Video
December 07, 2012
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This is my favorite video from Iceland this year. Beautiful cinematography, wonderful stories and the amazing landscape of Hornstrandir.

The video, by Jordan Manley, documents a ski adventure around the remote Hornstrandir region in Iceland. Their mode of transportation from one fjord to the next was one of Iceland’s largest sailboats, Aurora. The ship’s captain, Siggi, is the one who tells the wonderful stories of the people who used to live in the now abandoned Hornstrandir. People have often asked me whether Icelanders truly believe in elves. I think Siggi’s answer in the video is perfect “I can’t say I believe in it, but my grandmother believed in it, and who am I to say that she is wrong.”

I recently dropped in for a cup of coffee when Aurora was in the Reykjavík harbor  The boat is beautiful, tough and practical. It’s quite different to see a sailboat rigged with ski racks though… I hope I’ll be able to go on one of their ski trips one day.

This is actually not the first ski movie to feature Aurora and the Hornstrandir region. Skiers in a recent Warren Miller movie described the area as “It was like every day, every place we went, it was the new coolest place I’ve ever been.”

Tags: Iceland skiing Vestfirðir Hornstrandir

Video
November 15, 2011
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“It was like everyday, every place we went, it was the new coolest place I’ve ever been.” - From the Warren Miller movie

World famous off piste and freestyle skiersr came to Iceland to film the Warren Miller movie, Children of Winter. They explored the country by car and sailboat. The main part was the sailboat skiing with my friends on the Aurora sailboat. They headed out to the completely uninhabited Hornstrandir in northwest Iceland. Sailed into a fjord, skied some unskied lines, sailed into the next fjord and repeated. Using the boat as their “movable mountain hut”.

Läser du svenska kan du läsa om Aurora i svenska Outside.

Tags: Iceland sailboat Warren Miller skiing backcountry Hornstrandir Vestfirðir West fjords

Photo
May 02, 2011
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Polar bear spotted in Iceland Iceland does not generally have polar bears, but every few years one does wander over from Greenland. They float out towards Iceland on icebergs and then swim up to a few hundred kilometers to reach land. Generally they are closer to being dead than alive after such a journey. This one however seemed quite healthy (from a far distance). Sailors on a fishing vessel, Sædís, noticed the polar bear in the isolated valley of Hælavík on the northernmost part of Hornstrandir in the Vestirðir area of northwest Iceland. The sailors said the bear seemed quite brisk, jogging along the sea. The bear then swam out towards the boat, but returned to land and ran up into the foggy hillside. Hornstrandir is a completely uninhabited area, but popular among hikers in the summer. A group of hikers have delayed their trip to the area and police is trying to establish contact with a pair that might be hiking in the area. A Coast Guard helicopter is on its way to the area with representatives of the Icelandic Nature Institute. They have not yet decided what will be done to the bear. The few bears that have wandered over in the past few years have all been shot. However they were all quite weak and unlikely to survive any captivation and journey back home to Greenland. The rich Icelander that offered his private jet and to pay for the relocation to Greenland when the last bear crossed is also somewhat bankrupt today. [Update] The bear was shot this afternoon. Officials from the Icelandic Nature Institute along with the Coast Guard shot the bear. Since there was a thick fog in the region which made tracking the bear impossible the bear was shot for safety reasons. It could wander unnoticed into inhabited areas through the fog.

Polar bear spotted in Iceland

Iceland does not generally have polar bears, but every few years one does wander over from Greenland. They float out towards Iceland on icebergs and then swim up to a few hundred kilometers to reach land. Generally they are closer to being dead than alive after such a journey. This one however seemed quite healthy (from a far distance).

Sailors on a fishing vessel, Sædís, noticed the polar bear in the isolated valley of Hælavík on the northernmost part of Hornstrandir in the Vestirðir area of northwest Iceland. The sailors said the bear seemed quite brisk, jogging along the sea. The bear then swam out towards the boat, but returned to land and ran up into the foggy hillside.

Hornstrandir is a completely uninhabited area, but popular among hikers in the summer. A group of hikers have delayed their trip to the area and police is trying to establish contact with a pair that might be hiking in the area.

A Coast Guard helicopter is on its way to the area with representatives of the Icelandic Nature Institute. They have not yet decided what will be done to the bear. The few bears that have wandered over in the past few years have all been shot. However they were all quite weak and unlikely to survive any captivation and journey back home to Greenland. The rich Icelander that offered his private jet and to pay for the relocation to Greenland when the last bear crossed is also somewhat bankrupt today.

[Update] The bear was shot this afternoon. Officials from the Icelandic Nature Institute along with the Coast Guard shot the bear. Since there was a thick fog in the region which made tracking the bear impossible the bear was shot for safety reasons. It could wander unnoticed into inhabited areas through the fog.

Tags: polar bear Iceland Hornstrandir

Photo
April 02, 2011
0 comments
33 notes
Hornstrandir is one of the few major areas in Iceland I have yet to visit. Hornstrandir is the northern most part of Vestfirðir (Westfjords). This is today a completely uninhabited area, but several farms and even a small village slowly decay as time passes. These isolated outposts of civilization were deserted in the early 1900s, before roads were built in Iceland. This makes the area an absolute hiking paradise. You can hire a boat to take you to one of the deserted fjords and then hike from fjord to fjord for several days without meeting another human being. Continue hiking either till you reach civilization or to your rendezvous with the boat again. Now there is a company offering a really cool novelty in the area. Borea Adventures takes skiers on their sailboat out into the wilderness. Once they drop you off in one fjord you ski tour up the mountain and then ski down into the next fjord. Once you’ve skied right down to the sea, the sailboat is ready with beer and dinner. The perfect way to spend a holiday. Photo by Vala.

Hornstrandir is one of the few major areas in Iceland I have yet to visit. Hornstrandir is the northern most part of Vestfirðir (Westfjords). This is today a completely uninhabited area, but several farms and even a small village slowly decay as time passes. These isolated outposts of civilization were deserted in the early 1900s, before roads were built in Iceland. This makes the area an absolute hiking paradise. You can hire a boat to take you to one of the deserted fjords and then hike from fjord to fjord for several days without meeting another human being. Continue hiking either till you reach civilization or to your rendezvous with the boat again.

Now there is a company offering a really cool novelty in the area. Borea Adventures takes skiers on their sailboat out into the wilderness. Once they drop you off in one fjord you ski tour up the mountain and then ski down into the next fjord. Once you’ve skied right down to the sea, the sailboat is ready with beer and dinner. The perfect way to spend a holiday. Photo by Vala.

(via lesorangesislandais)

Tags: Hornstrandir Iceland Vestfirðir westfjords hiking cliffs sea