As with the Unplugged Wilderness Trek in 2017, I was already in East Greenland this year before starting the 10-day Icefjords and Remote Villages tour with Greenland Adventures. Therefore, at the appropriate time, I hiked out to Kulusuk international airport and met Andrea (our guide, originally from Switzerland but living in Iceland for many, many years) and…
Unfortunately, the weather had deteriorated even further overnight and our last day on the Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls trek was very, very wet 🙁 We could just see the bottoms of a few of the Eyjafjallajökull Glacier tongues peeking out from below the fog and clouds as we donned all our wet weather gear and said goodbye to our…
Day 6 of the Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls trek was the one that everyone was worried about. It involved a 900m climb, and we would have to carry a little extra weight (our sleeping bag liner, essentials for a night, and extra food) as it was not possible for the vehicle to transfer our gear to the hut…
Day 5 saw us saying “goodbye” to our 3 Korean trekking companions and swapping them for 3 New Zealanders! This was to take place at the Volcanic Huts at Húsadalur, and we set out under heavy grey skies to make the exchange. Along the way, we stopped off at the magnificent viewpoint of Valahnúkur mountain, with it’s…
Today we woke up to blue skies and bright sunshine over the huts at Emstrur. The trail led us towards the Mýrdalsjökull glacier and, after crossing the Emstrur River we turned south to follow at a distance the north-western edge of this enormous glacier. It was such a joy to be hiking in fantastic weather…
Although the wind was still blowing as we set out to hike from Álftavatn to Emstrur, it was much less fierce than yesterday and continued to abate throughout the day. [move mouse over image to see full panorama] We had 3 river crossings today, the first of which everyone (including Sigþór) was relieved to discover had a…
Ahhhhh Icelandic weather! After a relatively nice day yesterday, the wind picked up and fairly howled during the night, making us all grateful that we were in the Hrafntinnusker mountain hut and not camped outside like so many others! However, we couldn’t stay sequestered in warm comfort forever, and after a hearty breakfast of tea,…
I was back on the #11 public bus to Landmannalauger at 8am, less than 12 hours after returning to Reykjavík. Yes, it was a slightly crazy idea to do the Volcanic Trails trek and then the Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls trek (both with Icelandic Mountain Guides) back-to-back, but hey! I’m making the most of my time…
I think Kjartan needs to sack whoever made the weather prediction we received last night! It was cold, windy and raining as we set off for our last day of hiking along the Volcanic Trails. Kjartan had told us that we would start the day with a river crossing and, not 500m later at the…
Our petition to the Universe for better weather was granted overnight and we awoke this morning to bright blue skies and no wind. It was glorious to sit on the verandah of the Álftavatn hut and soak in the Sun’s rays while admiring the mirror-perfect reflections in the “Swan Lake”. These conditions rarely last long,…