HFG Norse Bound – Gareth’s Photo Diaries – Day 10

An early start beckoned for a hastily arranged off-road trip scheduled with David from Arctic Trucks in Iceland. Meant we were up, fed, packed and ready to go for a 7 am departure. A good 120-mile journey back West and inland towards the Golden Circle and our arranged rendezvous spot. Although we had already enjoyed various driving conditions in the short few days he had been here, David promised to show us some true Icelandic off-roading. There was talk of mountains, glaciers and volcanos and plenty of snow as we stopped off mid-route to stock up on energy drinks and sustenance for the day ahead.

We made our meeting point at Thingvellir Tourist Information Centre in plenty of time, allowing for the wintery weather as we neared the Icelandic Highlands the ground and skies cleared, and a beautiful day beckoned. A quick chat with David gave us a brief overview of what we could expect for the day, a route through the highlands that would leave us near our planned stop for the night. So off we went following David and his family in the Arctic Trucks AT44, already giving Gareth a size complex at the visible size difference between the two vehicles. We wound through some stunning mountainous terrain as the main road gave way to single-track and eventually gravel roads. Equipped with walky-talkies we were in constant contact with David and as we approached our destination, he pulled over to help with altering our tyre pressures.

As we were quite heavily laden with roof tent and on-board kitchen, plus all of our luggage the Glacier was out of the question, so we settled on a 1000-metre-high Volcano lowering the tyres to 10 PSI on the front and 15 PSI on the back to help distribute the weight better on the uneven terrain, and to help make the off-road ride a little more comfortable. As you can imagine our excitement was building and even a little bit of trepidation was starting to show at the unknown challenge ahead.

As the clear differentiators between road and track disappeared, we passed several signs reading ‘Warning, Impassable’ before David pulled over to show us just where he planned to take us. Mount Skjaldbreiður stands a neck-aching 1066 metres high and as we looked across the baron foothills before us the summit remained in the cloud.

A final tyre check and we set off, winding in and out of electricity pylons following the ruts of vehicles gone before us. Over rough shale and loose rock, plodding ever onwards without seemingly covering much ground. As rock gave way to ice and then eventually snow, we started to feel the incline. Martin our photographer jumped out and positioned himself in the flatbed of the AT44, as we were following, it enabled him to get some great shots of our Arctic Truck as we climbed higher, true dedication to the cause as he bounced around trying to hold the camera steady.

The reveal as we broke the skyline was just incredible, a 360-degree panorama of snow-capped mountains and sub-arctic wilderness for as far as the eye could see. The summit revealed a large bowl-shaped amphitheatre that we were informed was the crater of the now-extinct Volcano, apprehensively we took a run down to the bottom of the bowl, an experience we could never have even dreamed up before. As David spent some time with his family, we got down to the serious business of testing just how good the AT35 in the snow 1000 metres above sea level.

We never knew driving up a snow-covered volcano would be a bucket list thing, but we were all so glad to have ticked it off. Our time at the top of the world however seemed far too short and it was soon time to regroup ready for the descent and trip back. Following David and the AT44, we set off down the mountain at a fair pace, the snow a lot fresher on this side of the peak. As we left the slopes behind and started to level out in the foothills, we hit several patches of deeper snow, the AT35 bottoming out even as we hit a large drift at momentum, we had been here 5 days and this was our first time getting stuck, quite an achievement considering the weather conditions, mainly due to the capabilities of the AT35. For some reference, the AT44 also got stuck momentarily until David utilised his onboard tyre inflation system and dropped his pressures down to 4 PSI.

Tow rope attached we were back up and running again, and cruising back through the tundra, stunning landscape all around us. A couple more hiccups over the next mile or so involved a tow, but we were clear of the worst. Travelling east towards our stopover point for the evening.

As the snow and ice cleared, we were back on recognised gravel roads, the pace increasing as the altitude decreased. However, David and Iceland had one last challenge for the AT35 that day as we neared our end point at Geysir. We had to cross two large expanses of sheet ice. What lurked below was unknown, and as we set out tentatively across it the Last thing, we wanted to hear was the cracking of ice, but as we reached the middle the noise from outside the truck was audible inside. Spurred on by the cracking peril, Gareth accelerated, all of us sighing with relief as we made it safely to the far side.

A huge thank you to David and his family for giving up their time to take us out on what proved to be a truly memorable adventure and an experience we cannot imagine ever having on our own, one that will live in our memory forever. The AT35 proved as it had throughout this entire expedition that it could handle anything we could throw at it – snow, rock and even a VOLCANO!

Catch up with the HFG Norse Bound journey so far here: HFG NORSE BOUND