SPITSBERGEN - SVALBARD - We now Go a Good Ways Northeast, Past Greenland and Iceland, to Norway's Large, Far Arctic Island Group of Spitsbergen. ( Perhaps Also can be spelled Spitzbergen.) ( And a.k.a. Svalbard). It actually Means "Cold Coast" or "Cold Rim", in the Old Viking Norse Language. And that is Very Much Exactly What it is!

They're so Much like Siberia's Large Arctic Islands talked of earlier. And They Share that same Cold Arctic Ocean Area. Spitzbergen too, is Such an Island. The Only Major Difference being, that it Belongs to Norway, Not Rusha. Rusha has the Others. As such, Spitzbergen is Off in the Far Western Arctic Ocean, whereas the various Siberian Ones are Farther East. Though Not Quite so Far West as Greenland, It is Off Toward that Direction.

It's 352 Miles from Northernmost Norway Itself.

( Things start "Crunching Together", the Closer to the Pole you Go! Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen, Norway's North Cape, Novaya Zemyla, the Islands of the High Canadian Arctic!, They Do Start Coming All Together, -Just Look at a Globe!, -This Shows it Well! And you *are* Getting Ever Closer to the Pole, at These Latitudes! This Figures into my mentioning How it's Off in Greenland's Direction. "Normally", if Greenland were at *Lower* Latitudes, Greenland would be Much Further West! An Interesting Effect!, Up Here in these High Arctic Latitudes! )

It Comes In at some 39,000 Square Miles, the Size of many typical Eastern American States. That Makes for a Pretty Large Island!

Actually, it is 4 Main Islands, Along with Numerous Smaller Ones, Clustered Together. The Largest One, Spitzbergen or Svalbard, is the Namesake for the entire Cluster. It Counts for More than Half of the Group's entire Area.

Svalbard is the Norwegian Name for the Entire Cluster. While "Spitsbergen" Began as just the Name of this Largest, Mainmost, Island. Thru Common and Conventional Useage, -"Spitsbergen" too, has Come to Mean the Whole Island Group. The Two Names are now Synonymous. Spitzbergen, at least Outside of Norway, is the More Commonly Used One. And it is the One I shall Predominantly Use here.

This Whole Bleak and Frigid Territory, has Only some 4,000 People! Many of these are Norweigan and Russian Coal Miners. Were there Not Coal, There'd be even Fewer People, -Plenty Fewer! Now if there were Only 4,000 People in one of our Eastern States, -That would be Pretty Sparse Indeed! It Gives some Additional Idea, of it's Vast, Bleak, Expanses!

Spitzbergen, just like it's Fellow Siberian Arctic Islands, is Cold, Bare, Barren, Mountainous, Ruff, Rocky, Rugged, Rainy, Windy, Foggy, Icy, Ice and Glacier Covered, Sea Bashed, and Otherwise Bleak! The Weather and Seas are Often Nasty and Sour!

The Islands are so Barren and Cold, that Aside from Lichens, They have Next to No Plants! You Do Not have Those as a Food, Firewood, or Shelter Materials Source!

You May be Able to Avail yourself of Rich Fishing Waters in this Area! So Strike Out for it's Coast!, shud you Find Yourself there! But Watch Out for the Cold Ruff Seas and Weather!, there on the Coast as well!

Survival here Includes Firstmost Cold Survival. Arctic Cold Winter exists for Much of the Year. Along with it's Many Months of 24 Hour Darkness! And What Passes for it's Spring and Summer, Certainly's got to be on the Cool Side! When you're Up this Far North!

In July, Temperatures can get up into the 3 to 9 Degrees *Centigrade* Range. It Occassionally Shoots Higher. Even in the Spitzbergen Summer, You can sometimes expect Drops to Negative 7 Degrees Centigrade. Now Those are just the Short Summer Temps!

Their Fall and Winter Temperatures can typically Get Down to Negative 20 Degrees Centigrade. And it Can at Times Get to Negative 40 Degrees Centigrade!, in their Winter.

Spitzbergen Survival also Involves Absolutely No Forest or Firewood Resources! Nor is there Any such Shelter Materials! Not even Turf or Grasslands Materials! Unlike Many Other Non-Forest Locations of the World. You'd Have to Use Rocks, Earth, Ice, or Snow, for your Shelter Purposes!

