Ski Touring in the Troll Peninsula, Iceland

Well, we've travelled a long way to ski tour in the Troll Peninsula here in Iceland. After talking with friends and reading the odd online article, today we finally got to sample the place for ourselves and we all agreed it has been well worth the journey/planning/research/expense! Setting off from just outside of the coastal town on Dalvik (just north of the ski tows), we carried our skis for a few minutes to get across a small bridge and then started skinning up into the valley. The weather was quite overcast, but the due to clear up, so we were all willing the clouds to break up as we began our ascent. Once into the main wide valley of Upsadalur, our wishes came true and this amazing vista opened up around us.

There was loads of snow and even this one valley (Upsadalur) had endless objectives to head for.

 

We'd made the plan of heading up the main valley then up to the cwm of Dyjadalur and onto the summit behind it.

 

But having reached a high point, we decided to do two descents rather than carry on over flatter ground to gain the summit of a mountain. The snow slopes were looking too inviting to pass by.

 

Skiing off down a wide, silent, remote and untracked valley in pristine fresh powder snow was a huge buzz. More of a feeling rather than something describable. And on top of that, was the fact that we could see the sea down in the valley! It was pure bliss.

 

We skied down in several pitches of smooth uniform angled slopes.

 

After what seemed like a huge descent, we traversed slightly into the next big gully, put our skins back on and set off up again to the next ridge line of Selhnjukur which had a small cairn at its summit.

 

As this was to be our high point of the day, we stopped for some lunch and a proper rest before enjoying the ride back down the east facing slopes. There were some clouds in the sky, but only light winds and the visibility was good with far reaching views.

We took it in turns to go first down the untracked fresh snow and I must have taken a hundred photos and we made turn after turn in floaty powder.

It was as magical as I had hoped! Perfect skiing in the wilderness. Nice sunlight, good visibility and just us making the decisions on where to go and how to travel safely through the remote terrain.

 

I won't bore you with all the pics, but here are some of my favourites.

 

 

Eventually, we made it down to our original skinning track, which led us out of the valley, parallel with the River Brimnesa and back to the car.

 

 

There was a final bit of heather dodging as the snow began to run out before we had to carry the last few hundred metres back to the car - we were on way too much of a high for this to seem like a chore.

 

The weather continued to clear during the drive back home and all around us snow capped mountains were glistening in the evening sun. Back at the apartment, we celebrated with coffee, beer and chips while pouring over the maps to find out where we should go next!