Once we had completed the safety training course, we were all set to enter the field and explore the research area on Thursday morning. We were up and out after collecting all the essential kit from the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), and encountered our first Arctic wildlife.
Blue sky and sunshine meant the conditions were perfect for hiking the area and experimenting the best routes onto the glaciers. Whilst the views were incredible, the access was a little tricky due to the braided meltwater channel being in full flow.
Friday we successfully crossed all of the channels - with a fair amount of jumping and concentration. We managed to scope the area of Larsbreen glacier and up onto the ridge between two of the research glaciers. It was useful to plan where our equipment would be best suited, whilst enjoying a mountainous hike.
Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse, and the low cloud cover resulted in very poor visibility. Saturday was a day of research, article reading and field planning; but as the cloud lifted itself this afternoon we used the opportunity to walk to the moraines at the terminus of Longyearbreen glacier. We have now established the best access routes to two of our study sites, familiarised ourselves with the best river channel crossings, and drawn a few pretty field-sketches along the way.
Let's hope for less cloud, calm waters and lots of data for the coming week!