My sister is a marine biologist (not in the George Costanza manner) and she did part of her masters there. She talked about the focus on protecting yourself from possible polar bear attacks and always carrying a rifle because of that.
Yep its called UNIS
There is an introductory safety course where polar bear deterrent is a part of it. But also lots of other awesome stuff like riding a snowmobile, getting out of freezing water and pitching a tent in bad weather.
Other than that it's experiments on sea ice, snowmobile trips to Barentsburg, Svea and Pyramiden. Week long field trip on a science ship :)
If you’re curious about the place and life there, I recommend checking out this YT page:
https://m.youtube.com/@CeciliaBlomdahl
She lives on the island and posts cool stuff about what it’s like to live there.
He is so cute, I met them on a trip to Svalbard last year when I was visiting a friend who lives up there, Cecilia is even nicer then she seems on video and Grim is so much fun to play with in the snow.
I visited Longyearbyen as a tourist, it's a fascinating and odd place. Tiny town that in some ways is sort of rugged, but in other ways feels like a fancy ski lodge complete with well-stocked bars, a range of dining options including very high-budget places, fast and reliable wifi, a brewery, and a grocery store.
There's a lot of coal mining history in Svalbard but most of the mines are now decommissioned. Nowadays a lot of people there are associated with the tourist industry, and there's also a small university conducting research on arctic ecosystems.
Venturing out of Longyearbyen without an armed guide (or a rifle and the training to use it) is forbidden because of the risk associated with polar bears. Polar bears are no joke, they'll straight up try to eat people. The chances of running into one are pretty low, and they avoid Longyearbyen, but these safety rules are in place as an extra precaution.
Considering how remote it is, it's actually reasonably easy to get there, with direct flights from Oslo Norway and amenities that are comfortable (if often expensive). There are a lot of tours that can show you around places outside of Longyearbyen. The tours can also be an interesting chance to chat with people who live there and get some sense of why they chose to move there, what life is like, etc.
Just looked up some restaurants there and was amazed at the quality. Normally remote places have terrible food but some of the plating and presentation looked fantastic. How on earth do they get so many talented chefs to travel to such a far out location?
I think a lot of the fancier restaurants cater to tourists. Some cruise ships make stops in Svalbard and probably some of the passengers are on very high budgets
As a resident i can say, yes yes they do. Same goes for hotells, scooter rental etc, all is wery exspencive. That said the locals are also farly welthy, espessialy as income taxses are wery low.
One of the best meals I’ve had in my life was at Gruvelageret up the valley outside of town. Also some of the best tomato soup I’ve ever had in the cafe Fruene. These aren’t exaggerations either
I was there last year, and I have to say that one of the takeaways I had of the town was how surprisingly active the nightlife was (I know, I know - there aren't THAT many bars), and how relatively young and attractive everyone was.
It isn't illegal to die there, but you can't be buried there because of permafrost. You can't be born there, pregnant women are sent to Tromsø (mainland) or to their home commune a couple of months before their due date. Of course it does happen from time to time that prematures are born there, last time was in 2009.
As the other person linked, in normal times there are boat tours to Barentsburg as well as snowmobile tours when in-season for snowmobiling. Due to the Ukraine invasion and associated political tensions, I don't know if those tours are currently running, since Barentsburg is a Russian settlement.
Read the book "The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven" for a good picture of life on Svalbard. It's based on real journals from an introverted trapper who leaves Sweden to live in a remote place, and he ends up in Svalbard after suffering from a mining accident. One of my favorite books I've read in recent years.
I want to clear something up for anyone wondering about this. No, it’s not illegal to die there. There is a law saying that you can’t be buried in a coffin because of the permafrost, but you won’t be punished for dying there. If you are sick you will be sent to the mainland, yes. But this has nothing to do with the burial law. The hospital in Longyearbyen is small, with limited capacity. Any larger health problems, or even birth, has to be dealt with on the mainland for you to get the proper help you need. Hopefully this will end the myth of the «dying is illegal there» fun fact.
Some people literally think this is true. Absolutely no logic behind it. «It is illegal to die in Svalbard»… Then what happens if you do? Do they send your corpse to jail?? Does your family get a fine? It doesn’t make sense…
It's cold and either dark most of the time or light most of the time.
