Since coming back from the glacier trip life has been busy. The weekend was mostly spent on repairing broken equipment, unpacking and washing, and not to mention moving in to a different barrack in which we will hopefully be living for the rest of the school year. Sunday came and went on “Longyearbreen” that’s located behind the student housing, working on techniques and rope-work. All in the name of Arctic Nature Guide.
The start of the week was used on learning glaciology with the glaciologist and Scotsman Doug Ben and evaluation in groups of the trip with a presentation. The group presentations will be found on the website: www.arcticnatureguide.no in a short time.
Glaciology is very interesting, especially when you have a crazy Scotsman who’s “been there, done that” teaching you. But all work and no play makes jack a dull boy, and so it was time again to shake things up. Therefore, the last three days have been spent at the shooting range, shooting of course, learning about polar bear encounters and most importantly, how to avoid these encounters to the best of our knowledge. That being said, polar bears are very unpredictable and all the information man has been able to gather about them doesn’t really amount to anything. The bottom line is: you cannot predict a polar bear, you never know what they are going to do or what they are thinking and the only thing one can do is be prepared for anything.
Being prepared means being able to shoot a rifle well sitting or standing at 35 and 100 m targets, shoot flairs, knowing how to handle a revolver and shotguns and being able to set up trip-wires in the correct manner. Its also means one has to be alert, able to scout terrain well and plan trips to the very last detail as to where you choose to walk and where and how to put up camp.
With no previous experience shooting anything with real ammunition before, handling a rifle was a brand new experience for me. I must admit thinking it was quite scary and it’s taken me quite a long time to get used to. After three days of constant shooting, everyone in the class has a sore shoulder from the recoil and I have a bruised lip as well, don’t ask me why, no one could explain to me how I managed that one. It was only on the third day I felt comfortable shooting and didn’t feel as stressed as the days before. Also, shooting when you have all the time in the world between each shot is one thing, but when you have a screaming man behind you and 3 seconds to load and fire each shot, it becomes something completely different. Especially when the target is a charging polar bear.
One might think that shooting a bear this size shouldn’t be a problem; the target is so immense, how could it be possible to miss?? But when one knows that the bears skeleton is so thick that bullets can actually sometimes not penetrate even at point blank ranges, and that the bullet first has to travel through a thick layer of fur and blubber before even reaching something and the vital organs are located underneath the right paw in an area that’s very difficult to shoot at from the front, it becomes a completely different story indeed.
SO we shot, shot and shot some more. Lying down, sitting up, standing, aiming, not aiming.. you name it, we did it. We shot flares, set up trip wires, shot off trip-wires, used shotguns, handguns and revolvers. I never thought I would handle a gun or even a Smith and Wesson 460, that’s something that belongs to western movies more than the outback of the arctic I thought, but apparently I was mistaken! I finally feel that I am a true American and might even consider the NRA… not.
This is only half the shooting course we have, in November we will have dark-scenario shooting which will happen out in the field and will be finished with a written and practical exam. This is no joke, and I think it shows quite well how seriously polar bear safety is considered up here, especially by the guides that want to work up here. This means that not only will I now have to spend my time screwing ice screws and doing knots on glaciers, I also have to lie on the floor in my barrack hall with an empty rifle practicing re-loading and aiming. Its tough being a student again..
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