Jan Mayen & Beerenberg expedition, June 7-23 2019

What an adventure!

Jan Mayen PF100 peaks visited:

Index

Intro: Jan Mayen (this page)
Intro: Beerenberg (this page)
Intro: Other trip reports (this page)
My Trip report_
– Background & the sail to Jan Mayen
– The Beerenberg hike
– Other Jan Mayen hikes
– Going home

Jan Mayen

This volcanic island is found in the Arctic Ocean, 950km west of Norway – and (since 1930) part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Olonkin City inhabitants count ~18 people, and work for the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Meteorological Institute. The personnel rotate on a 6- or 12 month period and depend on good visibility for the C130 Hercules to land on the gravel air strip – which is only operational when there is sufficient frost in the ground.

The 2277m glaciated, active volcano Beerenberg completely dominates the northern part of the island – Nord-Jan. In the south (Sør-Jan), Rudolftoppen (769m) is the highest top and this part of the island is mountainous. The south and the north are connected by an isthmus, where the lakes Sørlaguna and Nordlaguna are found.  The island is 55km long island (SW-NW) .

Jan Mayen is a nature reserve under Norwegian jurisdiction. Visitors will (effectively) have to come by boat and they are restricted to enter the island in Båtvika (Boat Bay) or Kvalrossbukta (Walrus Bay), which are not part of the nature reserve. Preferably Kvalrossbukta, due to generally calmer waters and out of the way for the people working in Olonkinbyen (next to Båtvika). There is no harbor and landing must be done in a dingy. Tenting anywhere else than these two sites is prohibited. A good recommendation is to contact Fylkesmannen i Nordland to obtain the information you need in order to plan your trip. Specific regulations apply to non-Norwegian citizens who plan to visit the island.

Beerenberg

The 2277m high volcano is not on the official list of the Norwegian 2000m peaks, but it is still a peak that most serious 2000m top collectors will dream about. The crater rim has 11 tops and humps with at least 10m prominence, where Haakon VII Topp is the highest. The east side of the rim has some steep slopes where the use of ropes will be required for most people.

You can reach the summit on good snow without using ice-axe/crampons but in order to get there you have to cross a glacier with plenty of crevasses and your hiking (or skiing) party must have every type of equipment needed for crevasse rescue. You are on your own up there. This is a hard fact and practicing on crevasse rescue on beforehand is strongly recommended.

Click HERE for my Trip Report…

And – our sailing route… (track provided by Richard McLellan)

Other Trip Reports

• Beerenberg, by Greg Slayden
• Rudolftoppen, by Greg Slayden
• Schiertzegga, by Greg Slayden