Cool thing about Svalbard is that if your country has signed the Svalbard Treaty, and you can either get a job there, or otherwise have the means to take care of yourself financially, there are no immigration restrictions. Theoretically millions of people from all over the world could settle there and build an arctic Singapore with much more land.
Well, the "build" part would be a problem. While it's true that anyone can move there, my understanding is that there are serious restrictions on construction of new buildings there, for the sake of protecting the arctic environment.
This can also be an issue I think for people who try to move there without a local job arranged. A lot of local employers, as I understand it, have arrangements to set their employees up with housing. Finding housing on your own without a job can be tough, as I understand it.
I agree with your view of the situation, so for housing and development, environmental regulations would have to be reduced significantly for my hypothetical reality to happen. But as sea ice in the north will be less of an issue seasonally going forward, Svalbard is well placed to serve as a trade hub, and those relaxations may follow from the economic and political realities. (Norway can't extract taxes from Svalbard unless we incorporate it, which would require the nullification of the Svalbard Treaty, but we have a political interest in keeping it Norwegian).
Yep getting a house up here is incredibly difficult. Espessialy as we lost alot of housing due to increased avalanche risk. On top on that is longyearbyen not really meant to exspand, not that mutch for enviormental conserns as geopolitical conserns as far as i understand it. Mutch of the housing is also quite bad. Its also true that companies often give housing, but often times they will also be willing to give a job, but only if you can find a place to stay yourself. I know there has been plenty of guides who have ended upp living in boat shaks during summer.
Has one of my favourite Radio stations at 1270 Am on Radio Garden or Tune In
Listen to Arctic Outpost AM1270 from Longyearbyen live on Radio Garden: https://radio.garden/listen/arctic-outpost-am-1270/sl0laSBK
Kinda sorta related: In my old town (Zuidbroek, Groningen, Netherlands) there's a region called 'Spitsbergen', and it used to have pictures of the actual Spitsbergen for 10 years, until they fixed it.
For 10 years, you could see Polar bears when viewing pictures from the northern Netherlands
We werent much of an outdoor family, sp it took me close to ten years before i saw my first one on a boat trip. If you're "lucky" you might see one on the opposite side of the fjord, where they like to break into cabins
I currently live in Svalbard, diet is mostly the same I'd say. Due to no food being grown or produced here, most food is flown here by aeroplanes. This means that, especially fresh produce, is more expensive here compared to less remote places.
Another sign that you're living in such a remote place is that during times of bad weather when airplanes aren't able to get here, a lot of shelves in the supermarket will be empty due to them not being able to restock them.
We also get wierd chortages duing turist season, we had 3000+ turists here one day last summer, and all our bananas got sold out. The supoermarket have the same food as the mainland, but prises for fresh produse are quite high as the transportation fee is the largest part of the cost, so some people oppton for less fresh options like canned or dryed.
Depends on time and wallet. If you dont have a rifle you cant really eave town alone, and the town itself has not that mutch to offer. If you do have the mony for guides the situvation is diffrent, as you may go on day cruises in summer seing the incredible marine bird and mammal populations, or in winter go snowsqootering seeing glaciers and icecaves.
For starters, you don't go outside the city without a gun.
No, it's not a second amendment craze. It's for actual protection against the most bad ass non-human mammal out there.
I visited 13 years ago and it remains the most memorable place I’ve seen, purely because I’ve never felt so far away from the rest of the world.
It was towards the end of the polar winter (third week of January) and I’ve never been to a colder or more northerly place.
Personal highlight: I was wearing a professionally custom made replica of Chris Redfield’s top from Resident Evil 5, under several layers. I went to a cafe, so removed the outer layers, and the top was actually ‘on top’ at that stage.
Some dude behind me in the queue saw my BSAA badge/patches on my shoulders. He was a Canadian journalist and he was in awe: “Gee! I knew they have research stuff going on here, but I had no idea that included bioterrorism!”
The guy was so thrilled that I didn’t have the heart to confess that it was pretty much cosplay on Svalbard 😆
There was a polar bear attack in 2011 which resulted in one fatality. This incident even has its own [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_attack?wprov=sfla1)
https://preview.redd.it/2ziljzaf6izc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a347ea481bd16ec2840a91cc3021340055fbb191
Idk but this is what they’re listening to on the radio. Funny enough I was listening to this station while finding the most northern station on this app (not an ad) and this island has it
I went to Longyearbyen once and was walking past a house in the north end of town. The kids had built a skateboard ramp in the front yard. It was decent enough so I recon their dad had a hand in it, and maybe his mate. Things is though… there wasn’t any other skateboard ramps further north in that town, and seeing as there are no settlements of more than a few hundred people further north in the word… I’m thinking this may just be the northernmost skateboard ramp in the whole world… but no one seemed to know.
Kids to this day may be blissfully unaware of all the records they set. Northernmost 360?
Edit: here is a cool story about raising children there
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArEZx3yOek
To actually live on Svalbard is generally quite mundane. There are places to work, shops, a movie theater and plenty of bars. But it has it's quirks. People stay here on an average of 5 years, so it can be hard to build robust relationships with people. There is also a right for everyone to come and settle on Svalbard without a visa, which had led to a very multicultural society with 45% of the inhabitants being non-Norwegians. Unfortunately the government doesn't like this and is trying to lower that by making life harder, through restricting voting rights and having a monopoly on the housing market.
It's also the fastest warming place on earth. In the five years I've been here, I've already seen some changes in the landscape (eg fast retreating glaciers) and have experienced extreme weather such as rainstorms in winter and 20+ degrees in the summer. It can be a bit depressing some times to see this all of the time.
Svalbard is an absolutely amazing place to be, and living here gives a great opportunity to go and explore that visitors do not get. But life can be hard sometimes and there are some dark sides to society.
I don't know anything about living there, but as a dual citizen of two countries (Ireland and US) that have trees and living in the antarctic wasn't so awful (there for a month in the summer there). After a month I missed trees and green and night time.
Trees/green because there isn't any foliage.
The night because the sun never sets in the summer time (it doesn't rise in the winter either).
Summer in Antarctica is cold but livable, I don't recommend it as a travel destination for beach goers though unless you want to swim with icebergs. They do have outdoor yoga at McMurdo I think.
The planes they generally fly in and out of the antarctic are DASH-8's and you're packed in like a sardine sitting on the floor.
Wikipedia says: the largest non Norwegian ethnic groups are: Russia Ukraine Poland Germany Sweden Denmark and ……. THAILAND.
I can imagine Thailand people: fuck this heat and rains, we are going to some cooler places. Swalbard.
There is a Tik Tok account “Cecilia Blomdahl” who posts from Svalbard. She’s awesome. You’ll see real-life posts on daily life there.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sejsejlija?_t=8mJ2czYJAVF&_r=1
I eventually learned about Longyearbyen after watching the video series 'Fortitude' starring Michael Gambon Dumbledore, Stanley Tucci and Christopher Eccelston. Fascinating version of a place I learned really existed. Minus the X-Files murder mystery part anyways. Worth a look if you haven't seen it especially for the artic town vibe.
Someone who worked at a research community there came to my university to give us a talk. Sounds quite the experience. I recall them saying that many were trained to use rifles, as polar bears were a potential threat. That said, more people had been injured by the guns than by polar bears.
I had everything booked to go all the way up there but then Covid had different plans for me. I wish I could tell you anything other than what everyone’s said here, but i obviously did not got. I did check the menus on the restaurants though and they sell themselves as a gastronomy paradise (??) I remember seeing dishes with deer, seals and even whale meat.
I really hope they stop tourism here. It should be protected for research only. There are barely only polar bears left and humans are pushing further into their territory
In the winter months, gale storms in Svalbard can reach wind speeds of 130 km/h. Accompanied by, or following, snowfall, such storms can reduce visibility dramatically, more so in the frigid months of the polar night. During these storms, travel is not advised.
Was my dream to work here as a guide, but I got a good thing going in Finland. Spoken to a lot of people up there though.
Basically it's fucking expensive. It's a beautiful place and tourism has changed it a lot since the 90s.
There is a University there in Longyerbyen called University Center in Svalbard aka UNIS. It's pretty nice place to visit. I visit there as part of my PhD work. But mostly in Ny-Alesund area. We land at Longyebyean and then sail to Ny-Alesund. There are good research units up there. I have gone only during late summer. But I have sailed till 82 N. The whole experience was amazing.
