Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3097 times:
So, we're back from the Arctic Ocean! I'm back in Germany and... it's dark outside! That is sooo scary! I haven't seen darkness for 5 days. And it's warm again. But I'm already missing the solitude of 78° North. What an unforgettable A.net meet. What a great time we had!
But let me start from the beginning. We were 4 people who dared to leave civilization for a couple of days: From left to right, me, Dan (PlymSpotter), Rune (DYFlyer) and Frederik (AirPacific747).
We all came in on a wide variety of flights, Dan had about 9 inbound flights carefully scheduled, and in the end we all met at the tiny airport of Longyearbyen, surrounded by barren tundra mountains and endless glaciers. And abandoned industrial buildings and mines.
We spent most of the time hiking around this very strange and unique place. At one point, on a 10+ hour walk, we entered an abandoned mine. Very creepy.
This is our "base camp". My tent was so small that I couldn't even sit up in it, while Frederik's tent was like a B737 hangar.
One highlight was a roundtrip flight on a Do228 to the mine Svea, which was completely free, after I told the mechanic that we're A.netters and Rune talked to somebody on the phone, and somehow we ended up on the passenger list.
Since I only had a point-and-shoot and the others had huge cameras (along with the C vs. N wars), I'm now going to leave it to the others to post pictures. Rune shot all of the rare airplanes, down to the last Soviet helicopter, Dan has the complete catalog of arctic flora, and Frederik has all of the wildlife covered (after he realized that running behind a polar fox and wildly waving with his arms is not a good way to get a decent picture).
Well, in the end we did a lot of interesting things, and didn't sleep a lot. Well, how are you going to sleep when the sun is up 24/7? Here we can see Dan, tired after a couple of nights without any sleep.
I'm sure the others will post a bunch of pics, Dan will probably add them to his web album. We'll also see some trip reports in the next days, as well as the first A.net uploads on Svalbard... that's right, there are no pictures of that place in the database yet!
Again, I'd like to thank the 3 others for the unforgettable trip we had. Without any doubt we'll do something similar next year... but to a warmer place this time!
Greetings!
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, RR: 47 Reply 1, posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3081 times:
So you twit went even further north than I've ever been!
After you had posted that thread inviting people to the meet, I started thinking about going since LYR shares a place on my "where to go" list with KEF, but after seeing the fares and hearing the howl of the wind in the emptiness of my bank account I decided against it... good to see you had fun!
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 2091 posts, RR: 23 Reply 2, posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3072 times:
Hey Søren!!! I just got back! What an AWESOME TRIP! Something that I'll never forget, just like I wont forget the russians that started blowing up buildings behind us and the coal mine we visited.
Quoting Birdwatching (Thread starter): This is our "base camp". My tent was so small that I couldn't even sit up in it, while Frederik's tent was like a B737 hangar.
Just to put things into perspective: Svalbard is WAY higher up north than any part of Alaska. As far as I know, the northern most point in Alaska is at 71 degrees north. Longyearbyen is located at 78 degrees north.
The windchill made the place sooo friggin cold during the "night" and I was freezing every nighet except for the last night where I decided to sleep with 3 layers of clothes plus my jacket on and two layers of pants
KaiGywer From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 12027 posts, RR: 43 Reply 5, posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3025 times:
Good to hear you guys had a great time. Like I've mentioned before, I won't make it quite that far north, but I'll be at 71° north sometime next week
Aerobalance From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 4634 posts, RR: 51 Reply 7, posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3019 times:
Would this be the wackiest location for an A.net meet ever held? If not, which meet was it?
LO231 From Belgium, joined Sep 2004, 2299 posts, RR: 25 Reply 18, posted (6 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 2954 times:
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 17): Depends on where we're going next year
But we are planning to make odd location meetings an annually tradition of a.net
Pleeease make it known to the public way ahead. So we can start saving/planning/etc.
Regards,
LO231
PS. I'd say there wasn't an Iceland meet before. Would make a nice stopover to BOS, which I want to visit.
Got both LO 788 frames already, next SN BRU-VCE-BRU
25 AirPacific747: Thanks! Can someone please help me identifying that helicopter model as I am planning to give it a try on a.net..[Edited 2006-08-11 10:33:27]
26 Thom@s: Its a Eurocopter AS.332 Super Puma, reg LN-OMX belonging to the company Airlift. I know because most of their fleet is based here at work. Thom@s
27 DeltaWings: Wow, cool trip! I see I need to go there too one day
29 Skidmarks: Well, you lucky buggers! Looks like a good trip and I am exceedingly jealous. I would loved to have come along. So, whens the next one? Andy
30 HT: Good to hear that you made the trip up there and back safely and had a great time ! Still a shame that I couldn't attend. Let me speculate ...: Well,
31 AirPacific747: Good suggestion, but that's not it either Just uploaded it.. hope it'll have a chance: http://www.airliners.net/addphotos/big/ready/DSC_333777.JPG He
32 HT: Next guess: ... too many possibilities to post here ... I'll wait for Sören's announcement Stunning pic's ! -HT
33 Birdwatching: Good morning everybody, I just had the sleep of a lifetime. No permafrost cooling my back from below. Frederik I'm sure the first picture will make th
34 AirPacific747: You got it: Dan getting owned by a bird Us having fun outside the Longyearbyen school Dan getting owned again... ...and again: We found a Jap in the
39 HT: Call that potential meeting in KEF "Europe and America meeting midway" (okay, this might be somehow misleading - in that case replace "midway" by "mi
40 Doona: As far as I can tell, it says "Gagarina Sportkompleks"... was there an ex-Soviet sports arena nearby? Cheers Mats
41 AirPacific747: Seems like you're right, both of you then And yeah there was an old sports complex. Very old crap. I have lots of more pictures from the russian mini
42 Doona: I took a course of Russian in high school. For some reason I can only remember the alphabet. And "Nazdarovye", of course! Cheers Mats
43 LO231: I grew up in Poland, where from the age of 11, you had Russian at school as a second language, you know, a gift from our Soviet friends.... Forgot a
44 AirPacific747: Awesome! I wish I was able to understand it. It looks very cool!
45 BMIFlyer: The Spring 2007 KEF (Iceland) A.Net Meet. (by BMIFlyer Aug 11 2006 in Non Aviation) Hehe Lee[Edited 2006-08-11 15:19:36]
46 AirPacific747: Two shots that I am really proud of. Nikon all the way
49 BMIFlyer: Now get on the trip to KEF with us and take more like that Lee
50 AirPacific747: I really want to! I'll see if I can afford it at the time.. right now there are red digits at the bottom line of my budget
51 PlymSpotter: Well Guys, I have got back.........at last! All the flights yesterday back to Oslo went to plan, apart from having the same aircraft for all 4 of the
52 AirPacific747: I'm sorry to hear about all the trouble you had to go through! I had to land in Tromsø as well as Oslo on my way home but everything went smoothly
53 Alphafloor: Absolutely brilliant guys !! @ AirPacific747 OMG those pictures are wonderful !!! This is an amazing place ! Thanks for sharing them ! Alejandro
55 AirPacific747: I am designing a website at the moment dedicated to my photos. Both aviation related photos and non-av related photos
56 DYflyer: I can just concur with what the others said. What a great trip. The other was a bit quicker than me with the pictures, but i guess i can add a few. Lo
57 PlymSpotter: Well, I'm afraid I havn't managed to get all the pictures I would have liked to up on my site, time just hasn't allowed, but I have quite a few now av
58 Alphafloor: It was a pleasure to browse your pictures Dan, just a question why did you mention 'annoying german guy' ? For the rest 80% of the pictures are excell
59 PlymSpotter: Ah, I mean no offense to Germans when I say that, just we didn't know his name, only that he was German. He was also staying at the campsite, and bega
60 Alphafloor: He looks funny, he seems to be rolling a joint or something...
61 Trekster: Amazing pictures. Looks like it was an amazing meet. Though i would not wanna be camping lol Great pcis dan
62 Pawsleykat: brilliant pics guys. I wish I could have gone. That looks so much fun!! I don't fancy a camping though, weren't there any hotels or B&Bs at all up the
63 DYflyer: There is a SAS Radison hotel in Longyearbyen. I also guess there are a few other guesthouses for those who want to miss out on part of the experience
64 RootsAir: JUST ONE WORD.........WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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