Post Covid Iceland

[philw]

Iceland is full of Brits and Americans. One of them has hard boots. They have strict Covin control measures, for which I'm truly thankful. I'm safer here than in my own country, where we have a populist leader. These guys really understand the sacrifices necessary for freedom.

[philw]

A little later and a different tenure. The snow here's much better.

Steeper than this shot looks, about 800m vertical from the top to the sea. There's a 30m cliff with waterfalls at the bottom, so you can't quite get to the water. There were whales in there, we say three flying back over it.

Another camera phone shot. A sponsored local who was pretty good on the soft boots. She was interested in boot technology and, like me, thinks snowboard boots have been somewhat in a rut for 30 years.

Looking for whales on the way home. Note the avionics, which are more electronic than older machines.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Cool shots, Phil!  Iceland's on our list of places to visit but we hear it is very pricey.

[lowrider]

Much cheaper if you do it as a layover on a flight to Europe well not really cheaper since you are going to spend time and money in Iceland and Europe.

[Neil Gendzwill]

There was a good series a few years ago called Sense8. The first season finale was set in Iceland, it was like a tourist advertisement. It made everything look so cool. 

[Allee]

Ah, Iceland. Yes, it's eye wateringly expensive, but it's so stunning it's worth every cent. I spent two weeks sleeping in the back of a car there in 2015, and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

[lordmetroland]

13 hours ago, philw said:

 

Oh god, please tell us you did that epic pond skim...

[SunSurfer]

Brown snow? Volcanic ash, or ?

[philw]

I'm still laughing at the pond-skin concept. 

Yeah, it's not cheap, but then there's not a lot of competition in terms of accessible places with good snow at this time of year.

Brown sugar... I think it's a combination of maybe wind-blown dust and dirt from the rocks. It's generally pretty good to ride on for whatever reason.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a kit dump. I was riding my Burton Dump Truck which was perfect in this snow (although too wide for much of the stuff I encountered in 2019 I thought). The transceiver is the Arva Evo 5 which I really like. Those things are way better than they used to be.

We were using Black Diamond electric air bags (not shown), which are lighter than those I've used previously. There were a few sloughs around but nothing felt like it could remotely slide - there's just the one layer in this, it's all consolidated.

And here's a shot from this afternoon from the active volcano, which is about 6 hours drive from the snow, being in the bottom left hand corner and near the international airport.

[RideGuy]

On 6/3/2021 at 12:39 PM, lowrider said:

Much cheaper if you do it as a layover on a flight to Europe well not really cheaper since you are going to spend time and money in Iceland and Europe.

Did this with the family on our way to Finland two years ago.  There was no (or very little) charge to create a 4 day stop-over in Iceland.  We travelled as far as we could, and saw as much as we could in the 4 days.  If you do your research you can find reasonably priced hotels, AirBnB, etc. and rental car.  It's cheaper if you drive stick.

Iceland is like being on another planet.  One of the most amazing places I've ever been.  It should be on everyone's bucket list.

[philw]

What he said. You can spend a lot, but it's mostly optional.

My care hire was very cheap, although the attempts to sell me over-the-desk extras were exceptionally aggressive. The desk man insisted that just driving in Iceland would result in me being liable for €9,000 to repaint a car which was worth less than that and which already had damage to every panel, some of it rusting. I laughed and suggested he bill me in advance and then my lawyers would sort it out later.... a successful bluff call. Also I actually had to extend my trip by a few days, and my car rental got significantly cheaper (!), so shop around!

Americans seem to like being in "tour groups" and you can pay a lot for that if you want it. On the other hand Iceland's like anywhere else, you can just park (mostly for free) and walk where you want. For example up to that volcano in the image. They'll charge you to "lead" you there if you want, but it's optional.

The car I did hire was a stick-shift, although in Europe we mostly all started with those so it's no problem. Even so, it took a couple of times for me to remember how the things work. The roads are exceptionally quiet though, so there's really no stress to driving there.

Lots of the USA is pretty amazing too, but Iceland's certainly a very different place and worth a gander. There are lift-accessed ski hills, but it's going to be mostly dark when those are open. You can "tour" there to access the snow in the long days, but otherwise it's a heli place really. I didn't see anyone in the hills there at all, not one person, other than us.