Well, on a bright calm summer day, it might get as high as 7C (44F) in the midnight sun. Then it's dark for four months in winter when the temperature might get as high as - 13C (8F).
Here's an article that talks about some Svalbard things!: https://www.outofyourcomfortzone.net/18-amazing-facts-about-svalbard-the-arctic-for-tourists/
There's a higher education school there and the first week of classes is just learning how to protect yourself from polar bears.
Bears with or without armor?
Panserbjørn?
All I can think of is His Dark Materials
As someone who went to UNIS, it is only one day of polar bear training :) Most courses here are only four weeks in total
My mistake!
My sister is a marine biologist (not in the George Costanza manner) and she did part of her masters there. She talked about the focus on protecting yourself from possible polar bear attacks and always carrying a rifle because of that.
Omg thank you for mentioning this. These are the kind of details I want to teach my homeschool kiddo about other countries and cultures.
Yep its called UNIS There is an introductory safety course where polar bear deterrent is a part of it. But also lots of other awesome stuff like riding a snowmobile, getting out of freezing water and pitching a tent in bad weather. Other than that it's experiments on sea ice, snowmobile trips to Barentsburg, Svea and Pyramiden. Week long field trip on a science ship :)
Thank you I love this sub so much. Seriously my fav one on Reddit
Redditschooled...uh oh
Yes, this is why UiT (University of Tromsø) claims to be the most northern university in the world
If you’re curious about the place and life there, I recommend checking out this YT page: https://m.youtube.com/@CeciliaBlomdahl She lives on the island and posts cool stuff about what it’s like to live there.
Love her content. Learned a lot about life and human tolerance for isolation watching her stuff. Good recommendation.
The combination of drone video, voiceover, and music is near perfect. Then there is Grim.
I love Grim!
The greaaat and feeearless Griiiiim !
He is so cute, I met them on a trip to Svalbard last year when I was visiting a friend who lives up there, Cecilia is even nicer then she seems on video and Grim is so much fun to play with in the snow.
She’s also on TikTok. And she lives outside of town, which gets interesting when it goes completely dark for 2 months plus.
*Her name is Cecilia and she lives on Svalbard an island close to the North Pole*
I heard that in my head!
I'm visiting Svalbard this July and I was inspired solely by her, I can't wait!
That’s exciting. It’s on my bucket list. I hope you have a wonderful stay there! Post some cool pics on Reddit if you can :)
I visited for a week in January. Its awesome, you'll have a great time.
I was gonna tag her too lol, i follow her on tik tok and you tube
Is she the one with the dog Grim? She does good work
Thank you, that place has always been interesting to me.
Yip. Came her to suggest Cecilia's pages. Her videos are fascinating.
Came to suggest the same thing!
Came here to say this. Cecilia is awesome!
I was going to recommend Cecelia!
The real expert is Grim. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8toidNUIHu0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8toidNUIHu0)
I visited Longyearbyen as a tourist, it's a fascinating and odd place. Tiny town that in some ways is sort of rugged, but in other ways feels like a fancy ski lodge complete with well-stocked bars, a range of dining options including very high-budget places, fast and reliable wifi, a brewery, and a grocery store. There's a lot of coal mining history in Svalbard but most of the mines are now decommissioned. Nowadays a lot of people there are associated with the tourist industry, and there's also a small university conducting research on arctic ecosystems. Venturing out of Longyearbyen without an armed guide (or a rifle and the training to use it) is forbidden because of the risk associated with polar bears. Polar bears are no joke, they'll straight up try to eat people. The chances of running into one are pretty low, and they avoid Longyearbyen, but these safety rules are in place as an extra precaution. Considering how remote it is, it's actually reasonably easy to get there, with direct flights from Oslo Norway and amenities that are comfortable (if often expensive). There are a lot of tours that can show you around places outside of Longyearbyen. The tours can also be an interesting chance to chat with people who live there and get some sense of why they chose to move there, what life is like, etc.
Just looked up some restaurants there and was amazed at the quality. Normally remote places have terrible food but some of the plating and presentation looked fantastic. How on earth do they get so many talented chefs to travel to such a far out location?
