10.07.2005

before i die i will do this

dogsledding on svalbard

i was just playing with google maps, when i found this island north of russia and norway, about on the same latitude as the north end of greenland, and i was like, hmm, what is this place? so i wikied it. it looks beautiful. so i randomly found this site for this "resort" type place, where you can stay in longyearbyen, which is the "major city" on the island (pop. less than 2000) and take a 3-day dogsledding adventure to a ship frozen in a fjord. where they have modern amenities and a cozy little hotel. it just sounds so fucking cool... plus you get to pick your own puppies and take care of them for the duration of the trip!! puppies! just waiting, hoping you'll let them go on a trip running with their buddies across the arctic. and the only sound you can hear is the doggies running on the snow. i must do this before i depart this earth.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

North of norway? Jesus. I remember reading in Neither here nor There, Bill Bryson went to some town in northern Norway where the northern lights are supposed to be spectacular. It was very cold and there was nothing to do.

Anonymous said...

Hi

Went there this summer. Had a great party at midnight on a beach in the sunlight.

Travelled north on an ice-breaker until the ice was too thick to break. It is in the arctic circle so not surprising really.

We had three landings a day onto the ice/land. It was like a biology field trip/expedition!!! (In fact I've used it towards my professional biology CPE.)

Pre-landing lectures about the plants, birds and animals really helped. Polar bears and arctic foxes were great. Taped two bears fighting on the ice.

Really odd having 24 hours of sunlight. Didn't want to go to bed.
I want to go back in the winter.

Worth a visit (unless you want to see loads of people). Glad I've been there. Probably the most exciting trip I've been on. Great for photos too - the white and black landscape. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

Hi again

Forgot to mention that I took a couple of thousand photos of Svalbard. A few of them are on my website.

Another thing I forgot to mention - there was no noise. Never saw a plane apart from the airport.

Seen the dogs too. They are friendy.

Anonymous said...

holy shit! that sounds amazing
-jamie

Anonymous said...

i'm down for going in the next decade or two, but only in a non-creepy mutual-fascination sort of way. hehe

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