Iceland 2018
I spent 8 days in Iceland exploring Reykjavik and then skiing in the Westfjords region in the northwest of the country. The scenery is amazing, city is cool, people are generous and welcoming, and the skiing was great.
Day 1 we arrived and took the flybus to the hotel. Dad had arranged for pool access, which reset my expectations of how travel needs to be in the future. Screw airports showers. Post-flight pools are where it’s at. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Reykjavik, fending off jet lag, and eating our way through the city. The architecture is a cool mix of modern and classic and we were able to visit art and history museums. I didn’t know much about the history of Iceland before showing up. I can’t claim that I do now, but I learned two fascinating things: 1) the country had the first national parliament in Europe, in 930AD, and 2) the country used to be heavily forested. Overuse of the tree resources allowed soil erosion and too much cattle grazing ate whatever saplings were left. This is the major reason the coasts of Iceland are as barren as they are today.
We spent the next day driving the Golden Circle route out of Reykjavik. Renting a car and driving was super easy. Winds had picked up, but that didn’t stop our enjoyment of the traditional sights – Thingvellir national park (including where the first national assembly was, and good examples of the fissures forming between the North American and Eurasian plates), Geysir (with geysirs), and the Gullfoss waterfall. All were stunning.
Day 3 found us traveling to Ísafjörður to begin the ski portion of the trip, minus a good portion of our luggage. So, we explored the town and surrounding areas. A highlight was the local natural history museum, formed when a polar bear came to town, was killed by some fishermen. To avoid any taxes they donated the animal to the city and a museum was formed.
Long days let us get a decent ski tour in after all our gear arrived, so we hopped on the boat and traversed toward the lodge. Our lodge was on the Hornstrandir peninsula, a nature preserve on the northernmost portion of Iceland.
A storm rolled in that night and pounded us silly for the next day. Boating was out. Skiing was out. Reading and hanging out were in.
The storm died down as predicted and we found ourselves able to find some sun on day 5. The touring was most excellent but the rain soaked snow was absolutely terrible skiing. Day 6 led us to a different aspect in search of sun, and we found substantially better snow. I was so relieved, since a week of terrible skiing didn’t sound like fun.
This terrain feels huge. Most of the surrounding ridges and peaks top out at about 700 – 750m above sea level, but it felt like being in the upper alpine in Washington. The lack of trees and seemingly endless bowl and ridge systems gave the place a huge adventure appeal. That, and that there were maybe 20 ski tourers in the entire area, led to an incredibly remote feeling. This alone would have made the trip worth it.
Day 7 was some more skiing and excellent touring, but Saturday, Day 8, was where it was at. The sun truly came out. The temps got down near freezing at night. We found some excellent corn snow to go ski. More smooth, untouched bowls in the sun. I was in heaven and not ready to come home. All things come to an end and we began our travel back to Reykjavik for one more night of partying. The next day I flew home with no drama.
This was an outstanding trip. Thanks again Dad, for making it happen.
Our hotel was the location of the 1970s match between Bobby Fischer and the USSR. This was the table on which the match took place, and one of the chess boards.
Dad and his hot dog. The most resounding food recommendation I received was to try these hot dogs. Dad and I both agreed these were great. The sausage was light and sweet tasting, and was adorned with fried onions, sweet hot mustard, and some mayo. This was a great lunch spot; I'd recommend highly.
Do you think they got the message across? This was a punk rock museum in Reykjavik.
Dad and I in front of Hallgrimskirkja. Apparently you can hike to the top of this, which would be a stunning view (it's definietly the highest point around). We opted to work toward dinner instead.
Stream formed by the fissures at Thingvellir national park.
Gullfoss waterfall. This was a stunning, multi-level waterfall and the furthest point out from Reykjavik in our Golden Circle tour.
Cool SAR truck near the airport in Reykjavik. Like in King County, SAR is a 100% volunteer operation in Iceland. I had the opportunity to talk to one of the local rescue unit members. We shared notes. They're as well equipped as we are (if not more so...) with a beautiful base. What was most fascinating is that their stories sounded a lot like my stories - what kind of rescues they go on, volunteer response rates, and so on. This particular unit was founded in the 50s after a DC-3 crash. Their logo has a parachute because, well, they have a parachute rescue unit. They (the parachute rescue folks) have been called out twice in 50 years.
Driving the golden circle with Dad. Our ride was a cool subie. Awesome scenery here.
Bubbling hot pool at Geysir.
"Nature does not care"
Cool rescue trucks. Iceland SAR is a volunteer organization. The gentleman here is a volunteer and talked with me for a while. So much there seemed similar to what we do in King County - how they respond, response rates, etc. They have a parachute rescue system, which is a bit unusual.
The Fischer exhibit.
Our van (with much of our junk behind it, of course) at the old Isafjodur ski resort. While we all made the plane, not all our gear made it. The Air Iceland Connect folks said that this is extremely unusual, as did our local guide. The airline was kind enough to throw our gear in a van and send it north. It was a five hour drive, so we did the avalanche rescue stuff we need to do, executed waivers, and generally putzed around.
Looking down on Isafjordur from the ski resort.
Polar bear that was caught in Isafjodur. Polar bears occasionally make it over on ice chunks. They are incredibly dangerous to humans, since there aren't any other good food sources on Iceland. So, folks kill the bear. There is a huge tax, so if they gave this fur to a city then the folks didn't have to pay a fee. So, the city started a natural history museum.
Whale mandibles in the natural history museum. These used to be an archway to somewhere. They're huge! This was another stop in our putzing-while-waiting-for-gear.
The name sake of this natural history museum. Polar bears are not native to Iceland. They sometimes make it over to Iceland on icebergs from Greenland. Polar bears are extremely dangerous to the human population since there aren't any other good food sources. They're killed when they're caught. This particular bear was caught by some fishermen. There is a hefty fee for keeping the bear, so they donated it to a museum. The crutch was that there wasn't a local museum, so the city formed one, just to hold the bear.
Raven's nest. Note the big chunks of things in there, including bones and rakes and stuff.
Driving back into the city after the natural history museum.
Loading up to head out to the lodge.
Heading out of Isafjodur.
Typical commute to a ski run.
A novel-to-me ski approach: boat to zodiac. This became routine as the week went on. The background is typical of the Westfjords region - steep fjords with snow approaching sea level. Our local guide indicated that the snow level was low for this time of year - normally you can ski all the way to the ocean this time of year.
