South Spitsbergen '80

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Images (19)

Comments (14)

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Arctic Scandinavia

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South Spitsbergen '80

Arctic Trip 2006

South Spitsbergen '80

$South Spitsbergen \'80$

Page Type: Album

Image Type(s): Rock Climbing, Alpine Climbing, Hiking, Wildlife, Flora, Scenery, Water

Page By: yatsek

Created/Edited: Oct 24, 2008 / Aug 25, 2012

Object ID: 456457

Hits: 2033

Page Score: 92.04% - 37 Votes

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Summer 1980 - My Vintage Slides

It turned out they were still in the drawer – my old ORWO slides (made by the German "Democratic" Republic, really decent quality – no kidding). Actually, it was some photos of the North by Lolli that had inspired me. I had a few of my slides scanned and this is what's become of them – I'd been hoping to get something a bit closer to how the originals look (and I swear they really do look better:-)). Anyway, the pix were taken in 1980 on the island of Spitsbergen (part of the Svalbard Archipelago), which belongs to Norway, but has been long used by a few Polish universities as a research/vacation area (here's the map). Sadly, several months later my life was turned upside down, when – instead of visiting Juneau as planned – I found myself in the army and martial law struck.

External Links

Svalbard

Upside Down Photo-TR: from Highest to Sea Level

Horsundtind 1431m

Raudfjellet 1014m

On top of Tonefjellet 945m

From top of Tonefjellet

Almost top of Tonefjellet

Brattega, above 600m - background, below 700m

Tornbjörnsenfjellet 683m

Gulliksenfjellet 578m, in the background

Down Isles (of eider duck)

Ptarmigans

Eimfjellet 641m (background)

W side of Gulliksenfjellet 578m

E slopes of Gulliksenfjellet

Little auks' in their home-maze of quartzite blocks

Who did it?

Elves didn't do it

Saxifraga oppositifolia

Summer reindeer

Mid-September sunsets

Images

Comments

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Viewing: 1-14 of 14

Tomek Lodowy

Grrreat !!!

Voted 10/10

Fantastic story and great adventure, these photos have soul and history, I feel it, great job, thanks for sharing.

Zdrowko

Tomek

Posted Oct 24, 2008 1:01 pm


	yatsek	Re: Grrreat !!!
	Hasn't voted	Hi Tomek, Glad you like it. And I'm happy people your age who were born in this part of Europe are now free to go hiking/climbing/working all over the continent, not to mention the Isles:-) I hope you never stop living your dreams Jacek
		Posted Oct 25, 2008 5:22 am

Dmitry Pruss

Fun album, thanks for sharing!

Voted 10/10

(I also have a collection of 1980s vintage Arctics slides scanned for SP, and likely from the same brand film too LOL)

Posted Oct 26, 2008 3:15 pm

yatsek

Age of Canvas

Hasn't voted

you mean, or something not here yet? (what about the camera? Mine was a Zenit-E :-) reliable and durable)

Posted Oct 26, 2008 7:23 pm


	Dmitry Pruss	Re: Age of Canvas
	Voted 10/10	Actually most of them aren't organized into anything yet :) I was stuck in town with broken leg last fall, and did a lot of scanning. Including these pictures of Ural, and a few of Kola Peninsula... Zenits was too fancy for me back then LOL, I had a succession of Smena's
		Posted Oct 26, 2008 8:07 pm

yatsek

LOL

Hasn't voted

lol1: So you do realize what kind of thing made me do this vintage job this fall
lol:2 My Dad spent over 10 years beyond the Arctic circle, and he even brought some pics (made 3 years after Stalin died) so I've had the tundra somehow encoded deep inside
lol3: I got my Zenit from my parents. T'was a birthday present - they'd just returned from across the eastern frontier where they found it to be a real bargain
lol4: I actually had a chance to go to the States in 1980 but I didn't jump at it (have been and will be kicking myself for being that stupid till the end of my days)
Anyway, thanks a million for the links, I'll definitely take a closer look at your vintage pics later - surely they're no less fun than mine

