One of the best kept Yahoo! secrets is our office at the North Pole — or at least really, really close to it. In the city of Trondheim, Norway, a group of 40 dedicated search engineers work day and night to develop one of our core technology platforms.

A huge advantage of having an office in such a cold and deserted corner of the world is, of course, that there is little else to do than go to work. The hazardous environment is, however, a big drawback — blizzards, temperatures well below even the lowest of comfort zones and, worst of all, the hungry polar bears (isbjørn) that sneak around town looking for food or a warm place to hide.

So while your biggest commuting worry is how heavy the traffic will be, these guys — wishing they had Kevlar coats and rifles on their scooters — have to ask themselves: “Will I even make it to work today?”

Could this be for real? Do these daredevils from Norway deserve high-risk pay and additional insurance packages, or are they just pulling our legs? See their photo evidence at Flickr and let us know what you think.

Eirik Refsdal
Engineer, Yahoo! Search