Thursday, April 7, 2011

Icecaves, polar bear, and hopes for a flight tomorrow...

Today was a beautiful day in Longyearbyen with sunshine and clear skies, so no better place to be than in a cave! Most of the team visited a local ice cave that was formed inside a non-active glacier just outside of town. Once inside everyone must wear headlamps to see and helmets to protect their heads from bumping into one of the many ice formations that are carved by dripping water.

Some places in the caves are much tighter!
Atul went on a snowmobile trip to the east coast of Spitsbergen where he had another polar bear encounter. This time he say a mother bear with two cubs. The cubs were laying on the mother bear enjoying the sunny day. Atul has had very good luck seeing polar bears!

Spitsbergen has one of the highest polar bear populations in the world!

The team is awaiting information regarding their flight-time for the North Pole. Their next update will be at 10 AM tomorrow. We are hopeful that the flight will be soon!

Check back again tomorrow for the latest update from the team!

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