Shot Through the Heart

Today was the first day of official activities with my fellow glaciology students and instructors. The class of about 25 gathered at 8:30 am in the reception area at UNIS to begin a 2-day safety course led by the UNIS chief of logistics, Fred Hanson. Fred is an expert in Arctic logistics, operations, and safety and was extremely knowlegable, providing numerous examples of what to do and what not to do in a variety of situations. He did an excellent job teaching the course. As a native of Norway, he's got a ton of experience here and he knows how to prepare for the dangers that one faces when venturing into the Arctic wilderness. He's also got a great sense of humor, and I identified with him on several levels. We started immediately, and broke into groups, one group for the safety theory material, and I left with the group to the rifle range to learn how to use the flares and 30-06's we'll carry into the field.



Whenever outside the confines of Longyearbyen, humans must be able to protect themselves from polar bears. Whether you're hiking, skiing, on snowmobiles, for work or for play, you must carry a rifle to protect yourself from polar bears. While an attack is highly unlikely to ever happen, the risk is NOT zero. As strange as it may be for one to imagine, you always need to remind yourself that in the Arctic, you can be EATEN – and that doesn't depend on the weather! For example, there is a documented example of a student death due to a polar bear cub attack near Longyearbyen. Fred emphasized how important it is that if we ever see a polar bear, to get away from the area as soon and safely as possible; if the bear continues to move toward you, you must be prepared to kill if necessary–hence the training.

During the rifle training I often reflected back on my hunting experiences in North Dakota because it was cold that morning. I remembered deer hunting in the Heart River Hills on extremely cold days, and remember feeling very happy to walk many miles in snowy subzero weather just to stay warm. Today the wind had a similar, tough bite and everything was mostly white. Very near to the Svalbard Seed Vault (the triangular object, lower right, more to come later!), we set up 11 polar bear targets outside of a fairly new 8 foot tall unheated wood-framed garage with several overhead doors. The shooting range was on a flat area near some mountains overlooking the fjord (the setting was incredible!). After some hands-on training about loading the rifles, we prepared to shoot. I was comfortable about what was going on, because I've used guns and killed animals before. On the same token, I heard numerous students saying they've never even seen a rifle, let a lone shot one. So I felt lucky to have had the experience I did.



Fred ordered all of us to put hearing protection on, and to get down onto the cold ground with our gun on our stomachs. My feet were feeling the bite because we were mostly staying still and listening, not walking. I leveled my gun. Fred ordered us to load the chamber and fire! I yanked the bolt back and slammed the shell foward into the chamber and calmly centered my sight on the heart and lungs of the bear. Then there was a pause. The surreal nature of the setting had poured over everyone. We were training to kill a polar bear! You could head the Arctic wind howling all aroud. No one fired. In the brief silence I barked, "Fire?" Fred shouted "Fire," I fired first, and then everyone started firing. I emptied my gun and waited for everyone else to finish. When everyone was done we put the guns down and inspected our target. What did I find? Four 30-06 rounds, shot through the heart.

Happy Valentines Day!