After a lot of indecision we FINALLY made our way over to the Barakke 13 to check out what was left in the student equipment. We managed to nab a few helmets for the ice caves and an ice axe (just in case). We headed back to Barakke 9 to get the rest of our stuff together and head up to the first cave at the base of Longyearbreen. After packing my bag I went to check on Stu’s progress where he informed me that he thought we were going out on the scooter. A morning of miscommunication it seems.
After making our final decision, and repacking my bag for a scooter trip not a walking one, we headed out to the scooter to see if we could find the first ice cave in the moraine of Longyearbreen. We headed out from Nybyen along the very busy scooter track leading up Longyearbreen. We weren’t entirely sure where either of the caves we wanted to see was, so headed off relying on common sense. The small cave at the bottom of the glacier was right next to where we had done our survival training exam. We parked the scooter off the track and started walking into a small valley. We knew that the entrance to the cave was marked and as this one was an easy one to get to was considered a tourist cave so also had a pallet in front of it marking the doorway. Upon finding the cave we (stu) set about opening up the entrance so that we could get in.
The gap to gent in was much smaller than we had imagined, as we would not be able to get in with our back packs on, and we were not sure what it would be like inside so Stu went in to scope it out and see if it opened up at all. When he shouted back the all clear I chucked his and my bag through in front of me pushing them along with the rifle as I attempted to slide in myself. Once you get through the main tunnel entrance the entire cave opens up with just enough space to stand up, even for Stu. Inside the main part of the cave there were a number of tee candles that Stu had lit by the time I got in and the scene reminded me of Woking Palace on Boxing Day. The main body of the cave gradually slopes back into the glacier and Stu took point in further exploration. The floor of the cave was a mix of ice and rocks in a number of cases the former encasing the latter. There was a clear body of ice that formed a stream winding its way through the cave that was very slippery although parts of my clothing had been covered in snow as I crawled through the entrance to the cave and began sticking to the ice. Like if someone was to stupidly put their tongue on the ice melting it lightly before it froze to the skin, luckily ripping my jacket from the ice is a lot less painful. Towards the back of the cave there was a small opening in the snow that with the ice and rocky outcrops was just big enough to let a person through, though they would not be able to turn around if it did not open up again. Stu with a little trepidation and encouragement, as well as the fact that the challenge was laid out in front of him, started to crawl through. The tunnel slopped upwards making it difficult to gain footing in the small space as you could barely bend your knees. At the start of the tunnel there is a tight squeeze and I had to turn sideways so that I could simultaneously bend my leg to push myself up and get my hips through. Once you manage to get through the sausage squeeze the cave starts to open up again (width not so much on the height). After deciding not to try to go any further we made our way back out, which was much easier and faster than getting up. This basically involves you acting like a penguin and sliding down on your belly. We then made our way back to the ain entrance to take some pictures before heading off up the glacier again.
We took the scooter up to the top of Longyearbreen following the scooter track that we had skied up previously and the scooter made light work of what took us an hour. We did not want to go to far as we were by ourselves and if the scooter had broken down then we would have had a long walk back. We stopped on a large ridge giving us a good view of the town in all its midday Technicolor. After getting a few awesome photos we headed back down again.
As we got back to Nybyen we decided to take the scooter on a little exploratory mission down a different route towards town with a brief stop off at the petrol station for some coolant. We eventually headed back out along the fjord where I once again got to drive taking it a fair way along the track though when we stopped to turn back it did not look much further than we had previously driven. The fjord is huge and as you reach the section towards mine 7 it opens out with wide frozen snow covered rivers between the mountains creating tracks that the scooter can follow (when we find someone to go with I think a big scooter trip is in the cards). We had now been out on the scooter for 4 hours so decided that we should head back home for the day as we had forgotten to stop for lunch.
When we got back home we opened the boot only to discover that the coolant bottle had leaked everywhere so we had to take the boot in to get it cleaned out. Unfortunately Nigel the ninja was a casualty, his face turned blue by the antifreeze, but after a good nights recovery he is cleaner than ever and can survive in colder conditions than he could before.
Tomorrow back to the ice cave with Andrew for lunch then sledging.
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