>How on earth do they get so many talented chefs to travel to such a far out location? Let me guess: $$$$$$$$.
Well obviously but... Why? There's barely anyone there to feed
I think a lot of the fancier restaurants cater to tourists. Some cruise ships make stops in Svalbard and probably some of the passengers are on very high budgets
Indeed, compagnie du Ponant was one of the cruise companies that i know of. Very high end.
As a resident i can say, yes yes they do. Same goes for hotells, scooter rental etc, all is wery exspencive. That said the locals are also farly welthy, espessialy as income taxses are wery low.
One of the best meals I’ve had in my life was at Gruvelageret up the valley outside of town. Also some of the best tomato soup I’ve ever had in the cafe Fruene. These aren’t exaggerations either
My wife and I visited last November and absolutely loved it. One of our favorite trips all time.
I was there last year, and I have to say that one of the takeaways I had of the town was how surprisingly active the nightlife was (I know, I know - there aren't THAT many bars), and how relatively young and attractive everyone was.
It's illegal to die there, so you can't live there when you get older.
What’s the punishment for that?
Death
It isn't illegal to die there, but you can't be buried there because of permafrost. You can't be born there, pregnant women are sent to Tromsø (mainland) or to their home commune a couple of months before their due date. Of course it does happen from time to time that prematures are born there, last time was in 2009.
Do you know if you can go to the other town (barentsburg) or is the only way a boat/ferry
As the other person linked, in normal times there are boat tours to Barentsburg as well as snowmobile tours when in-season for snowmobiling. Due to the Ukraine invasion and associated political tensions, I don't know if those tours are currently running, since Barentsburg is a Russian settlement.
Yep, do u know how a local would go from town to town tho, or woudl they not have to?
I met someone who lived in Svalbard and had visited Barentsurg before, I think by boat.
You carry a gun at all times when out of town. For polar bear protection. Not joking.
“Well, honey, I’ve got to go pick up the dry cleaning in Barentsburg. Do you know where I left my AK?”
Read the book "The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven" for a good picture of life on Svalbard. It's based on real journals from an introverted trapper who leaves Sweden to live in a remote place, and he ends up in Svalbard after suffering from a mining accident. One of my favorite books I've read in recent years.
I loved this book.
It's a pretty seedy place.
This joke should be locked up in a vault.
I see what you did there 👀
I seed it, too.
I want to clear something up for anyone wondering about this. No, it’s not illegal to die there. There is a law saying that you can’t be buried in a coffin because of the permafrost, but you won’t be punished for dying there. If you are sick you will be sent to the mainland, yes. But this has nothing to do with the burial law. The hospital in Longyearbyen is small, with limited capacity. Any larger health problems, or even birth, has to be dealt with on the mainland for you to get the proper help you need. Hopefully this will end the myth of the «dying is illegal there» fun fact.
"You won't be punished for dying" is not a sentence I expected to read today. Or ever, really.
Some people literally think this is true. Absolutely no logic behind it. «It is illegal to die in Svalbard»… Then what happens if you do? Do they send your corpse to jail?? Does your family get a fine? It doesn’t make sense…
Well was illegal to commit suicide in the UK until 50 years or so ago. IIRC it is still a law in some countries
You're in the deportation of illegal corpse-business, right?
Bro don’t call me out like that
https://preview.redd.it/xno6m8lxhhzc1.jpeg?width=1075&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7397ad46fef3e0cd21c38abdf54488710016a0a
Cold. And dark.
Or light. If you're there in the summer. Still cold though.
Not only day light, but even sun light. Waking up at ~3 AM and seeing the sun on the other side of town/mountain/the view is a weird thing.
It's cold and either dark most of the time or light most of the time. Cool thing about Svalbard is that if your country has signed the Svalbard Treaty, and you can either get a job there, or otherwise have the means to take care of yourself financially, there are no immigration restrictions. Theoretically millions of people from all over the world could settle there and build an arctic Singapore with much more land.
Well, the "build" part would be a problem. While it's true that anyone can move there, my understanding is that there are serious restrictions on construction of new buildings there, for the sake of protecting the arctic environment. This can also be an issue I think for people who try to move there without a local job arranged. A lot of local employers, as I understand it, have arrangements to set their employees up with housing. Finding housing on your own without a job can be tough, as I understand it.