Survival on Spitzbergen also Involves Sea and Coast Survival. Protect Yourself from Storms, and from the Ruff, Cold, Salty Seas! And Avail Yourself of the at least Relatively Richer, Sea and "Beach", Food Sources! Land Based Food may be Little to Non Existant! Sea Based Food could be Abundantly Rich! Know How to Find and Gather Beach Life. And Know How to Fish!

You Want to Protect Yourself from the Wind, Cold, Ice, Snow, Wet Waters, and Rain! Keeping Warm and Dry would be Paramount!

Fire Towards your Warmth, Light, Cooking, Dryness and Drying, and even Morale is a Paramount Neccessity! Yet there are Virtually No Such Sources for Such, on the Land! How Do you Possibly get Around this Conundrum?! Perhaps your Only Fire Fuel, may Come from Dried Seaweed and Such, as you can Gather. What already might be Dry on the Shore, Others that you can perhaps Gather from the Waters, and Set Out to Dry! Plus some Driftwood, but that can be Hit or Miss, and there may be Too Little of that anyway! Maybe there are some Other Small Tinder Sources that can be Found. But on a Place like Spitzbergen, All Three of These may be just Too Little! In Quantity and Quality. Seaweed, even if you can Gather Oodles of it, -are Not Logs! I Guess in a Truly Worst Case Scenario, where you Truly had Absolutely No Fire Sources!, -That Bundling Up, Insulation, Keeping Dry, and Sheltering would be your Only Options! You'd have to be Ready to Signal and Such!, and Otherwise be Actively Seeking Rescue. If Thats Not Enuf to Tide you Thru, and keep you Warm and Dry Enuf, -Hate to say it!, but it's Possible that you Might Not Make It! Well the Eskimos and Others somehow Do It! So there Must be a Way to somehow Get This Done! The Eskimos perhaps Use Seal and Whale Blubber and the Like. Desert Survival is Similar in these general Firemaking Regards, but at least in Many of Those, you can often eventually Scrap up Enuf wood!, for a Fire!

Water on Spitzbergen may be reasonably Easy to Get, if in the form of Melted Ice and Snow. There may also be some Rainfall to Catch, or Puddles, Ponds, or Lakes. There may even be some Streams. You may be Able to so Catch or Gather some to All of your Water. It might Not Always be Neccessary to Utilize Ice or Snow for this.

The Polar Bear, and Spitzbergen has them, is a Definite Danger to Watch and Be Wary for! For This Bear Views Man, as just Another of His Food Sources! If it's Hungry and Wants you for Dinner, It's a Pretty Sure Bet, that it Will Kill and Eat you! Unless you can either Stop it somehow!, or Avert, Avoid, Evade, or Escape It! It is *Your* Predator!, -And *You* Are IT'S Prey! -This Great White Bear of the North! Nothing Personal !, It's just Trying to Survive and Have Dinner, just like we or Anything Else! This Caution of course also Applies to Any Other High Arctic Territories, that this Great White Bear Frequents or Inhabits, -Not just Spitzbergen.

You'd Want to Know and Use Signaling!, as well.

Navigation and Orienteering is Quite Feasable on these Islands, Provided there's No Fog.

You shud also Set Out for one of Spitzbergen's Rare Outposts or Settlements! This is Not so Easy as it may be, say in the Falklands. Spitzbergen is a Mighty Big, Empty Place! With Outposts and Such, Few and Far Between! But it is Possible! It Can be Done, -So Try to Do So!

Survival on Spitzbergen and on the Other High Arctic Islands is Dicey and Hard ! I Don't Think One would exactly Want!, to Stay On and Survive here! But if Circumstances Have it that you *Have To* Survive here!, -Then This is How you would Have to basically Go About Doing It! It is Better to *So* Survive here, Long Enuf to Tide Yourself Over to Finding a Settlement or Signaling a Rescue. Rather than Trying to Do an Indefinite sort of Stayon Survival !, Here on Frigid, Bleak, and Empty Spitsbergen!

With perhaps Only Minor Differences, -All that Holds True here for Spitzbergen Survival, -Also Holds True on Any Other Large Arctic Islands. From the North Siberian Arctic, to Canada's Baffin and Ellesmere. Survive on Spitzbergen or any of Those if you Must! But Seek Extrication and Rescue, if you Can! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]
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"No Substitute for Victory!"and"You Can't be a Beacon if your Light Don't Shine!"-Gen. Douglass MacArthur and Donna Fargo.