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Crust skiing at the
pass between Egilsstadir and Seydisfjordur. |
Summer snow skiing
in the Fjallgardur area. |
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If you visit
this web site now and then, you might have noticed that my wife
and I went to Iceland
last year. Well, we liked the place so much that we
went back this year. We did the same routine: take the
direct flight from Anchorage to Keflavik (6 1/2 hours), rent a
truck with a pop-up camper, drive around for two weeks with many
stops for hiking, skiing, checking things out and even horse
riding. Last year we traveled around the Western Fjords
and the Ring Road. This year we did two weeks in Northern
Iceland, checking out all of the northern peninsulas. Fun times.
We sure like Iceland. And we will likely go back again. |
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Fjallgardur area
summer snow (and some crust) skiing. |
Seydisfjorder ...
there is a small ski area, Bjolfur, with xc track here. |
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Camping out with a
dozer high in the hills. |
Hauksstadaheidi
mountains crust skiing. |
Egilsstadir.
Pull off the road, break out the skis and head out. |
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One of my favorite
places in Iceland is the northern city of Aukureyri, and the
surrounding areas - like Grenivik. Aukureyri has a cross
country ski area. It is above the city in a wide bowl in
the mountains (center of the above picture). |
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Descending back to
Grenivik. |
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A nice day on the
slopes of Kaldbakur above Grenivik. |
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Looking down at
Grenivik. After skiing, my wife and I would ride Icelandic
horses around the hill. |
Good corn snow for
fun descents. Its a long grunt to get the the top of the
ridge though. |
After skiing,
spending time with Icelandic friends (four-legged friends that
is). |
After skiing, free
steam cleaning of clothes and face. |
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Skiing,
hiking and climbing adventures can easily be found in Iceland.
Adventure can also readily be found when driving the back roads
of Iceland. As can be seen in the pictures below, some of
the driving adventure you can encounter are: steep and slippery
single lane mountain roads with no shoulders, no guard rails and
lots of exposure; clearing rockfall out of the road; driving
away a herd of horses that are blocking the road; making sure
you don't hit one of the millions of loose sheep on the island
and stream crossings.
An Iceland driving safety
suggestion: Drive clockwise around the island and the
peninsulas. This way you will be on the mountain side of
the road, and not the "one screw-up and you plummet to certain
death" side of the road.
Update:
Later I would find out that stopping to clear
rocks from the road near Arneshreppur (see picture below) might not have been a
smart idea:
click here. |
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