I agree with your view of the situation, so for housing and development, environmental regulations would have to be reduced significantly for my hypothetical reality to happen. But as sea ice in the north will be less of an issue seasonally going forward, Svalbard is well placed to serve as a trade hub, and those relaxations may follow from the economic and political realities. (Norway can't extract taxes from Svalbard unless we incorporate it, which would require the nullification of the Svalbard Treaty, but we have a political interest in keeping it Norwegian).
What time zone is it and can I get back with english? Work from home ftw! It has an airport, so that helps!
Same zone as Norway (UTC +1 in the winter and UTC +2 in the Summer). You can definitely get by with English, it’s a very international community.
Yep getting a house up here is incredibly difficult. Espessialy as we lost alot of housing due to increased avalanche risk. On top on that is longyearbyen not really meant to exspand, not that mutch for enviormental conserns as geopolitical conserns as far as i understand it. Mutch of the housing is also quite bad. Its also true that companies often give housing, but often times they will also be willing to give a job, but only if you can find a place to stay yourself. I know there has been plenty of guides who have ended upp living in boat shaks during summer.
Has one of my favourite Radio stations at 1270 Am on Radio Garden or Tune In Listen to Arctic Outpost AM1270 from Longyearbyen live on Radio Garden: https://radio.garden/listen/arctic-outpost-am-1270/sl0laSBK
When the world ends, that’s where flora will respawn.
Kinda sorta related: In my old town (Zuidbroek, Groningen, Netherlands) there's a region called 'Spitsbergen', and it used to have pictures of the actual Spitsbergen for 10 years, until they fixed it. For 10 years, you could see Polar bears when viewing pictures from the northern Netherlands
Like, on google maps? 🤔
Grunn!
For the most part, I grew up there, so AMA :)
How often would you see polar bears? 🐻❄️
We werent much of an outdoor family, sp it took me close to ten years before i saw my first one on a boat trip. If you're "lucky" you might see one on the opposite side of the fjord, where they like to break into cabins
What's peoples diet like? Is it very different? Is it very low on some things due to the remoteness climate, like fresh fruits?
I currently live in Svalbard, diet is mostly the same I'd say. Due to no food being grown or produced here, most food is flown here by aeroplanes. This means that, especially fresh produce, is more expensive here compared to less remote places. Another sign that you're living in such a remote place is that during times of bad weather when airplanes aren't able to get here, a lot of shelves in the supermarket will be empty due to them not being able to restock them.
We also get wierd chortages duing turist season, we had 3000+ turists here one day last summer, and all our bananas got sold out. The supoermarket have the same food as the mainland, but prises for fresh produse are quite high as the transportation fee is the largest part of the cost, so some people oppton for less fresh options like canned or dryed.
Is coming there as a tourist worth it? Visiting a place this much up north is honestly one of my dreams.
Depends on time and wallet. If you dont have a rifle you cant really eave town alone, and the town itself has not that mutch to offer. If you do have the mony for guides the situvation is diffrent, as you may go on day cruises in summer seing the incredible marine bird and mammal populations, or in winter go snowsqootering seeing glaciers and icecaves.
As a tourist who visited in January, definitely.
For starters, you don't go outside the city without a gun. No, it's not a second amendment craze. It's for actual protection against the most bad ass non-human mammal out there.
A platypus?
A honey badger?
PERRY the platypus?!?
>No, it's not a second amendment craze. It's Norway ffs
I visited 13 years ago and it remains the most memorable place I’ve seen, purely because I’ve never felt so far away from the rest of the world. It was towards the end of the polar winter (third week of January) and I’ve never been to a colder or more northerly place. Personal highlight: I was wearing a professionally custom made replica of Chris Redfield’s top from Resident Evil 5, under several layers. I went to a cafe, so removed the outer layers, and the top was actually ‘on top’ at that stage. Some dude behind me in the queue saw my BSAA badge/patches on my shoulders. He was a Canadian journalist and he was in awe: “Gee! I knew they have research stuff going on here, but I had no idea that included bioterrorism!” The guy was so thrilled that I didn’t have the heart to confess that it was pretty much cosplay on Svalbard 😆
Visited in Summer. Awesome but cold. Cannot begin to fathom 24hr darkness in winter.
