Expedition Report
The original expedition aim was to complete a twelve day fastpacking -essentially a cross between backpacking and mountain running - traverse of the remote Icelandic interior, travelling from Hofn in the south to Asbyrgi in the north. With the exception of some pre-posted food parcels at strategic points along the route, the expedition was to be completely self-sufficient. The two members comprised one current Imperial student and one who had graduated from Imperial a year earlier, and their adventure was planned for July.
Just prior to leaving for Iceland a weather check revealed that Iceland had experienced a very severe winter, and spring had arrived late. As a result many of the hiking trails were still shut and some of the roads impassable. There was still much snow in the areas the two had planned to fastpack, and on the lower parts of the trails where the snow had melted, the mud was up to the mid-calf. As a result the team decided to change their original route to ensure they arrived at the snowy areas during the latter parts.
The route commencing at Myvatn, took the team to Husavik, Asbyrgi, Dettifoss, Sellandjafell, Dyunjufell, Dreki (Askja), the Askja Crater, Braedafell, back to Myvatn. From here they fastpacked to the Krafla volcano and onto Namaskard, before travelling to Akueyri where the team spent two days fastpacking around the area. As well as travelling through snow covered area, much of the terrain also comprised lava fields which were challenging for the team to negotiate. At times during their runs, the weather was very cold and wet, and at other times there were midges everywhere. The team spent the final two days as tourists in Reykjavik, the capital. Although they found Iceland a very beautiful country, they noticed that roads and drivable tracks were springing up everywhere for the tourist trade, so that even those areas which were originally believed to be very remote, were no longer that remote.
