Kings Bay or Kongsfjorden is an inlet on the West coast of Spitsbergen surrounded by many glaciers. The fjord is guarded by Mitra and watched by the mountains Svea, Nora and Dana, also known as the Three Crowns. It is probably one of the most beautiful fjords of the coast.
Kings Bay is also the name of the company administrating and operating Ny-Ålesund, theatre of different activities during the last century: coal mine, polar expedition, tourism and today science. Visit the town by following the cultural trail with historical explanation (available during the summer). The museum and the Info Centre give a good picture of the mining period and the on-going research activity.
NOTE: Due to high sensitive instruments, Ny-Ålesund is a radio-silent community with no mobile coverage. Use regular GPS when geocaching in Kongsfjorden.
This multi-cache hunt has several virtual stages. Collect the clues and find the final cache. The stages and the cache are hidden within the limits of town (no need for bear protection). All clues are easy to be found from the cultural trail. Stay on the road as the tundra is vulnerable under this latitude. Do not enter any of the buildings.
You will need about an hour to solve the mystery cache. The cache has a log book and a pencil. It is large enough to contain trackables or other small trading objects.
STAGE 1:
The start location is given by the illustration picture above. Find the place and look for a wooden sign which gives Ny-Ålesund coordinates:
78° 5? N 11° 5? E
Z=?
STAGE 2:
Go to N 78° 55.Z34 E 011° 5Z.131
Ten nations have research stations in Ny-Ålesund. Find the country listed last on the information board and walk to their station. On the wall of the building, you will read a number.
A=(street number * street number)
* means multiplication
STAGE 3:
Go to N 78° 55.A29 E 011° 55.8A1
One year made history last century (the year mentioned the most).
Which one is it: 19??
B=??
STAGE 4:
With the compass and still from the location of stage 3, look for bearing (B*10) degrees. You should point towards a building hosted by another nation historically connected to the stage you just visited.
Head to that building. Outside, by the entrance door, there is a disk-shaped plaque. On the lower part, there are two words written in capital letters. How many “i” are there in total?
C=numbers of “i”
STAGE 5:
Go to N 78° 55.C08 E 011° 55.843
Look around you until you find a series of natural numbers.
D= sum of the odd numbers
FINAL STAGE:
Cache is hidden at N 78° 55.xxx E 011° 5Z.0yy
where xxx=(B*B)-yy and yy=A+B+D