The First Snow and Other News on November

We came out of the fjell (mountaineering) group meeting this evening to find a thin blanket of snow covering the ground. Glee filled our hearts! Until we remembered what we left sitting out in the cockpit when we left...But still we glided and skipped with joy at these first flakes of the season.

And here's a glance at Sophia's decks...the first snow she's seen in her 31 years!

So far so good on this whole November of Gloom situation. The days are getting noticeably shorter, which became especially apparent as we 'fell back' an hour on Oct. 31st. Currently the sun is officially rising at 8am and setting at 4pm, although we don't see the sun over the trees until around 10:30am. Its angle is so low in the sky that at the height of the day you could swear it was nearing sunset.

Back to the fjell group meeting...we listened to an incredible story of two young Norwegian men that were attempting the first navigation of the Svalbard archipelago, the Norwegian islands to the far north of the mainland above the Arctic circle. It was pretty humorous to see their heavily laden kayaks with food and supplies for the 3-month journey; there was barely enough freeboard to keep water off the decks in a calm sea. Not so humorous was their encounter with a polar bear when they were about half way around. A polar bear grabbed one of the men out of the tent by his head and shoulder. The bear dragged him 40 meters before his friend shot their bear while it stood upright on it's hind legs dangling the man by his head. They were able to get medical help via helicopter within a couple of hours. It was a pretty gruesome tale. Who knows, it may be the next real-life adventure movie...