The clocks tick slower in Iceland. The patience of Icelanders knows no bounds. And even as a guest, it only takes a few hours to adapt to their leisurely pace. This is probably the only way to understand why I feel like I've been here for weeks, even though it's only been two days.
Nevertheless, I was happy when Norwegian Thormod Granheim picked me up at the airport in the northern Icelandic capital of Akureyri. 30 minutes later by car, I met my two fellow travelers; freerider Fredrik Ericsson and my long-time ski partner and photographer Fredrik Schenholm.
Hungry for the first runs,
Of course, I was the first one at the breakfast buffet yesterday. However, it only took me a few minutes to realize that I would have to be patient here. Thick clouds as far as the eye can see. Nevertheless, we used the afternoon to go on a tour in the side valley Skidadalur.
Today we finally had the Icelandic weather gods on our side. Our destination was one of the many peaks on the north coast between the villages of Dalvik and Olafsfjordur. What a feeling; we put on our skins right on the beach and set off.
The biggest challenge up here on the Arctic Ocean is reacting quickly to the changing weather conditions. When the sun makes its way through the clouds, you have to stow your jacket, gloves and hat in your backpack as quickly as possible. If an arctic storm suddenly rolls in again, it can't be quick enough to put everything back on.
We were lucky on our way up: long stretches of blue sky allowed us to take some fantastic pictures. Unfortunately, the weather changed again just below the summit. Even after an hour of waiting, there seemed to be no improvement in sight. So we had to make our way back in extremely low light. However, as the reddish evening sun in Dalvik transformed the fjord and the mountains into a true wonderland, a short session on the sandy beach reconciled us with the weather gods.
Let's see what else is in store for us. Detailed planning makes little sense. In true Alaskan style, we'll wait for the odd hole in the weather to open up and then climb a summit as quickly as possible.
Freeride Trip Iceland | Part 2
Repairing a binding. What is a small job in the Alps can easily take a day in remote Iceland. But necessity is the mother of invention. As we still had at least one functioning Fritschi in our luggage, Frippe dived into the depths of the internet for a few hours yesterday morning. Listen and be amazed. He actually found the Fritschi template to print out on a website.
Since I didn't want to treat him to the fun alone, I took him to Akureyri, to the local ski store. Our eyes couldn't believe what we saw there. Any ski museum today would be envious of this unusual range of ski slats. It's hard to imagine that these skis are actually rented out every day.
We used sign language to explain to the almost eighty-year-old owner what our problem was. With a combined hand and head gesture, he immediately directed us to the back of the store, where a cordless screwdriver lay on a medieval workbench. Ah, everything we needed, great.
Luck was on our side this morning. At around 6.30 am, the first rays of sunshine made me jump out of bed. Just the right time to pay a visit to Dalvik's local mountains.
On the way up, I kept looking out into the distance. "This place is magical!" Thormod had said shortly after my arrival. He was right. After the first 200 meters of ascent, it was time to finally take off my jacket. It felt like 30 degrees and the sweat was pouring.
Curve after curve, we worked our way up. Fredrik kept stopping and pulling out his camera. For him, these surroundings are heaven on earth.
As the snow on the sunny slopes was already too heavy, we decided to head north. And who would have thought it: Powpow. Simply awesome! Even if I tried as hard as I could to tell you how I felt today, my words wouldn't come close to describing the reality. You simply have to experience Iceland for yourself and breathe in the fresh sea air while looking down on the water from snow-capped peaks.
