us a video taken from the boat of a polar bear running towards an encampment (i) where food was bring cooked. The guide at the camp set off a flare gun, which scared the bear away.
(i) While kayaking yesterday, we were keeping pace with another couple. Unwittingly, we got a bit too far ahead of the guide and the rest of the group. We were politely, but firmly, admonished to stay closer to the guide. "Do you know how fast a polar bear moves?" I do now!
Hardy Wildflowers
Climbing the glacial moraine
Above the moraine
Views back to town
We encountered our guide dog later in town
Longyearbyen
Some of our fossil finds
Svalbard is so cold, even the flowers have fur.
Eiderdown left in a nest
Barnacle geese
"All over Svalbard" you may encounter a polar bear.
Polar bear protection (a gun) is necessary outside the setllement
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