UKC Forums - Senja, Bears?

Senja, Bears?

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Jon Wylie 23 Oct 2013

Hi folks,

In the early stages of planning a winter climbing trip to Senja, Norway around March 2015. Probably a bit of a daft question but just wondering if there is any risk of Polar Bears in the area? I know in Svalbard you have to have a gun etc....

cheers

Jon

d_b 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Jon Wylie:

No risk of polar bears at all that far south. Norway does allegedly still have some brown bears, but you would have to be extremely lucky to see one.

TobyA 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Jon Wylie: I'm pretty certain there are no continental Eurasian polar bears except in zoos. Definitely non in Norway, but does anyone know if the populations reach the northern shores of the Siberian far east?

d_b 23 Oct 2013

In reply to TobyA:

this is Russian bear. From zoo!

Hannah V 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Jon Wylie: I have lived in Tromsø for 2 years without having seen a polar bear. And definitely haven't seen any polar bears on Senja either. So no guns needed

cb294 23 Oct 2013

In reply to TobyA:

> Definitely non in Norway, but does anyone know if the populations reach the northern shores of the Siberian far east?

They do,

CB

cb294 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Jon Wylie:

And any brown bears would still be hibernating, so no chance of seeing one even you should ski right over its den,

CB

Fat Bumbly2 23 Oct 2013

You are fine in Senja - brown bears to the east (Dividal etc) but they should not be a problem.

Cracking hills there btw - the fun definitely does not stop at Lofoten.

TOS 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Hannah V:

> (In reply to Withnail) I have lived in Tromsø for 2 years without having seen a polar bear.

There are a few stuffed ones in town though, I can think of at least 3

A brown bear has been sighted in Tromsdalen a few times recently and one was shot near Manndalen last year. Rare summer visitors though.

TobyA 23 Oct 2013

In reply to TOS:

> There are a few stuffed ones in town though, I can think of at least 3

Yeah, that's true, there's one looking down the barrel of a gun trap in the Arctic Museum if I remember correctly!

Dave McG 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Fat Bumbly2: reminds me, we were on Senja 4 years ago and noticed your name in the log book on the top of Stormoa. You'd climbed it just 2 weeks before us, small world and all that!

OP Jon Wylie 23 Oct 2013

In reply to Jon Wylie:

Thanks for the info folks. That clears things up for me. Not so bothered about brown bears anyway. Would love to see some wolves in the wild someday.Did some wild camping in Denali National Park, Alaska this year after a couple of weeks carrying heavy stuff up Denali itself and saw some amazing wildlife.

Polar Bears, however, would bring a whole new importance to bagsying the first lead on ice climbs....

cheers

Jon