![]() ![]() General Route By boat – Adventfjorden – Sanskbukta (in an hour) -Nordenskioldbreen glacier – Pyramiden. Read our interview with Ragnhild Utne from Longyearbyen.įrom Mainland to Capital : SAS flies to Longyearbyen several times per week from Oslo in summer and operates year-round daily flights from Tromso.įrom Capital to Pyramiden : The distance from Longyearbyen to Pyramiden is 50 km as the crow flies, but the distance over land is well over 100 km. It’s important to ensure that you get a double-entry visa so you can return to the Schengen area (mainland Norway) after your stay in Svalbard.Ĭapital : The city of Longyearbyen. ![]() Foreigners do not need a visa or work and residence permits from the Norwegian authorities to travel to Svalbard, but you must have a visa if you travel via Norway/the Schengen Area on your way to or from Svalbard. Visa : Spitsbergen (Svalbard) is not a part of the Schengen treaty system. We, the locals, will be happy to serve you and show you this hidden paradise built here in the Soviet Union. ![]() So, make no mistake – do not come here for a couple of hours, you need to stay here for at least one day to learn a little about this place. In winter you can take overnight trips to Pyramiden through snowmobiles. It’s a part of Trust Arktikugol which owns the Pyramiden settlement too. However, Arctic travel company Grumant, knows more about the Pyramiden than anyone else – since our company constantly supplements knowledge, study documents, communicate with those who were in the Pyramid before. The easiest way to reach Pyramiden is by boat, on a day tour.īoat tours to Pyramiden operate from about mid-May to the beginning of October, depending on sea ice. Arctic Grumant, Polar Charter, Spitsbergen Travel and several other companies organize the eight- to ten-hour boat tours. For overnight stay in Pyramiden you can also choose Terra Polaris. In Longyearbyen, you can undoubtedly find trips to the Pyramid. Residents left by the boat and helicopters, which ferried them to Barentsburg to continue working for Arktikugol while the rest left for Russia.Īny recommendation on which boat/snowmobile tour to reach Pyramiden ? Last time coal was extracted from the mines on 31st March, 1998. In 1998, it was decided to close the mine in the Pyramid and to preserve the village. Pyramiden’s coal mines, were never profitable. Lawsuits were filed against Arktikugol by families of victims, adding misery to the functioning of Pyramiden coal mines. In 1996, tragedy struck, when Vnukovo Airlines flight 2801, an Arktikugol chartered flight carrying 141 passengers heading from Moscow to Pyramid crashed near Longyearbyen, killing all of them. When the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Russia had no money left for two mining villages – Pyramiden and Barentsburg, and besides, there were fires in the Pyramid mine and part of the mine was filled with water. After World War II, the Soviets allocated more money to the town and constructed a hospital, a recreation center called the Cultural Palace and a large cafeteria, complete with a giant mosaic depicting the Svalbard landscape populated by heroes of Norse legends in the typical Soviet block-style fashion, and with rounded edges to lessen the impact of the bitter winter wind. Trust Arktikugol, owned by the Government of Russia, is the coal mining company which has been operating mining on the islands of Spitsbergen from 1931. There were several reasons Pyramiden was abandoned – political, economic and geological. In the polar night, you want to constantly sleep, and it is very difficult to wake up and go to work, but gradually you get used to it.Ĭan you tell us the real story of Pyramiden? Is it true that this Russian coal mining settlement was abandoned hastily? I had no idea that in Pyramiden it might not rise at all. My father had told me how he worked in the North of Russia, where on a polar night the sun shone for two hours a day. In large villages, such as Longyearbyen or Barentsburg, they are difficult to spot but on the Pyramid, they come straight to the village, especially in the spring (March-May).Īt first, it was very unusual when the sun shone all day in summer, and in winter it did not appear on the horizon at all. You can not go outside the village (in fact outside the house) without a gun because the owners of the island are bears, and we merely their guests. For example, on a polar night, there may be a strong wind with snowstorm that it can blow you into a nearby snow bank. There are, of course, some unusual moments, but they only make life more interesting here. We have everything for everyday life, so that we do not deny ourselves of anything. I would generally say that life here is the same as on the mainland. How difficult would you say it is to live there? Svalbard is one of the most northerly island groups on Earth but is surprisingly accessible. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |