Page 13 - 2019 AMA Summer

settlement in the world, and it is the area north of here, Haakon VII Land, and James I Land, which offers some of the best Alpine terrain, with superb peaks rising to 1400m. For examples, at the top of Kongsfjorden is Dronningfjella, and the Three Crowns.
Just before the north west corner, you come to Magdelene Fjord, which is spec- tacularly beautiful. The mountains here rise to about 1000m, and inland from here, all the way back south to Kongsfjorden, is a sea of similar peaks and glaciers.
From Magdelenefjorden we sailed on north, stopping at Virgo Hamna at the top end of the island, and then on out into the Arctic Ocean to reach latitude 80 degrees North, where we arrived at 02.30 on a bright sunny day. Sadly the weather then went bad, and we had a horrible 200 mile,
36 hour, beat back south to Isfjorden, straight into a Force 6 from the south east. Very unpleasant.
Later, on our way south back to Norway, we had a little bit of time in hand, so we made landfall in Skjervoya, about 20 miles east of the Lyngen Peninsula, and after a good run ashore there, we worked our way south to Tromso through the coastal channels, inside the islands. We spent a wet evening Nordlenangen at the end of the peninsula, but the next day was fine and the views were superb.
In conclusion, Spitzbergen would make a great, and different, objective for an expedition, and there’s 24 hours of daylight to climb! For more information the best reference is Spitzbergen, by Hugo Nunlist, which describes his Swiss expedition there in 1962.
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