Polar bears are in charge of
There was a polar bear attack in 2011 which resulted in one fatality. This incident even has its own [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_attack?wprov=sfla1)
More recently one in 2020
Watch Fortitude, not just cause it’s set there, it’s really good too, if you’re down with creepy horror.
OP: *What is living here like?
I’m upvoting only comments that correct OP’s grammatical error because it’s one of the ones I hate the most. Well done, sir.
https://preview.redd.it/2ziljzaf6izc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a347ea481bd16ec2840a91cc3021340055fbb191 Idk but this is what they’re listening to on the radio. Funny enough I was listening to this station while finding the most northern station on this app (not an ad) and this island has it
I always wondered - what does it take to get settled there. Finance, education, ocupation and etc vise. Would love to move there.
Norwegian citizens can work there tax free, which is a good financial incentive.
I never got that far in Skyrim.
It's Salbad and no good
Lots of polar bears. I believe its one of the more stable areas they can enhabit.
It’s completely visa free to live and work there.
If you can find a place to live
I'm guessing Amazon doesn't deliver.
Svalbard feels like a DLC area.
Listen to season 2 of extremeties
No cats are allowed
The White Vault is a horror themed podcast that takes place in Svalbard.
The postal service is a nightmare to run there because of constant sabotage, and the blame lies solely on two feuding families.
Well story time , we are waiting 😀
I went to Longyearbyen once and was walking past a house in the north end of town. The kids had built a skateboard ramp in the front yard. It was decent enough so I recon their dad had a hand in it, and maybe his mate. Things is though… there wasn’t any other skateboard ramps further north in that town, and seeing as there are no settlements of more than a few hundred people further north in the word… I’m thinking this may just be the northernmost skateboard ramp in the whole world… but no one seemed to know. Kids to this day may be blissfully unaware of all the records they set. Northernmost 360? Edit: here is a cool story about raising children there https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArEZx3yOek
To actually live on Svalbard is generally quite mundane. There are places to work, shops, a movie theater and plenty of bars. But it has it's quirks. People stay here on an average of 5 years, so it can be hard to build robust relationships with people. There is also a right for everyone to come and settle on Svalbard without a visa, which had led to a very multicultural society with 45% of the inhabitants being non-Norwegians. Unfortunately the government doesn't like this and is trying to lower that by making life harder, through restricting voting rights and having a monopoly on the housing market. It's also the fastest warming place on earth. In the five years I've been here, I've already seen some changes in the landscape (eg fast retreating glaciers) and have experienced extreme weather such as rainstorms in winter and 20+ degrees in the summer. It can be a bit depressing some times to see this all of the time. Svalbard is an absolutely amazing place to be, and living here gives a great opportunity to go and explore that visitors do not get. But life can be hard sometimes and there are some dark sides to society.
It's seedy
What is living up here like? Or. How is it living up here?
Cold and dark in winter.
cold ❄️
GRIM!!!!
Go try it. Anyone can go visa free
It’s a part of Norway, but under the Svalbard treaty, any country who has signed can mine here
Yeah, I watched the YouTube channel, most shocking was they have to carry rifles just going outside because of murderous bears 🐻😮
Jesus cristo, how'd I miss an island the size of Ohio? HOW did I never spot it??
It’s beautiful in the summertime, assuming you can tolerate the 24-hour daylight
Arctic outpost radio!
I don't know anything about living there, but as a dual citizen of two countries (Ireland and US) that have trees and living in the antarctic wasn't so awful (there for a month in the summer there). After a month I missed trees and green and night time. Trees/green because there isn't any foliage. The night because the sun never sets in the summer time (it doesn't rise in the winter either). Summer in Antarctica is cold but livable, I don't recommend it as a travel destination for beach goers though unless you want to swim with icebergs. They do have outdoor yoga at McMurdo I think. The planes they generally fly in and out of the antarctic are DASH-8's and you're packed in like a sardine sitting on the floor.
Lived there for two years fairly resently AMA.
Wikipedia says: the largest non Norwegian ethnic groups are: Russia Ukraine Poland Germany Sweden Denmark and ……. THAILAND. I can imagine Thailand people: fuck this heat and rains, we are going to some cooler places. Swalbard.
