Svalbard anyone?

A friend of mine went there for a boyscout trip. He was given a rifle dating back from WW2 with a Nazi emblem on the barrel in case they were attacked by a polar bear. You get one shot, one opportunity.
Great place apparently.

>>1216615
pretty sure you can't go there without having a job first, as most housing is employee housing for the companies there

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Its been a while since I lived there (2008), so some things might have changed, but probably not the basics.

anyways:
>would appreciate any tips/suggestion about when to go, what to do for fun ect
>when
Just for the experience, any time can be fantastic!
Summer: Endless days. Sun simply does not set for a few weeks/months. You really reduce the amount of sleep you need when its constantly light.
Winter: Endless night. Sun simply does not rise for a few months. Easy to get depressing long-term if you dont have anything to do and no friends, but its and interesting feeling. Also: Northern lights and ice caves
Between: You can get fantastic light in spring, when everything is covered in snow, and you have 2-3h of low sun a day. (pic related)

>what do
Go on a boat trip around the fjords, go to Pyramiden (soviet mining ghost town), go on a hike, go skiing, go ice caving, snowscootering, kayaking…

>>1216617
>He was given a rifle dating back from WW2 with a Nazi emblem on the barrel in case they were attacked by a polar bear. You get one shot, one opportunity.
Yeah, there are a lot of old Mauser rifles around. Also had one. But they have a clip (or whatever, I'm no /k/), so you technically have 5 shots.
However:
It is illegal to kill a polar bear.
It is also illegal to leave town without a rifle.
Essentially, you have to make sure to avoid contact, but if you do, you have to be able to defend yourself. And then you have to defend yourself in court, because there will be an investigation about whether the bear death was avoidable or not.
don't know about the current tourist regulations on obtaining a rifle.
also, without training, it's at best a placebo and at worst even more dangerous to carry a rifle.

And speaking of dangers:
In winter there's avalanches (almost killed myself in one, because stupid) and just today one crushed a whole part of town (again…).
Glacier caves are also not very stable.
There is no cellphone reception out of town.

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>>1216640
You can simply book a flight to LYR and just show up. Longyearbyen stopped being a pure mining community long ago. I would guess tourism is now more important than mining. Mining is now mostly done in Sveagruva and Barentsburg. those are kinda hard to get to.
But longyearbyen has hotels, pubs and restaurants. But I'd still prepare in advance. If you dont find a nice hotel in Longyear, you can't just simply hop on a bus to the next town and see if you can find one there.

>>1216643
cont

And two more things:
It's fucking expensive! Not only due to insane beer prices (though probably still cheaper than mainland norway), but because you probably can't do much on your own.
Wanna leave town? You probably need a guide, and those won't do it for free.
And that cruise around the fjords I mentioned? Somewhere between $5000 and $10000 if I remember correctly (was payed by uni, so I dont know the exact sum)

And you probably should be interested in /out/ stuff.
If you go there just to have a hotel+sightseeing in town trip, you are wasting potential.

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>>1216648
Oh, and I forgot:
OP, are you a student? If you are studying something with civil engineering, geosciences or biology, you could probably simply spend a semester at the local university. unis.no

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>>1216640
Just going for a short trip, my friend has some frequent flyer-Points he needs to spend.

>>1216643
>>1216648
thanks, thats alot of good info and Things to consider. will book somewhere to stay in advance. as a Norwegian i doubt beer prices will come as a shock, but as a wage slave that criuse around the fjords seems a little over the top. im absolutely intrested in /out/ stuff as i spend most my sparetime fishing/hunting. however i do not have a hunting License or weapon License, so will have to investegate a little more regarding this.

did you og Fishing there? is it good?

was hoping to go in the spring time, maybe before it gets too crowded With tourists.

>>1216707
I see. Then as a Norwegian, beer prices will probably be insanely cheap because its tax free. But everything needs to be flewn in, so its still expensive for non scandinavians. All the scandinavians however went absolutely crazy with drinking.

I'm not sure about the weapons, because I think they changed some stuff and students were covered by the university, but due to the locations, its probably easier than elsewhere. Check out the Sysselmannen homepage. Should probably be on there.

And I didnt do fishing. But a friend of mine went, albeit from a ship, out at sea.

>>1216615
>tips
Don't go outside unless you or whoever you're with has a gun. Polar bears actively hunt humans and bear-bangers/pepper spray won't scare them away.

>t. lived in Churchill for a bit

>>1216615
i went there this jan, during the 24 hours darkness, loved it, wish i spent more time there than in tromso

beers in the radisson blu were 610kr if you want to try a can of the local brew it's 910kr or summin

go to the pub with all the whiskys behind the bar, it's INSIDE the shopping centre, the centre will look closed, the automatic doors only open when you're point blank in front of them and the entrance to the bar looks like a solid wooden door to a toilet (i write this as i tried to find it after a few drinks and walked around the outside of the shopping centre twice)

dog sledding was great, i loved it, if you go with greendog you will have to share a sled, villmarkssenter svalbard offer a trip where you can drive you own sled all the time but costs more (i did that in tromso and loved that)