ICELAND IN WINTER: Ice, Snow, and Spectacular Aurora Borealis, Guest Post by Owen Floody

Iceland

With many thanks to our friend Owen Floody for another exceptional contribution to The Intrepid Tourist.

Iceland has become a popular tourist destination, reflecting its accessibility, manageable size, and dramatic landscapes. Even in winter, Iceland has much to offer. Landscapes that are dramatic in other seasons can become even more so when mountains are dusted by snow, waterfalls are embellished by icicles, and low clouds add mystery and mood. Throw glacial ice caves and possible sightings of the aurora borealis into the mix and Iceland may be irresistible.

Aurora

However, Iceland doesn’t give up its treasures easily. Sightings of the aurora require a coincidence of elevated solar activity and clear skies. But Iceland’s frequent high winds and famously changeable weather can make the second, and thus the coincidence, hard to achieve.

At the same time, nothing ventured, nothing gained. With this in mind, I recently completed an 11-day Winter in Iceland photo tour led by Haukur Snorasson of Look North Travel (https://www.phototours.is). Given the weather-related and other challenges that Iceland can pose, one can benefit greatly from an expert’s efforts to match the best available scenes with route, time of day, and current conditions.

Rock striations.

Including Haukur, we were a group of six, packed comfortably in a carry-everything, go-anywhere van.  Most in the group were avid photographers.  How do you recognize an avid photographer?   In the past, a tripod and high-end camera would suffice.  Now, however, most in this sample of avid photographers were packing iPhones as well as cameras, and more discussion revolved around the images taken with the former.

Frozen waterfall.

Our tour covered a lot of ground.  Iceland’s “ring road” covers about 821 miles and we went a bit beyond it, especially to the north.   I was very happy to have Haukur driving.  The wind howled almost constantly, buffeting the vehicle and threatening to blow us off the road.  The fact that this threat was not just imagined was provided by the need to get over several passes before the winds closed them.  Lunch generally was fast food, but the hotels were great as were the dinners.  Not surprisingly, we had some of the best Arctic char ever, especially at the Mödrudalur Country Hotel (find that if you can!).

Waterfall and river.

The scenery more than met my expectations.  Almost everything that I saw on this trip I had previously seen under more benign conditions.  The winter conditions unquestionably made everything more dramatic.  Mountains emerged from or receded into the mist (first of images that accompany this column), rock striations and other formations jumped out at you, and ice arrested some waterfalls while embellishing others.

The rugged Iceland coast.

These were wonderful additions to Iceland’s usual fare of rugged coasts and glacier lagoons dotted with icebergs.  But what about our primary goals of seeing the aurora and getting into one or more ice cave? 

Stranded icebergs.

Here, I am happy to report that we were extremely fortunate.  We enjoyed good aurora sightings on three of our ten nights.  Our visit to a relatively isolated ice cave, one that we had all to ourselves, fell on the first day in a week on which the helicopter ferry was able to fly.  And our proximity to a second cave made it possible for us to plug ourselves into a gap created by weather-related cancellations of visits from farther afield (last image).  Some of this success reflected preparation and effort.  For example, we scoured multiple sources for tips on the nights and times at which the aurora might be visible and then we mounted expeditions or watches at all of the best times.  Nevertheless, it is clear that we were very lucky.   

Ice cave.

However, do not be fooled into thinking that this luck made the tour an entirely easy one.  The winds howled almost constantly, sometimes making it difficult to stand, let alone explore.  The temperature was only moderately low (about freezing) most of the time.  But there were some genuinely cold mornings and nights, and even the prevailing moderately low temperatures became frigid when combined with the typically high winds.  We dressed well and met most of these challenges.  Fingers, however, remained vulnerable: On more than one occasion, I had to cut short an aurora viewing because I could no longer operate my fingers or camera.  Footing was the other area of personal concern.  Wherever we were, the substrate typically was snow and ice.  Crampons that could be pulled on over our boots were a necessity.  On roads or sidewalks, the type featuring coiled wires were sufficient.  But many of our explorations (e.g., into ice caves, around waterfalls, or in search of sites from which to view the aurora) required more serious crampons, with real teeth. In Iceland and elsewhere, winter landscapes can be magical.  But they do require some season-specific preparations.

