by aramatzne@gmail.com | 26 Nov 2018 | Roads Taken
Shades of wonder
The post-fire-season fires rage in California not far south of where I am working at my desk. There is smoke in the air despite it being November. It is daylight from 0715hr to 1645hr. There is a waning moon, the mornings are frosted, the days full of sun. Where are the glaciers?
Svalbard is an experience scrambled in my brain, the light and time, the landscape, people, and water, have no edges, no differentiation. They are fluid, bleeding one into the other. My method of understanding seems to be via deconstruction. I look across my photos, writing, and thoughts for small things I can grasp — details, colors, scale. I hope the whole will reveal itself slowly in the shades of wonder it deserves.
In the meantime, I’m meditating on a few Svalbard blues.
The ocean’s surface shifted colors according to the sky’s mood, the sun’s position, and the motion of the waves. This best represents the fluidity of time, light, people, that lives in my mind.
An iceberg in front of Recherchebreen, the glacier from which it calved, glows with inner blue light during a snowstorm.
Once thought to be a peninsula, the retreating glacier Blomstrandbreen revealed an island instead. Antigua anchored between the sky and its reflections.
Icebergs and ice floes, deep water- to ice-blue, fraternize at the base of Wahlenbergbreen glacier.
Ice imitates frosty agate on the beach in Tempelfjorden.
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by aramatzne@gmail.com | 12 Nov 2018 | Roads Taken
Little things of interest
Seaweed and diamonds hang out together on the beach.
Cutie-piper!
A lone figure watches the reindeer on an elevated beach
When ice begins to form on the ocean and the seas are rough the blocks rub and bump against each other causing edges to turn up. This is pancake ice.
Fossils in a boulder
Scale is everything.
Antigua in the distance, Van Keulenfjorden.
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by aramatzne@gmail.com | 2 Nov 2018 | Roads Taken
Afternoon shadows on the mountains of Norde Isfjorden National Park, Svalbard.
Confession
I am reluctant to write about Svalbard and the Arctic. The place is so far removed from the usual and from the expectations of the norm that it is difficult to describe.
I have had a few conversations with people where pieces of the whole leaked out, like secrets I was not meant to share. And the response was as anticipated – the ideas, the images were so beyond recognition and understanding as to be preposterous.
Like rumors, gossip that is not unheard of but beyond credibility. The Arctic and the small corner of Svalbard that I saw fall into this category.
The colors of autumn in an October sunset over Spitsbergen.
The mountains rise directly from the sea and the fjords unimpeded by beaches or plains; the glaciers grind down the mountains and valleys. The sky extends beyond the imagination in colors that don’t exist in other realms. The atmosphere is both clearer and thicker, which seems counterintuitive and contradictory. The sun is never overhead – even in summer, it circles the horizon at a stubbornly low angle. Setting in late October and not rising again until mid-February it begrudgingly offers light for eight months a year. Graciously, however, it bestows the same amount of light in the year that the rest of the globe receives. When there are snow and ice, the colors of the sky offset the monochrome palette of mountains and rocks. Distance is deceptive and what appears just across the tundra may be hours away. Mountains loom above the water, glaciers loom above the people, and the sky wraps us all into its folds indiscriminately.
Challenge
Does the Arctic feel my absence the way I feel its? No. The land is indifferent to me. The Arctic does not suffer fools lightly, and only a fool would go to the Arctic for a few weeks thinking that was enough.
To say I am changed is trite. To deny it is folly. My challenge now is to express what seeped into my consciousness and spirit without losing the essence of the experience, without giving in to hyperbole and empty words.
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by aramatzne@gmail.com | 21 Oct 2018 | Roads Taken
The tall ship Antigua
The Arctic Circle residency is conducted on a tall ship. Twenty-eight residents, seven crew, and four guides set sail from Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen to explore the west coast of Svalbard. We found sun, snow, glaciers, icebergs, rain, reindeer, polar bear tracks, walruses, seasickness, fulmars, ethereal calm, swimming beaches, northern lights, excellent food, sublime sunsets, blue air, fierce winds, islands, waves, epic hikes, camaraderie, laughter, collective awe, joy, and humility. Each person brought their unique perspective, their creativity, and their best game to the ship. We were all richly rewarded.
The Antigua anchored at the foot Ymerbukta, our first glacier.
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by aramatzne@gmail.com | 18 Oct 2018 | Roads Taken
Landfall
Back on Terra Firma. This was an amazing trip: Snow, cold, ice, glaciers, mountains, rough seas, sailing, tight quarters, Arctic sun, reindeer, walruses, epic hiking, creativity, adventure, an amazing crew, and diverse shipmate-residents.
There is a lot for me to process, I’m in Oslo for a day and then the still-long trip back to Oregon begins. I expect to be reunited with the truck and Big Cat in Montana on Tuesday or Wednesday and hope to be home by Friday, 26 October. I will begin sorting and processing thoughts and images along the way. Stay tuned. xoxo
Grazing reindeer on Isfjord, Spitsbergen
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by aramatzne@gmail.com | 30 Sep 2018 | Roads Taken
Town
I understand now that the sun is too low on the horizon to clear the mountains around Longyearbyen; I look forward to sailing into the sunshine on Monday. Below are a few more shots around town.
Sunshine so far away.
A stylish/stylized/styling polar bear all dressed up for a day on the town.
The unknown miner drills into mid-town coal reserves.
Sun catches both ends of the mountains across the fjord but stays out of town this time of year.
The mountains across Isfjorden catch a few late afternoon rays.
The old coal cableway looks down upon the current power plant. No indication of what keeps the new plant firing.
All roads lead to Isfjorden and views of Nordre Isfjorden National Park beyond.
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