But thet is Spitsbergen. Impressins.

Moscow – Frankfurt-am-Main – Oslo – Tromso - Oslo – Frankfurt-am-Main - Moscow

Behind the mountain there is another mountain. There are only mountains all around. In front, on the left, on the right… Too many mountains. That’s too much! For the last 10-15 minutes all passengers of the plane have been looking for an airfield. Either the pilot or the stewardess gave a sigh of relief.

There is snow around. Everything is covered with snow! There is a feeling that mountains are sluiced but not covered with snow.

There are very few people there. Almost nobody. There 3 thousand people who live in Spitsbergen. And you are glad to contribute by making the island more inhabited for a few days.

People say there are a lot of white bears there. We have to believe them in order not to gather statistics.

Lack of oxygen is compensated by a lot of sun, though not at polar night.

There are piles of coal in places. White and black, almost like in Stendal novels. Altogether it is the place of continuous contrasts. But that is Spitsbergen!

We arrived, landed, looked around. Maybe it is not an island at all, but iceberg in the middle of the ocean? It is written in black and white on the table: Longyearbyen. The northernmost settlement in the world. Walk down the gangway. The temperature is minus 20 degrees Celsius. At first you feel uncomfortable. Besides, there is unnecessary people fuss all around. You get accustomed to the new place, having walked to the station, but then you start feeling uncomfortable again when receiving your Samsonite. Around you there are very heavy knapsacks, kit-bags, impressive by their size, and other formless luggage. Though you are dressed in a sweater and real down-padded coat you look too well-groomed. Maybe you should give up shaving for the period of this business trip. It may help you to look hardened.

It is surprising but many people are met by natives. Though they are not relatives, they are very pleased, while sometimes they even understand each other in a very little way. Near you there is an Italian hugging Russian. Torturing the English language, they both try to find out about the events of the year far away from the Arctic. Two minutes were enough for them, as they were not interested in details. But now they have the whole year ahead. They are together again, there will be a lot for them to remember and share.

There are a lot of tourists there. Norwegian Longyearbyen has been living at their expense for the past 20 years, drawing exorbitant bills for accommodation and meals. And there is nothing to do with that. There is 2 hour flight for any alternative offer. Longierbyuen lives, prospers and it is actively developed. For 100 years of its existence, the date that was celebrated in 2006, the number of inhabitants increased to 1900. And if you take into account the whole Spitsbergen, then it makes 3000. Population of people and population of white bears finally reached the same level.

In holiday seasons the hotels are overcrowded. You can not even order dog team spontaneously, as dogs are in great demand. It is surprising, but here are very few huskies as they can not bear loads. Mainly dogs are delivered from Alaska. “This breed has 20% more stamina”, - firmly says Norwegian instructor, chilled to the bones. We did not have chance to compare, but let the dog with a rare name Gagarin sniff at us.

Patrol ship rests at mooring, protecting Norwegian interests. As required it has cannons. Though they are aimed not at bay entry, but at mountains, in order to protect people either from yetis or from white bears - nobody could explain.

Having glided down the crust of ice to the shore, full of enthusiasm, we washed our faces, snorting either like seals or like walruses. Then we quickly run to the car in order to get warm. Little stones froze to our hands. We collected these stones by mistake, as we thought that we were gathering them at the Arctic Ocean, but as discovered later – it was the Greenland Sea.

Despite of rented off-road car we could not get to Russian settlements like Barentsburg and Piramida. There were no ways to those places! We could risk going there by snowmobile, but it did not suit us to spend 4 or even more hours trying to get there without any guarantee of successful arrival. We managed to drive 40 kilometers along Longierbyuen. And frankly speaking we did not regret it. Fantastic charm made us return several times to this or that place to look at anew. Every time we looked at mountains they seemed to have a different lightning, as if they were illuminated from beneath. For the first time in my life I saw so many hues of white. They seemed to be light rose with blue and white. I am lucky I am not a colour-blind person.

As compare to snow heaps in the form of mountains, lulling your mind, the town itself, located at bottom land, seems too variegated. As if someone very big scattered children bricks to play with them, and would gather them into the box in the nearest future.

I wanted to leave something to Spitsbergen to remember us, but could not imagine anything better than leaving footprints in the form of MVK abbreviation at mountain slope. After 30 minutes of persistent trample of pressed ice, I understood that it was a thoughtless action. Video and photo camera were warmed in the car two times already, but the crust of ice did not want to crush under my 80 kilograms. I could not think of calling a bear to help me! And it seemed I chose large print. 45 minutes of exhausting trample gave results. Two reindeer, who were passing by, appraised my work phlegmatically.

But who counts minutes here? If you look intently, you can see enormous sandglass, in which snow is falling like grains of sand. On the right you can hear breakers, counting minutes instead of cuckoo. Perhaps this is terrestrial clock. But it is not clear, whether it is fast or slow. The main thing is that there should be someone who could turn it over when snow is over…

What about snow, I can say that there is plenty of snow in the Arctic. And polar explorers show great interest in the Arctic region. If it is a little bit warmer at the North Pole or a little bit colder at the South Pole everything will go hell. Knowledge about these Poles will predetermine future of our planet. That’s why on March 1, 2007 there started the largest project named “International Polar year”. More than 50000 researchers from more than 60 countries of the world learn about the present conditions and future of insufficiently explored polar regions. And now MVK is also involved in this. Without being left behind we reach the front line – the North Pole. Since April 23 MVK has been among those who think about the future of our planet. We are the first among exhibition companies to open representative office in the Arctic in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen. Future is not far off!