Balloon expedition to Svalbard

[Blog] Balloon expedition to Svalbard

Thanks to the collaboration with Globus Kontiki and Spitzbergen Adventures, we had the opportunity to participate in the balloon expedition to Svalbard, an archipelago managed by Norway that is halfway between Norway and the North Pole, reason why it does not appear in The maps we know of Europe. Svalbard is a magical combination of frozen mountains and magnificent fjords in the middle of the Arctic, with average temperatures of -30 ° C at this time of year. A unique ecosystem with the highest concentration of polar bears recorded on the planet, not to forget the sea lions and the Arctic reindeer besides a multitude of birds that take advantage of the strict environmental protection established by the Norwegian government.

Svalbard is a completely different place to the plateaus of Greenland, or to the plateau of the Arctic ice; Is a unique place of hypnotic beauty for those who appreciate the wonders of nature and the animal world. A place to get lost and meet.

The archipelago has less than 3,000 inhabitants that are mainly concentrated in Longyearbyen. It is one of the best places to observe the aurora borealis in an extreme environment of hypnotic light in which the time of the glaciations seems to have stopped in a photograph of immaculate white.

We had the opportunity to make unforgettable flights by entering the fjords, flying over the mountains and the frozen valleys of Spitzbergen, and visiting the old Russian mining base of Pyramiden, abandoned 20 years ago but still a memory of the frozen in time. A changing and unpredictable weather, together with the low temperatures, made each flight a challenge from the moment of its planning and transport of the material, for which we used the snowmobiles that along with the dogs sleds are the only possible means of transport In these latitudes.