Ok, I'm new here, I did not write any papers or cause any articles in magazines.. So all I have to tell is my personal experiences from fieldwork on svalbard... I hope you find it amusing !

So, I've been at my first "Drilling a hole in the ground" action (The now ca 12meters deep hole will be used to mesure the temeperature in the ground monitoring the permafrost) Certanly it whas a spechal experience... I started off with making a wrong choice... I just tell you two things, if you are going to climb the steep front of a glaciar, wearing a scootersuit and three numbers too big scouter boots and gets to choose what to bring along up with you.. DON'T choose the pulka!! Especcally not if its packed by a Geologist!! Ok, so I started off bad, walking (or rather crawling) three meters or so, just to loose the grip with my shoes and slide right back down there again, as I see the three men walking in front of me just dissapearing up the hill with their big pices of wood and caseing- packages as if it whas no problem at all... Stubborn as I am I keep on trying and trying and manage to get a fue meters more before one of the guys realize that I am not following. He is helping me up the steepest part, and I manage to walk a little bit more before he suggests that maby we cud swap.. I readely accsept this offer and suddenly finds myself walking faster, carrying one of those big pices of wood.. Getting some extra weight on my shoes gives me a better grip and, yeah, I wont say it whas easy. But I got up there, and won my self confidence back :-)

Finnaly up there we start with the hole in the active layer to get down to the frozen ground where the drill acctually can drill.. Somehow it gets decided that I am going DOWN again, to pick up some guests and get something to drink.. and yeh, by the way, on the way up I can bring that pack of caseing still lying in the middle of the slope.... So I do.. After my pulka pulling action, the caseing package is cind of heavy, luckely I get help from the girl coming with me back up...

Up there again, the drilling finnaly starts.. The drill goes in the ground, the drilling dust flyes in the air, and the machines are makeing noise... After a while we get some mystereous problems (at least for me who neaver did this before and has a quite hard time to hear what the discussion is aboute trugh the noice from the drilling rigg) then it gets decided that we scould extend the hole in the active layer to be able to put the drilling- dust away and preventing it from falling back into the borehole... So we do and once again I found myself doing some strange hard work closer to the northpole than home surrounded by big strong men. I really liked it.

Now I am realizing that I acctually need some sleep, and do not want to write the whole night. (And you who already got this far probably doesent want to read all day (or night).. The conclusion of this whole story is..

Sitting there (standing I whas just constantly blown to the ground) throwing the last stones back into the ca 1*2*1 meter hole we made in the active layer I realized that its in moments like this, that I am the most happy.. When the wind is strong enough to "steal" full yerrycans, and I have a job to do.. Thats what its all aboute, isint it? To challange yourslef and to make it... To feel that you do/did a good job.. Some people prefer to challange themselves in warm offices. I hope they enyoy it as much as I do out in the cold. To afterwords when I get home and realize that the wind and the snowdrift together with the drilling dust has made a tremendus job of giving me a makeup, ice-drilldust mascara, and drilldust eyeschadow... No fancy makeup artist cud have made it better ;-) Adds a extra laugh to the experience..

But how do you chare these experinces? With those asking "Svalbard??? Why dont you just go somewhere warm??? "

Well, becouse on warm places you dont slide down a seep slope on your ass together with your collegues after work, all wearing thesame UNIS- scootersuit, no diffrence between project leader or field assistent(????)

We are all covered with snow, and a happy smile on our faces reaching back to the scooters and heading home after a good days work....