Beds	4
Position	78 57,054’ N 011 28,548’ E
Owner	Kings Bay AS
Protected	No, But…
Materials	Wood, cardboard

About

Not more than 12km from town you find this old workers cabin full of charm and personality.

The cabin is an old Moelven barrack, a classic Norwegian model. It was put up by Norsk Polar Navigasjon AS in 1959 to house workers for the geological investigation for an airfield at Kvadehuken. The plan was to start a flight route from Norway to USA, via Svalbard. The company did not get their plans approved by the Norvegian government, but the cabin stayed behind and was used sevral summer seasons while they where looking for oil. The summer expedition of 1961 was named Geopol.

When the Kongsfjord satellitt-telemetri station was established, Geopol was frequently used by the staff. In 1974 Norsk Polar Navigasjon stopped their drilling. Kristian Torsvik, who worked as a chef in Ny-Ålesund and was a former hunter and trapper, was hired as a whatchman on Geopol in ’74-’75. Later, the cabin is used for welfare and also housing visiting scientists. Bernard Hallet and Jakko Putkonen stayed here during their project on permafrost and frost formations on Kvadehuken.

During spring 2000 the floor was renovated, and kitchen walls and doors was painted. Anton Olsen did most of the work. Thanks bro! In spring 2011 Moelven provided a new door as a gift.