The expedition
Partnership
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L'Expédition
The location
Our destination is that of the Svalbard province, one of many archipelago on the coast of Greenland. Covering just over 24,000 square miles, this territory ranges from 74° and 81° north in latitude and 10° and 35° east in longitude. Under the authority of the Norwegian crown since 1920, it is said to have been visited by Vikings during the 12th century, but its official discovery is that of Willem Barents in 1596. Up until the 18th century, the islands served as an international whaling base. And at the dawn age of polar expeditions, they were used many times as a base camp.
The Spitzbergen
Nowadays, 60% of the islands are covered with glaciers. Its population is very small (2838 yearly inhabitants) and is split in ten colonies on only three of a dozen islands in the archipelago. The local economy is mainly based on coal mining, but since the end of the XXth century, it is more and more linked with the growing tourism, greatly thanks to Arctic raids. Svalbard also plays an important role in polar research thanks to UNIS which is effectively the closest university to any of the earth's poles. Opened in 1993 in Longyearbyen, the capital, it welcomes about 300 students every year.
The island we will go to is the one housing the capital, i.e. the one people call Spitzbergen. With an area of 15,000 square miles, this piece of land is the largest of the archipelago but is also the hilliest one. Its highest point, mount Newton, rising at 5,633 feet, is the primary goal of our expedition.
Transport to Longyearbyen will be done by plane from Paris, a stop-over being required in Oslo.
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