Getting the gear packed before heading up to Drangajokull Glacier

The stamp!

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A group of Belgians is in the area training for a North Pole expedition next year. We´ve been assisting them a bit and Siggi is now with them on Drangajokull Glacier. The expedition is led by a pretty famous polar explorer, Dixie Dansercoer that´s done some impressive journeys in the Arctic and Antarctic. The Belgian postal service has even made a stamp with a picture of him to raise awareness about the polar regions.

Unfortunately, the weather in Iceland has been too good with no storms or blizzards to make it more real.

A second after the explosion

The snowpack starting to break up

Powder cloud forming

The avalanche probably reaching its maximum speed

Quite impressive

The main mass has come to a halt. The cloud still moving

There is a photographer inside the cloud!

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The Icelandic Meterology Office has an avalanche research center in Isafjordur that I work for during the winter. One interesting project that we´ve been working on is triggering avalanches with explosives which is pretty regular thing espcially in the States, Canada and the Alps. Conditions are a bit different here in Iceland, different snowpack and climate. Last Monday we blew up 150kg of dynamite that we put on the ground high in the mountains last fall and snow has been accumulating on top of it ever since. We had recognised a weak layer deep in the snowpack and were expecting some good results. And it turned out to be the right day for the job...!

A short footage appeared on TV1 that´s quite impressive.

The cover of Utemagasinet

The editor of the Swedish Utemagasinet came along on the last backcountry ski trip we did last year and finally the article is out. Utemagasinet is the biggest outdoor magazine in Sweden and of very high quality. We´re very pleased with the result. We had great weather, great group of people from the States and Canada and good skiing. For those of you who can´t read Swedish, you can at least check out the pictures. Check the article out here.

Oh, I forgot to mention that a photo from the trip ended as the cover photo of the magazine. Jeff, you look good there!

Hlynur heading up the mountain

Getting ready to move in the bright and cold morning

No wind so we had to use our feet!

Short burst of wind and I managed to use the kite to get up that hill

Skiing down a nice colouir on the way home

Back to Isafjordur

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We´ve been blessed with unusually long period of high pressure area over Iceland lately and it´s been sunny,cold and calm. The ski area in Isafjordur has been busy and me and my friend Hlynur took advantage of the great conditions last weekend. The plan was to ski and use kites to travel across the high plateu to the South of Isafjordur. The forecast was for two digits elow zero, clear sky and fresh breeze. The wind only lasted for 20 minutes, so we had to change our plan...

The sky was amazing during the night with Northern lights racing across the sky and the stars looked so close you thought you could grab them with your hands.

Great weekend