Bolterdalen and Foxvanna

Our last two days of field work for Quaternary Geology of Svalbard took us to Bolterdalen and Foxvanna for two day-trips. The area is about a fifteen minute drive outside of Longyearbyen along a dirt road that leads through the main fjord of Adventdalen. Vacation cabins dot the brownish-green valley-sides which rise to snow-covered  mountains. Well snow-cover is not really an indicator of high elevation here in the Arctic. I forgot to mention in my last blogpost that while we were away in Nordenskioldbreen, it snowed for the first time this season. It didn't stick in Longyearbyen, but there was enough of an elevation difference to Nybyen (where our dorm buildings are, 3km uphill) that there was snow on the ground. Here in Bolterdalen too there was snow.

A map of Adventdalen, with Longyearbyen in the center and Bolterdalen/Foxvanna in the lower right corner.

A view across Adventdalen

The class was split in two, and my group was tasked with climbing up the mountain to get to Foxvanna Glacier to map it using ArcGIS software on our Toughbooks (really cool laptop/tablets that are extremely durable and waterproof). Walking to the mountain from our bus drop off point was interesting, we stopped every couple meters to take note of some minor change in the topography. The ground was very bouncy from the thick moss cover.

Starting our walk up 

We arrived at the base of the mountain. It was a very steep slope covered in loose slate and other rocks. Climbing it took nearly all your concentration as you picked out spots where you could put your foot without sliding down. Due to frost-processes in the dirt, there were many rocks that jutted out like spikes, sunken into the dirt on their thin side. I was out of breath very quickly and others in my group were even slower. People who had a fear of heights had a tough time.  

Just as I thought I had reached the top, there was another slope, this time covered in loose stones and snow. The snow actually helped give traction and you could always tell that where there was snow there was a small foothold. We weren't alone on the mountain. Off to the north were a herd of reindeer and right in front of us was a small flock of rock ptarmigans, also known as snow chickens. They are pretty easy to see when they're moving around, but I realize now they are almost impossible to see in a photograph, that's how good their camouflage is.

Can you see the three snow chickens in the picture?

Do you see them?

How about here?

Finally we made it to the plateau at the top of the mountain. It was a snow covered expanse of little tussocks of grass and rocks.  We were told to walk on the tops of the exposed rocks and not on the snow where the depth was invisible.

We ate lunch on top of a small moraine, looking down into the valley and Foxvanna glacier below.  Foxvanna means fox head, and from the air, the glacier does seem to have little fox ears separated by a large mound in the center. We then split in two again, our group would map in detail the slope immediately below us and the other group would travel to the other slope. Our leader was an American PhD student named Wesley who was a very chilled out, snowboard-bum type (but I must add incredibly smart and knowledgeable about our location).

One of our teachers, Lena Rubensdottir 

One "ear" of Foxvanna Glacier

The view across the fjord valley

Going down the slope was nearly as hard as going up, and it was very easy to slip on the loose rocks covered in snow. Every couple meters, we took note of some detail of the rocks - a change in color or size, any kind of structure like a flute or mound.

We got to the glacier ice and were not allowed to walk on it, as meltwater channels could be lightly bridged with snow and we could twist an ankle (not nearly as dangerous as a crevasse - Foxvanna is not that kind of glacier). 

Even if we couldn't see the meltwater, we could hear it. We were walking along the edge of the glacier, where the surface was little different than the surface we were on before. But every so often, we'd hear the rush and babbling of a strong meltwater channel right below us. 

Past the edge of the glacier, were enormous, truck-sized boulders. The one pictured below was easily the size of a pick-up truck.

The tesseract from Thor

Taking notes on the rocks

Looking up the slope we had just descended. The pointy bits are called cornices. We didn't go down those, obviously. 

 Beyond the large rocks was a large frozen pond or river. Wesley explained to us that the chemistry of this ice was different than the glacial ice, and that no one quite knew how it formed. 'Is it frozen glacial meltwater?' I asked. 'Maybe' he responded. 'What do you think it is?' I asked. 'I'm not here to tell you all the answers.'  Uh, ok. We spent a good twenty minutes just sliding around on the ice, kicking it. It was around 3:20 when I asked if we were waiting. 'No, but we should head out soon to return to the bus.' We went back to just standing around and looking at the ice. We got a good look underneath.

Underneath the frozen lake or whatever it is.

By then it was 3:30pm. I asked Wesley what time we were supposed to get back to the bus. '4:15' Uuuuh. I stand by my characterization of him as a snowboard-dude. We climbed back up to the plateau as fast as we could. At this point I didn't really care about snow, so I just walked straight through knee-high snow drifts high up on the mountain. The five of us in the group were getting more and more spread out as the faster walkers moved ahead, Wesley already pretty far in the distance with the rifle. I was annoyed since this was exactly what you weren't supposed to do. I waited to walk with the slowest walker, Sara. I don't care about being late if it means being not being safe from being picked off one by one by a bear. Climbing down the slope back to the bus was...interesting. The best strategy I found was to pretend like I was skiing.  I made tight S-curves by walking back and forth and sliding carefully with each step. We got back to the bus at 4:55pm. The teacher had an annoyed look on her face as I rushed onto the bus. 

The next day, the last day of fieldwork was mostly anti-climactic. I forgot my phone and camera, so I don't have any pictures. Our work that day was large-scale mapping of Bolterdalen. We walked up Bolterdalen, over little spongey tussocks of grass and saw meltwater channels, frost heave mounds, debris flows, braided rivers, and a small glacier. But our leader, Sarah, an Alaskan working in the Logistics department of UNIS, was not very enthusiastic. We walked, had lunch, walked a little further, met up with the other group, and then walked back. It was fairly restful with no excitements. 

A very shaky picture of the interior of Kroa

To celebrate our last day of fieldwork, the whole class went to Kroa, one of the nicest restaurants in Longyearbyen. They had smoked Minke whale on the menu and seal pelts everywhere as decor (seal pelts are really everywhere). The menu was very strange: it had two fancy dishes, one including the whale, and pizza, all with pineapple on it. The waiter said we could also have hamburgers.  I had a hamburger, it was rubbery.