Posted Oct 27, 2008 5:57 am

stinkycheezman33

wonderful fotos

Voted 10/10

great photos and it seems like such a beautiful area! would love to see more...

thanks for sharing

Posted Dec 8, 2008 8:17 am


	yatsek	Re: wonderful fotos
	Hasn't voted	Thanks for your interest. I've found some fresher ones here: http://photos.poland.pl/categories/gallery,Polish_Polar_Station_Hornsund_by_Mateusz_Moskalik,gid,156094,cid,169,view,short.htm?sh=1
		Posted Dec 8, 2008 11:23 am

Nanuls

Spitsbergen

Voted 10/10

This is a really nice album Jacek, Spitsbergen's one of those places I've always been intrerested in - being a geographer of course. What sort of research were you doing out there?

Posted Dec 8, 2008 4:03 pm


	yatsek	Re: Spitsbergen
	Hasn't voted	Thanks, Dan, I should've cleaned some of the old dirt on the computer before posting (as they didn't bother at the scanning point:). What I was paid for was basically digging holes in the ground and collecting samples (helping a man doing research on wild geese). As to my specialism, which was geomorphology, it was sort of 19th-century approach – find yourself a problem, then think up a weird solution – no goal, no plan, no team work, no technology, sh... Actually, now I wish I hadn't gone. The alternative (unfortunately I did have to choose between the two tempting options) was a PhD in environmental protection, at technical university. The way I see it now, I made the wrong choice.
		Posted Dec 10, 2008 7:47 am


	Nanuls	Re: Spitsbergen
	Voted 10/10	Funnily enough my dissertation involved me wandering around the mountains with a spade collecting soil samples. Nothing wrong with that methodology ;) It's a shame you feel that going was the wrong choice, can't be that many people that get to go. Such is life I guess... By the way, have you had anymore thoughts about teaching?
		Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:01 pm


	yatsek	Re: Spitsbergen
	Hasn't voted	Nothing wrong, right, if you wonder with a purpose, and the research geese was probably OK, I also respected the researcher. But he was a kind of addition to our – friendly but far from productive – 'team'. I also did my (master's) dissertation by walking, mapping and digging – even got honours and the results published:). I went to Spitsbergen for the obvious reason but also since I was hoping to get a post at the university. Now I think had I done that PhD in environmental protection at the other uni, I wouldn't have dropped out of (real) science. If all this was happening these days I'd simply go on to study in the West. Then my professor actually offered Alaska the following year but martial law was quicker:-( As to teaching, I've been very good at it (I do know as there were some student opinion surveys conducted), it worked fantastically, except for the finances, while I taught at the so called "good" schools/colleges but the average state school is a different matter. Anyway, believe me Dan, the older you get the worse you feel doing jobs that clash with your personality type.
		Posted Dec 10, 2008 3:27 pm

lcarreau

Jacek ?

Voted 10/10

I apologize for not reading this report earlier (my excuse being
from lack of time resulting from occupational burn-out.)

I was in Norway (on a U.S. military ship) in 1978. Our port was
the southernmost coast, and I remember I had to wear an overcoat
outdoors, being it was quite chilly; as I sampled some Norwegian rum.

So, this is the so-called "No Man's Land" that the Brits talk
about? It looks like a very peaceful place; very isolated from
the wars of mankind.

In my opinion, you should have been allowed to travel to Alaska.
Military conflicts tend to divert our chosen course through life.
I hope Poland was able to solidify itself through these horrific
trials and tribulations that have came to past in the Twentieth
Century.

I know you saw elves, but did you happen to see reindeer ???
THANKS for sharing this terrific bit of HISTORY with us !!!!

Posted Mar 18, 2009 7:10 pm


	yatsek	Re: Jacek ?
	Hasn't voted	Very kind of you, Larry - thank YOU for reading it all! Greetings from No Man's Land!!! Left-wing (at times - generally well balanced:)) Elf
		Posted Mar 19, 2009 6:15 am

Viewing: 1-14 of 14