Posts tagged as “Svalbard Skimaraton”

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Jenny and Johan Rosendahl had to quickly and at great cost rebook their airline tickets from Stockholm to Longyearbyen to make it Saturday’s Svalbard Skimaraton due to the Scandinavian Airlines strike that began the day before. But minutes before they both set off from the starting line of a course that also went through hasty last-minute changes, they said the hassle and expense was worth it.

“Of course,” Johan Rosendahl said. “Now we’re here, and it will be an adventure and a memory for life.”

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Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net

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This year’s Svalbard Skimaraton, the archipelago’s largest single-day event of the year, is guaranteed to be one of the most adventurous ever as organizers are hastily relocating the course for Saturday’s race to a never-before-used path along the shoreline and into the mountains across the channel from Longyearbyen, due to above-freezing temperatures making the normal course into a glacial valley non-navigable.

But the adventure aspect may also involve misery for some hopeful racers as a threatened strike by Scandinavian Airlines pilots starting at midnight Friday may keep a sizeable percentage of participants from reaching Svalbard on the day most non-locals travel to the event.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net

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Signs of the times: This year’s Svalbard Skimaraton is expected to surpass 1,000 racers for the first time ever, all of whom will have to walk an extra 200 to 300 meters into the valley where the start line is due to poor snow/ice conditions closer to the road. But non-participants who don’t feel like making the trek can watch it all happen live from the comfort of their laptops or phones. 

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net

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It started in 1993 as a small, casual race, although it was won one by one of the most famous cross-country skiers in Norway, Oddvar Brå, two years after he ended a 20-year international racing career. It grew steadily in size until race officials felt compelled to limit registration due to concerns about logistics and keeping track of participants on the course. But several years ago that got tossed out as organizers were able to rely on a large group of volunteers who come together every year to stage what’s by far the biggest annual one-day event in Svalbard.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net

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Caroline Landmark and Jorge Cuadrado Reyes pass the starting line of the 23rd annual Svalbard Skimaraton several minutes after a multitude of world-class racers and…