Walking & Skiing with a pulk (sledge)
over the Spitsbergen Glaciers
Walking with the pulks through a bumpy part of the glacier.
Using a pulk (sledge) in wintertime during a long ski tour is very often used.
Way not use that same pulk in summertime for walking over blue glaciers?
Spitsbergen is a place with many easy glaciers, this should be a good place to try it out.
The last years I have been using a pulk on the Spitsbergen glaciers and trying things out.
The results were very good: It is much....much easier to transport all the necessary equipment
in a pulk behind you, then to carry everything in your backpack.
On some of those trips other people joined me. That were mostly people without any glacier experience.
Also they liked it, it is better to have the heavy equipment in your pulk.
They all learned how to walk with crampons on the glacier, and how to walk/ski with a pulk behind you.
The easy glaciers are perfect to learn many things which are needed on this trip.
The pulk glide must easier over blue ice then over snow. Allthough the blue ice can be very sharp, the pulk
is not damaged that much. You have to take care where you are walking on the glacier (avoiding the bumpy area's).
Spitsbergen has many big glaciers which are safe to walk/ski on. But you must have experience to know where you can
walk/ski. The guide has been more then once in the area's where these trips take place. He knows exactly where to go to
avoid big problems.
An easy big glacier on Spitsbergen.
The most of the Spitsbergen glaciers are easy glaciers and not steep. Easy glaciers means you can walk over it
(no crevasse danger). But there are places with crevasses on the Spitsbergen glaciers. When you know where they are,
just avoid these places. Of course, glaciers are moving and will open or close crevasses, but this will mostly take place
at the same place in the same area of the glacier. When you see (and have walked/skied on) many glaciers you know where
these area's are. You also can learn a lot when you read books about glaciermovements. But this is just the bases,
being out in the field on the glaciers thats the best way to learn a lot.
The Spitsbergen glaciers has another thing what made walking more unpleasant, and that is water on the glacier!!
Due to the effects of global warming the Spitsbergen glaciers are melting faster then ever. In summertime there can be a
lot of water on the glacier at some places. When you know where these places are you can avoid them, if possible.
On the glaciers we will also see small rivers. Some of them we can avoid, others we must cross by walking through them
or using a ladder. These crossing will sometime take some time because the pulks must be guided on the ladder, but this
is all part of this special adventure.
Crossing a small glacierriver, the pulks we are using are floatable (if not overloaded).
Sometimes you will see that the guide is walking or skiing in a big round to avoid an area with crevasses or with much water.
It is possible to make long glaciers trips in summertime with a pulk behind you on Spitsbergen but you need to have the
right equipment and one person who knows where to go..... and more important: glacier area's which you should avoid.
And summer trips takes a little bit more time but it is a great and save adventure!!
In wintertime things are a little bit easier. There is no waterproblem on the glacier on many crevasses are covered with
enough snow to ski safely over them. But the big crevasses area's should be avoid always. It is much saver to ski over
a small crevasse then to walk over it, the ski has much more support then a shoe. But it is much better to avoid every
crevasse. With a good eye you can see in wintertime if there is a crevasse somewhere in the area where you are.
Ski-walking through a wet snow area on the glacier.
Another big advantage of using a pulk instead of carrying everything in your backpack is that you can take some more luxury
things with you what makes camping more comfortable. Things like:
- a bigger tent with more volume inside, this makes those waiting days more acceptable
- an extra foam matrass,
- thin isolation folie which covered the ground area of the inner tent,
- the food can be placed in big plastic waterproof cans, this is very handy and the polarbear can't smell the food.
- these cans have the perfect size to be used as chairs during lunch and dinner breaks.
- You can take some more tasty food with you. During a Spitsbergen fieldtrip you eat a lot.
To give you an idea: During the kayak expedition 2007 every one carried food with them in the pulk for 3 weeks. Beside
much more equipment for the kayak trip. We had to carry then also some light equipment in our backpacks to avoid that the
pulks where loaded to hight. The pulks get unstable then and will collapse more often.
Enjoying some nice views during the walk on the glacier.