Click HERE for an earlier post (October 4, 2021) by Owen Floody about Iceland.

RAINY BUT SPECTACULAR ICELAND: Guest Post by Owen Floody

52 Places to Go: Week 41

Sigöldugljufur waterfall gorge, Iceland

With many thanks to Owen Floody for another exceptional contribution to The Intrepid Tourist.

Just back from our re-entry into international travel.  Perhaps this itself deserves some comment.  Our travel preparations did include some tasks and requirements (most notably Covid tests shortly before departure and return) reflecting the new pandemic or (optimistically) post-pandemic world.  But the trip itself was as smooth and efficient as could be, culminating in a return to Newark that was at least 30 min ahead of schedule.  In part, these achievements must reflect the relatively small number of international travelers these days.  But they also suggest effective organization and work by United Airlines and Iceland’s travel officials. 

Not coincidentally, our trip took us to one of the safest places in the Covid world, Iceland. More specifically, the trip took the form of a 6-day Autumn Highlands photo-tour of Iceland, led by Haukur Snorrason, of Iceland Photo Tours.  This was my third photo-tour with Haukur and won’t be my last.  He is good company and a great guide, able to present you with one amazing sight after another, even in the most challenging weather.  He also is a skilled professional photographer, able to convey tips for the improvement of your efforts without ever being overbearing, or even overtly instructional.

Marina area of Reykjavik

We stayed briefly in the marina area of Reykjavik (Icelandair Marina Hotel) and enjoyed this location, which we explored early on our one full day in town.  Soon thereafter, we connected with Haukur and the four other members of our group to begin our photo-tour.  This jumped around a bit, reflecting generally very rainy weather and Haukur’s efforts to avoid, or at least minimize, our exposure to the raindrops. 

Fjallsár and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons

The tour included much of Iceland’s southern coast and some familiar sights, including the Fjallsár and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons and Reynisfjara Beach at sunrise.  But the most impressive and rewarding parts of the tour were the stretches through the highlands, an inland area that was largely new to me.  It is impossible to do this area justice in a few words and pictures, but I will try to convey a taste by describing a few of the highlights.

Reynisfjara Beach at sunrise

One focus of our attention in the highlands was the Veidivötn (Fishing Lakes) area.  This is a small area packed with beautiful crater lakes (about 50 of them in an area of approximately 36 square miles) that attract fishermen going after the resident brown trout and Artic char.   

Veidivötn (Fishing Lakes) area

Also memorable were the many streams, rivers, canyons, and waterfalls that litter this and other parts of Iceland such as sunrise over the beautiful Sigöldugljufur waterfall gorge and the Leirá River, cutting through a lava field as it bears runoff from the Mýrdalsjökull Icecap.

Leirá River

Nevertheless, despite this beauty, I found the most eye-popping sights to be those in the black sand “desert” surrounding the Maelifall Volcano.   

Black sand “desert” surrounding the Maelifall Volcano

This is a landscape that just can’t exist, and yet there it is, courtesy of Iceland’s unusually high levels of volcanic and glacial activity.  A bonus for us, given the rain that followed us throughout our trip, was that these conditions may have made the desert even more dramatic and attractive than usual, with blacker-than-usual sand, greener-than-usual vegetation, and an even greater-than-usual contrast between the two.

Maelifall Volcano

Obviously, I enjoyed and recommend this trip, along with all of Iceland Photo Tours’ other offerings.  Wonderland tends to elicit such reactions.  But I do need to throw some caveats in here.  I hope that some readers will consider travel to Iceland as a result of having read this column and viewed these images.  And some of the sites we visited would be easy to find and access in one’s own rental car.  However, this would not be the case for many of the sites we most enjoyed.  For example, it struck me that much of the black sand desert that we toured required frequent crossings of significant streams that could not be negotiated safely by a standard SUV or other car.  I am sure that there are ways of getting into this area that would not require a photo-tour, but I think that some local knowledge and expertise would be highly advisable.  Rest assured that the scenery to be visited is well worth the trouble!  Happy travels.

To read Owen's post about his trip to Iceland in May 2013, click HERE.