Guidebook: Spitsbergen-Svalbard

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Kapp Linné: Isfjord Radio

Historical coastal radio station, modern arctic wilderness hotel

Kapp Linné with the old station Isfjord radio is located at the entrance to Isfjord on the west coast of Spitsbergen.

There is also a general information page about Kapp Linné and the surrounding area up to Festningen. This page is not about the surroundings, but about Kapp Linné itself, the old radio station Isfjord Radio and its history.

Kapp Linné (2009).

The first panoramic view is of Kapp Linné, with a wide view across Isfjord – you can just make out Alkhornet on the other side – and the open sea. Nearby, there is a self-shot trap for polar bears: The crew at the station also hunted polar bears in their spare time, as long as it was allowed. Polar bears have been fully protected in Svalbard since 1973.

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Kapp Linné is the flat foreland where the southern shore of the Isfjord bends southwards and joins the west coast of Spitsbergen. The promontory is named after the famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, who never travelled to Spitsbergen.

Kapp Linné: nature and memories

Kapp Linné is a beautiful place. Not what many might associate with the spectacular Arctic, with its rugged mountains, wild glaciers and deep fjords, but a place that that may sometimes be weather-beaten but is otherwise beautiful in a quiet, somewhat reserved way. The vast coastal plain has a lot to offer in terms of scenic landscape details (especially in summer, when the snow is gone), and the many small wetlands and lakes provide breeding grounds for many birds. This is of course something the arctic fox is interested in, and reindeer are plentiful in the vast tundra. The occasional polar bear also roams the area, which I had the pleasure of seeing on several occasions. Well, old memories – I am diverting now a moment, but I have a personal relationship with this beautiful place: I worked in the small hotel for a late winter/spring season in 1999. That was a long time ago, of course, but it was an exciting and wonderful time and I cherish those memories. Both the nature and the people there have shaped what Spitsbergen means to me to this day. But that’s just a side note, although I could fill a few more pages with memories of that time 🙂.

A visitor (1999).

Isfjord Radio

The former radio station Isfjord Radio is located on Kapp Linné. The first Norwegian radio station ‘Spitsbergen Radio’ was established in 1911 at Finneset in Grønfjord, where there was already a Norwegian whaling station. The radio and weather station at Finneset operated until 1930, when it was moved to Longyearbyen for a few years. In 1933, the new station was built on Kapp Linné, where the terrain was more favourable: the completely unobstructed view to the south allowed a more reliable radio link with the Norwegian mainland. The station initially had a crew of four. In 1941, Isfjord Radio was evacuated like all the other settlements on Spitsbergen because of the war, and in 1942 the station was destroyed by the Germans, but in July 1945 the important radio operation was resumed, initially from a makeshift hut. A proper station was built in 1946, which was rebuilt and extended in 1957. From 1956 to 1976, Isfjord Radio had a staff of 18! This was reduced to four in 1976, and to three in 1995.

The large antennas in the evening light. Today they have no function.

For a long time, Isfjord Radio was responsible for all telecommunications between the settlements of Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund and the outside world. These settlements were connected to Isfjord Radio via radio relay antennas. The two antennas between Longyearbyen and Isfjord Radio still exist and are clearly visible: One is on Vestpynten, on the shore west of Longyearbyen airport, the other on a rocky ridge on Kapp Starostin, east of Kapp Linné.

Panorama: the antennas

This panorama shows the big old parabolic antennas. They no longer have any function, but they are a listed construction. The bird sanctuary is in the immediate vicinity in the other direction, but of course there were no birds there at the time of the photo (April) and the legal protection only comes into force on 15 May (until 15 August).

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In 1999, Isfjord Radio’s technology was modernised so that it could be operated automatically. A technician was still on site for a few years, but he didn’t have much to do during normal operation.

In 2004, the fibre-optic cable between Spitsbergen and Norway was inaugurated, and since then the settlements on Spitsbergen have been well connected. This not only includes fast internet and a reliable mobile network, but also the transport of large amounts of data in real time in both directions from the SvalSat satellite ground station on Platåberg.

Since the installation of the fibre optic cable, Isfjord Radio has become largely redundant as a radio station. Radio Bodø still uses the station to communicate with ships in the region via VHF, but the old technology, including the large south-facing parabolic antenna, is now a historical monument. However, Isfjord Radio still has technical significance beyond maritime coastal radio, for example for air traffic safety.

Some of Isfjord Radio’s many antennas are still in use.

Arctic Wilderness Hotel Kapp Linné

In 1996, in parallel with the operation of the radio station, the project began to use the increasingly redundant buildings for tourism. The Kapp Linné Hotel was established, initially run by Telenor, which was also responsible for the radio station itself. But the ‘Telenor era’ came to an end after 1999. First, the then large tour operator SPOT (‘Svalbard Polar Travel’) took over the operation (SPOT was later merged with SpiTra (Spitsbergen Travel) and SpiTra became Hurtigruten Svalbard).

The “Old Station”

This is where visitors come to Kapp Linné. Above the door you can read ‘Gammelstasjonen’, ‘The old station’. The name is self-explanatory: after the war the station was here until 1957. Today the building is part of the hotel, it has several guest rooms.

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The entrance to the former station’s main building, now Hotel Kapp Linné.

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In 2005, ownership of the land and buildings was transferred from Telenor to Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, who continued to rent out the buildings as a hotel. Basecamp Spitsbergen took over the hotel in 2008. Basecamp renovated the interior of the buildings, which became more elegant, but lost some of the nostalgic charm of a mid-20th century polar station.

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The entrance area inside. Behind the closed door is the large main room, divided into a restaurant and lounge area. This area is now a little more elegant than it was in the 1990s.

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The restaurant area:

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Store Norske, as the owner, made some technical changes that were necessary after a diesel leak in 2012. Up to 15 tonnes of diesel may have leaked into the environment. Store Norske also wants to run Kapp Linné as a pilot project for environmentally friendly energy supply in a small, isolated place in the Arctic. To this end, solar panels were installed in 2023 which, together with a battery system and thermal storage, will reduce the consumption of diesel generators by 70%.

Photovoltaic system at Kapp Linné.

The aim is to increase the proportion of renewable energy used to power Kapp Linné to 90% through wind power in the future, with generators still required for the remainder.

However, the legal hurdles for a wind turbine are high, not least because Isfjord Radio is a protected cultural monument and there is a bird sanctuary right next door.