Miriam launching in through ice. Foto: Ra Cleave

Miriam in the tent. Foto: Ra Cleave

Iceberg. Foto: Ra Cleave

Miriam by Alkefjellet. Thousands of birds in the air. Foto: Ra Cleave

Valhalfonna. Foto: Ra Cleave

Hut near Mushamna. Foto: Miriam Odlin

Miriam paddling. Foto: Ra Cleave

Lomvi flying. Foto: Miriam Odlin

After a little snowfall. Foto: Miriam Odlin

The views were amazing and we raced through slide film and batteries and flew across degrees of longitude.  We met our first bits of loose ice, saw our first polar bear and experienced our first taste of seal meat thanks to some friendly trappers. The first polar bear was on land whilst we were in our boats, a relationship we considered ideal. We managed a shaky picture before the bear came towards us and down into the water in what Ra was sure was a 'stalking' gait.  

Both the trappers and a couple of roving field inspectors from the governor's office that we met said that Hinlopenstredet (the strait between Spitsbergen and Nordaustland) was closed by ice, and that ships had been turned back in the last couple of days. So it was with mixed expectations that we rounded the north cape and started southward into Hinlopen. On the first day we met strong southerly winds, which meant little progress for lots of effort but also cleared out the ice while we recovered in the tent. 

The following day was wind-still and clear. The glassy water was scattered with large pieces of ice but nothing like the impassable fjord ice we had expected. Despite another southerly burst at the end of the day we made 50 km and took lots of photos. We paddled past Valhallfonna, a branch of Åsgårdfonna that creates a 25km long, 30m high ice wall along the coast.  Big and blue.  The day was rounded off by a spectacular take-off display by a puffin.  While puffins are excellent divers they often struggle to take off from the water, and often spend a lot of time flapping comically over and into waves.  This particular one must have flip-flopped for a good 500 m as it attempted to get away from us and take off in the calm conditions. 

The following day we passed Alkefjellet (Auk mountain), the nesting place for what seemed like hundreds of thousands of Brünnich's Guillemots. Paddling towards a cliff like this feels like approaching the death star, the air thick with TIE fighters docking. The birds were our constant companions during the trip, providing high quality and cheap, animated entertainment. The vision of a guillemot or a puffin swerving through the air towards us with questionable control, legs splayed for last minute steering, became familiar and comforting. Their more graceful neighbour, the fulmar, provided a contrast by soaring inches from the water.  On still days Ra claimed to be able to see an imprint on the water from the beating of their wings. 

And so we continued down the coast. Having conquered Hinlopenstredet, what could now stand in our way?  Some days later, we met our first serious storm which we sat out in the tent behind a windbreak made of drift wood. By this stage we were navigating loose bands of ice, which got thicker and thicker during the ensuing days. We scouted from highpoints in the ice, forcing our boats through small openings and occasionally dragging them over the ice to make the next channel. We were happy to make it in to land just before Cape Payer, although the ice looked even thicker toward the cape and snow was starting to fall. We cooked in the tent, set up the trip wire (a required warning system for polar bear approach) and went to bed. Ra woke to the tent flapping in the wind and thought he would have to get up and reset the tripwire. The wind rustled the tent beside his head again and then gave a distinctive 'sniff''. Ra spun around onto his knees, startling the bear enough that it took a couple of steps back. I woke to hear Ra roaring his own name just as hard as he could. My immediate assumption that he was trying to be funny evaporated as I looked through the mosquito net to see the perfectly framed face of a polar bear staring back at me. I took over the roaring and zipped open the tent door while Ra grabbed hold of the rifle. Ra loaded a bullet into the chamber and put the barrel out the door.  'Click.' He spat that bullet and loaded another.  'BANG!'  The bear turned around and trotted off. Another shot made him accelerate a little and he wove away over the sea ice and out of sight. The trip wire had pulled, but the signal pens were so full of snow and dirt that they didn't fire the pin into the ammunition hard enough. We got the billy going and washed them well, swearing that we would be more careful in the future. 

Miriam Odlin : 13. mars 2008, 18:11 : © qajaq.no