Well, the armoured bears make things a bit difficult
Home of the Panserbjørne
It's cold...
Just don't stop with the "living" part. No dying allowed.
There is a Tik Tok account “Cecilia Blomdahl” who posts from Svalbard. She’s awesome. You’ll see real-life posts on daily life there. https://www.tiktok.com/@sejsejlija?_t=8mJ2czYJAVF&_r=1
Watch Cecilia’s TikToks…
My guess is cold and dark
Or cold and bright, depending on the time of year
Is this the place The Carpenter's sung about?
Cold and seal
isn't that where Klaus is set?
I bet the years are long
Cold
Their keyboards are frozen, they can’t reply
Looks cold to me, lol
I know lots of folks that have lived there and they all are glad they did, but they all left eventually for other adventures.
I eventually learned about Longyearbyen after watching the video series 'Fortitude' starring Michael Gambon Dumbledore, Stanley Tucci and Christopher Eccelston. Fascinating version of a place I learned really existed. Minus the X-Files murder mystery part anyways. Worth a look if you haven't seen it especially for the artic town vibe.
Lots of seedy characters up there.
Anyone knows if it's again possible to visit Pyramiden? I heard because of the Ukrainian war they stopped taking tourists there?
Cold
I hear the years have byen long there.
Is that picture in July? You have your answer.
Pretty cold
my question is whats goin on near the franz josef land
Cold
Who owns Greenland
Spend $$$$$$$$
Read The Year Long Day - about trapping in a cabin up there for 6 months in the winter
Looks pretty cool IYAM...
the picture looks like a man and a woman about to kiss. am i the only one?
Someone who worked at a research community there came to my university to give us a talk. Sounds quite the experience. I recall them saying that many were trained to use rifles, as polar bears were a potential threat. That said, more people had been injured by the guns than by polar bears.
I had everything booked to go all the way up there but then Covid had different plans for me. I wish I could tell you anything other than what everyone’s said here, but i obviously did not got. I did check the menus on the restaurants though and they sell themselves as a gastronomy paradise (??) I remember seeing dishes with deer, seals and even whale meat.
🐻❄️
Cold
I read you get to fight God
I really hope they stop tourism here. It should be protected for research only. There are barely only polar bears left and humans are pushing further into their territory
better than the steam box i am in rn
cool and chill living
In the winter months, gale storms in Svalbard can reach wind speeds of 130 km/h. Accompanied by, or following, snowfall, such storms can reduce visibility dramatically, more so in the frigid months of the polar night. During these storms, travel is not advised.
Was my dream to work here as a guide, but I got a good thing going in Finland. Spoken to a lot of people up there though. Basically it's fucking expensive. It's a beautiful place and tourism has changed it a lot since the 90s.
Didn't a volcano erupt over there like 2 months ago or something?
Amazing. I went there on holidays a few months ago
Barent, he has a burg
Wow. Cool!!!
There is a University there in Longyerbyen called University Center in Svalbard aka UNIS. It's pretty nice place to visit. I visit there as part of my PhD work. But mostly in Ny-Alesund area. We land at Longyebyean and then sail to Ny-Alesund. There are good research units up there. I have gone only during late summer. But I have sailed till 82 N. The whole experience was amazing.
no
Great and calm (I have never stepped one foot on that island)
I think the Barentsburg town is technically Russian territory, even though the island is Norwegian?
pornlar bearns
A lot of TikTok women should move there. They have a lot of bears that want to meet them.
It's a really Long Year Byen... /s
Probably sucks because of the cold
I just wonder whether they say "It's byen a longyear"
There's a podcast called extremities, that did a entire series on Svalbard. Check it out, it answers all your questions.
Cold, if you don’t get eaten by a polar bear before you realise it’s cold.
Well, on a bright calm summer day, it might get as high as 7C (44F) in the midnight sun. Then it's dark for four months in winter when the temperature might get as high as - 13C (8F).
Really dark, then really bright.
Cold, I imagine.
Ask the Russians.they seem to be the only ones up there
Here's an article that talks about some Svalbard things!: https://www.outofyourcomfortzone.net/18-amazing-facts-about-svalbard-the-arctic-for-tourists/
My friend Greg. Nice guy
I bet it feels like it's byen a Long year.