Longyearbyen is located at 78 ° north.
ArcticCrypt 2016: Practical information
Accommodation: Hotel rooms (including breakfast) are booked for the participants in accordance with the agreed accommodation (and is already pre-paid by organizers). IMPORTANT!! If you charge anything to your hotel room (like drink, extra meals etc.) during your stay please make sure that you pay this yourself before you leave. These extra expenses can be charged to your credit card if you show it to your hotel on arrival.
Accompanying persons are welcome to join the ArcticCrypt activities, including the excursion, and conference dinner, subject to availability and for a price equal to the organizer’s cost. Please also see the section on Food and meals below.
Kjersti Helleseth will be a contact person for accompanying persons who are interested in sightseeing.
Activities and sightseeing: In addition to ArcticCrypt’s technical program, Spitsbergen travel offers a wide variety of activities. There are many options for sightseeing in Longyearbyen depending on physical fitness and individual interests including hiking, fossil hunting, bird mountains excursions, small boat trips etc. Please see the activity calendar. We recommend participants to get an overview of activities they are interested in and register in the ones they want to participate in. If you want to walk outside the village of Longyearbyen on your own, please see the section on Polar bears below.
Airport transfer: There are airport buses meeting every scheduled flight arrival and departure.
ATM/minibank: Sparebank1 in the post office building has an ATM. To be on the safe side, you may consider getting cash in the airport of Oslo.
Checkin: The checkin procedure will not be very formal. There is no on-site registration, while nametags and other ArcticCrypt material for pre-registered participants (including those that receive this message) can be picked up in the conference room from 8.30 on Monday, or at other times.
Currency: Norwegian kroner, NOK. On July 5 the currency exchange rates are 1 USD = 8,3 NOK, 1 € = 9,3 NOK.
Electricity: 220V, 50 Hz, European plug.
The ArcticCrypt Excursion on Wednesday: Buses will pick us up at the hotel at 08:30 and take us to the harbor, where we will board the ship. The ship will sail slowly towards north east and the Nordenskiöld glacier. Our destination is Pyramiden, a Russian mining settlement which was abandoned in 1988. Everything is still intact, although the streets are deserted. During the trip we will also pass Brucebyen, Skansebukta, Svenskehuset at Kapp Thordsen and the bird mountain at Diabas. On board, the guide will tell us about nature, history, hunters, and fauna. The crew will be happy to share their knowledge about Svalbard and its arctic history. A warm meal will be served, usually prepared as a barbecue on deck. In the ship’s kiosk, it will be possible to buy drinks, chocolate and waffles, and to rent binoculars. Transportation back to your hotel is included. Duration: Approximately 11 hours. We recommend warm and windproof clothes, wool underwear, hat, scarf and mittens. Remember to bring your camera, as well as cash for the kiosk and for shopping in Pyramiden. The full day excursion is included in the registration fee for all participants. Accompanying persons (that have provided their birthdate to the organizers) can also participate (for a cost of NOK 1700, to be paid during Arctic Crypt).
Food and meals: Accommodation booked with ArcticCrypt includes breakfast. For other lodging arrangements, please check your conditions. Lunches, as well as dinner on Thursday, are covered by the registration fee (as a part of the conference packet). Accompanying persons have to provide their own lunch. Longyearbyen offers a number of options for eating out.
The conference dinner on Thursday is included in the registration fee. Accompanying persons that want to join the conference dinner can contact the organizers at Arctic Crypt.
Longyearbyen is located at 78º North, some 1,300 km from the North Pole. See http://wikitravel.org/en/Longyearbyen for details.
Midnight sun: The next sunset in Longyearbyen will take place on August 23.
Participants: There are 80 participants and 20 accompanying persons, including three children under 2 years, at ArcticCrypt.
Passports: Svalbard is Norwegian territory, but unlike Norway’s mainland, Svalbard is not in the Schengen area. Thus all non-Norwegians, even Europeans, need to bring a passport.
Polar bears are wandering around the arctic and can cover long distances in one day. Therefore it can be difficult to detect or forecast their presence in any given location. There may be polar bears close to Longyearbyen. Polar bears are extremely dangerous. If you do venture outside the village of Longyearbyen, please do so either with an experienced guide (or with someone who runs slower than you.) If you want to walk alone, you must bring a rifle, but you need a license to rent one.
Phone numbers of Tor Helleseth / Øyvind Ytrehus: +47 95702773 / +47 41107855
Public Transport: There is an airport bus at Longyearbyen that will take you directly to your hotel on arrival. Apart from this there are no regular buses, since the village is quite small.
Shoes: For many sightseeing options good shoes (hiking boots) are recommended. You may be required to take off your shoes indoors, including in public buildings and hotels. You may consider bringing slippers for the hotel.
Weather and Climate: Do not expect to find summer temperatures. Typically, the 24 hour temperature in Longyearbyen ranges between 4ºC at “night” and 10ºC at day for the third week of July. For actual weather forecasts, see yr.no. At the time of writing (July 14), the forecast for July 17-22 is cloudy, but no rain, with temperatures 5-7 ºC. Please bring warm clothes.
Webcam: https://www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com/photos-panoramas-videos-and-webcams/spitsbergen-webcams.html