For a week in March I visited the University of Oslo to work with the people who collected ground measurements over my glacier test area. I learned a lot about ground penetrating radar, drank one beer the entire time (alcohol is *#@! expensive there!), saw more snow than my 3 years in Germany put together and had the chance to go cross-country skiing.
There was lots of snow, but conditions weren’t so great for the skiing since the temperature was right around zero degrees which makes it super-tricky to figure out the right wax to use. I was totally clueless going from slip-and-slide to waaay too much wax so that it was more like hiking with a half a foot of snow under the centre part of the ski. Pretty embarrassing (not to mention difficult) trying to catch quasi-professional Norwegian skiers who are carrying the wax kit…. Thank goodness they were more interested in a very short ski in order to eat waffles and hot chocolate at a hut rather than a serious workout.
The University of Oslo itself is pretty although trudging through the foot of slush between buildings reduced its charm. Reminded me of Calgary chinooks in the winter. But check out the beautiful library:
Unfortunately I didn’t see the sun for the entire six days I was there until my flight out when we climbed above the clouds. On the recommendation of the other students, I went to Frogneseteren, near the local ski hill which is supposed to have fabulous views of the city and out into the fjord as well. Well, not on the one day I had time to go. At least I captured this Norwegian winter scene:
I was lucky enough that my week overlapped over a weekend and I had a chance to take in a few of Oslo’s museums including the Viking ships museum and my favourite, the Fram museum. I wanted to see Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” but ran out of time (next time Becky!).
Viking ship:
Warning: long-winded polar expedition stories ahead…this is what happens when a girl dabbling in glaciology visits Norway.
Probably the highlight of my entire visit was seeing the Fram. The Fram (meaning “forward” in Norwegian) is a ship which between 1893 and 1912 was used on several expeditions to explore the Arctic and Antarctica. It has been further North and further South than any other ship in the world and is supposedly the strongest wooden ship ever built, since it was made to withstand the extreme pressure exerted by sea ice. (more details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram, with all the special features they added to make it more durable).
If you think this sounds like overkill for a little bit of ice, you should read all about Ernest Shackleton’s harrowing trip whose original goal was to be the first to cross the entire Antarctic continent. On their way there in 1914 the group inadvertently got trapped in the sea ice which after a year crushed the ship.
They lived on an ice floe for a while before it broke up and they made it in 3 life boats to a tiny uninhabited island. Shackleton decided they would have to take one of the three life boats to South Georgia, where there was a whaling station, a journey of 1,300 km on the open ocean. With luck and superb navigation skills (good thing I wasn’t aboard…) they reached the island, walked two days straight over mountains to summon help, and rescued the remaining crew on the abandoned island. Everyone survived. Thanks to Australian photographer Frank Hurley who was on board, the entire story is documented.
Sorry for this tangent, but while I was in Spain over Easter I saw a special exhibit on the Schackleton expedition. One of the most memorable quotes is the text from the advertisement Schackleton placed in British newspapers to recruit his crew. Would you apply?
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success”.
OK, but back to the Fram itself. Its maiden voyage was Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the Fram was supposed to freeze into the Arctic ice sheet and float over the North Pole. Looking back it was crazy what these polar adventurers did and their poor timing given climatic conditions in the last few hundred years. They attempted to reach both the North and South poles at the tail end of the Little Ice Age, which had the maximum sea ice extent! Reaching the North pole by boat today is way easier than at the turn of the century thanks to global warming.But back to the story... When Nansen realized that the current was taking them south again, he and one other crew member set off with skis and a few canoes to attempt to reach the pole by foot, but were forced to turn back at 86 degs North. They made it to land (Franz Joseph Land, check it out on google maps) where they survived on walrus and polar bear meat and blubber. Eventually meeting a British expedition they made it back to Norway a few days before the Fram, which had continued to be stuck in the ice for a year.
A few expeditions later, the famous Roald Amundsen, the leader of the first expedition to ever reach the South Pole, used the Fram to reach Antarctica. This was his cabin:
Another shot of under the deck where men spent years waiting out the sea ice:
After returning to Oslo from Antarctica in 1912, the ship was left to rot until some former Norwegian explorers decided to create a museum which they built up around her which is why it is such a funny shape.
Upon entering the museum I had no idea I was looking at the actual ship itself; I thought it was a copy, but it was neat to be able to touch the wood and walk up and down the ship where men had spent years huddled against the cold, stuck in sea ice, wondering if they would ever make it home, all for the glory of polar exploration.
Extra shots of Oslo including ships behind the Fram museum and the Norwegian royal palace in the evening:
