Raving Ravens

Alert for Seismic Activity in Hekla Volcano

The police in Hvolsvöllur has issued an alert advicing hikers and travellers to stay off Hekla volcano because of unusual seismic activity. That does not have to mean a volcanic eruption, but it increases the changes of it. 

Volcanic eruptions in Hekla volcano are common and usually "tourist friendly" meaning they do not pose any danger to flights, travellers nor homes near the mountain. 

Here is the alert from the police:

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police (NCIP) and the Police commissioner at Hvolfsvöllur declare an uncertainty phace (lowest level of warning), because of seismic activity in mount Hekla.

The Icelandic Met Office has informed the Civil Protection and Emergency Management of NCIP about unusual seismic activity in mount Hekla. The Icelandic Met Office has raised the ICAO aviation color code to yellow concerning air traffic, which means that mount Hekla is showing an unusual activity.

Uncertainty phace means that supervision has been raised on that course of events that may threaten public health and safety, or that environment or inhabited area may be threatened. To declare an uncertainty phace is a part of work process in the setup of public safety to secure a formal communication between response teams and to secure dissemination of information.

In light of all of this the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police and the Police commissioner at Hvolfsvöllur would warn people from hiking on mount Hekla while this uncertainty phace is in force.

 

Hjörtur

Fire in Kulusuk

Northern lights over the town of Kulusuk. This is a picture I took from the school last November. The house that burned down is the one we see on the hill.

I just received the following letter from a friend in Kulusuk, the little hunting village on the east coast of Greenland I have told you about before.

 

Dear all

Two hours ago, at 5:30 am, I woke up to the noice of the towns fire alarm. Since at this moment we are having the fiercest snow storm, that started at midnight and has been howling and raging all night long, the alarm may have gone off earlier than I heard it. 

Through a tiny little hole in the snow that otherwise completely covers my bedroom window, I could see the flames in the direction of "The Blue Mansion", my old little blue house. For the time being, I couldn't open the front door, as 1,5 meters (3 feet) of snow had piled up blocking it. I called my colleague Henrik who lives next door and he put on ten layers of clothing and crawled over to my house and managed to dig away enough of the snow so that I could make it outside. Between the wildest gusts that almost threw us to the ground and pressed the air out of our lungs, we could through the blowing snow see how the flames spread to the rest of the house.

The house, which Henrik has with his hard work and determination renovated into the schools music building, was filled with nice instruments, mixers, amplifiers and speakers, things that fonds and individuals alike had donated to the children and are enthusiasticly used every single day since Henrik started it up. In the basement layed Susanne's splendid kayak. If the concrete floor managed to keep it out of harms way I'll first now when the storm tonight, according to forecasts, will pass.

I am completely shocked and miserable because of the fire. Of course I am happy I wasn't living there anymore, but very concerned over all the instruments the children loved so much and had spent so many hours to learn to play, and are now lost.

 

I just got a call from my boss Lars-Peter who told me only two of the towns fire men, Joel and Buuto had made it to the house. The rest had been forced to turn back only a few meters from their homes as the storm was too fierce. There wasn't much Joel and Buuto could do alone against the fire and the storm so they fought their way back to Lars-Peter's house where they are now seaking shelter until it is safe to go outside again.

It is a tragedy that has struck the school, since it is the children who are going to bear the loss. If any of you, who all have been to Kulusuk and know what life is like here, have any idea on how we can overcome this, I'll be happy to hear your suggestions.

 

With all the best wishes from a very shocked and shaken
Anne-Mette Holm

 

I have seen the hard work under difficult conditions these teachers unselfishly provide to make the most of what they can offer the children of Kulusuk and it is sad to see it all go up in flames. I hope they will not loose their spirit but manage to rebuild it with the help of good willed people.

I will add some photos if I can get any after the storm has passed.

Hjörtur

UPDATE: I just got photos from the ruins in Kulusuk:

This is a picture from a very similar angle as the one on top. Except the house is gone.

The ruins from up close. There's pretty much nothing left.

UPDATE March 11th: Here are a few pictures of the house burning that Lars-Peter Sterling took, the schools headmaster who lives next door. Due to the snow storm, no fire engines of any kind could make it to the house and there was nothing that could be done to stop the fire.

The fire is believed to have started by the chimney, possible after it was blown off in the storm.

The house was quickly engulfed in flames.

No instruments left there.

South or North Iceland?

I got an inquiry via Facebook which I couldn't reply to, so I decided to reply to it hear. The question was as follows:

Hello! 

I'm going to Iceland in late March and I have a few questions. I cannot decide if my father and I should visit Hofn and the south or go to Akureyri. He wants to do this vacation without renting a car and driving, and I want to do as much as possible and see scenery that looks like where Game of Thrones is filmed. Any advice?

I assume the weather is difficult to predict, but which location do you think would have a more moderate climate?

Hope to hear from you,

Liz

And here is my reply:

Hi Liz

If you want to see the landscape from Game of Thrones, you should go to Höfn. However, though you can get to Höfn by bus and pass the mountains and glaciers seen in Game of Thrones, you can not access those places without a car. You can take the bus to Jökulsarlon which is between shooting locations and very similar by bus. The scenery along the way is fantastic with glaciers, volcanoes, black volcanic sands and lava fields covered with soft green moss.

Akureyri is a beautiful, friendly town and if weather is bad, Akureyri is a much better choice. From there you can also get to Myvatn which is interesting and where part of the third series of Game of Thrones was shoot last November. The exact locations are a secret though until after the episodes showing them have been aired.

So, I recommend renting a car. There is very little traffic at this time of the year. You can risk bad weather, so ask about the weather predictions before hitting the road and bring a phone. If anything does go wrong, you can simply call 112 and you will be picked up. Rescue is fast, effective and free in Iceland.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to send me any further questions you might have.

Cheers
Hjörtur

Win a dog sledge trip in Greenland

In April two Colourobox photographers will join the four winners of the Metro Global Photo Challenge 2012 in a week long expedition to the wilderness of East Greenland.

The tour starts with one night in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, before leaving for the rough terrain of East Greenland. We will fly with Air Iceland to Kulusuk island in Greenland and then onwards with an old veteran Vietnam helicopter to Tasiilaq.

In Tasiilaq the crew will get dog sledge training and if they do well, they might pass for a dog sledge driving license. During our training days in Tasiilaq we will get an introduction to the fascinating Inuit culture of the locals, meeting local artists, old polar bear hunters and getting a taste of their exotic cuisine. The Inuit traditions are still a strong part of their everyday life, but there are only about 100 years since the local tribes on the east coast had the first contact with the outside world. East Greenland is one of the least explored regions in the world.

One of the dogs that will be in the dog sledge expedition.

When the team is ready we will head out on the ice in dog sledges for three days exploring the wonders of the East Greenlandic nature with enormous icebergs, steep mountains, endless snow and if we are lucky, the phenomenal northern lights colouring the arctic night sky. We will be sleeping in hunter huts along the way.

We will then return to the town of Tasiilaq, a town of 2.000 inhabitants and the largest on the eastern coast of Greenland. On the way back we will again spend one night in Reykjavik, Iceland before heading to our home countries.

  The northern lights dancing above the hunting village in Kulusuk.

The expedition is a challenge, both physically and mentally, but not extremely dangerous. We will be travelling off the beaten track in a cold climate and harsh environment. The crew can not expect any luxury, but you can expect an unforgettable experience.

 

SING UP NOW!

The competition is open for any registered Colourbox photographer. If you've got the quality, you can register here to become a colourbox photographer and submit your photos for the competition. But you've got to hurry. You've only got eleven days to do it!

 

So find your best pictures, sign up on Colourbox and you might be one of the lucky photographers that will come with me on a week long dog sledge expedition in Greenland.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them below and I'll answer them there.

Hjörtur

The breaking up of 7.4 cubic kilometers of ice caught on film

Those magnificent images of a large "chunk" of the Greenlandic ice cap breaking up were released on Wednesday. The magnitude of these events are hard to realize when there is nothing to compare it to, but the total amount of ice breaking away is actually 7.4 square kilometers. Or as the photographer James Balog described it:

It was like watching "Manhattan breaking apart in front of your eyes."

 

The Greenland ice cap is melting faster than it ever has, raising concerns. The footage, shot in Ilulissat in Greenland, is from James Balog's documentary about the fast melting of the ice cap called "Chasing Ice" and will be released in the UK today.

Hjörtur

Gully Gawk, The Second Yule Lad in Iceland

The second mischievous yule lad arrives tonight, called Giljagaur or Gully Gawk. He sneaks into the cow barn to steal some milk. Here's my version of his poem: 

Gully Gawk came second

his hair as grayish yarn

He crept down from the mountain pass

and broke into the barn.

 

Hiding inside the cattle cribs

milk foam tried to snap

while the milkmaid sat herself

in the cowherd's lap

 

Hjörtur Smárason

Naughty Little Yule Lads from Iceland - Sheep-Cote Clod

Tonight my kids put their shoe in the window. That's a tradition in Iceland. Not like everyday, but the last 13 days before Christmas.

You see, here in Iceland we don't have A Santa Claus. We have 13 yule lads. The first one comes the night of the 11th - 13 days before Christmas and then they arrive one by one until the last one comes on the 23rd (Christmas is celebrated on the eve of the 24th in Iceland). And they all give the children gifts - someting small that they get in their shoe in the window - if they behave ;)

 

The thirteen yule lads who have now upgraded into the red coca cola suit weren't always this nice. They used be naughty pranksters that annoyed farmers in the winter months. Their pranks and mischievius character is described in a classical Icelandic poem simply called Yule Lads (Jólasveinarnir). It's probably been translated already into English, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. Here is the poem about Sheep-Cote Clod, the first of the thirteen:

 

First to come was Sheep-Cote Clod

stiffer than a crag

He sneaked up to the farmers house

to find some sheep to shag

 

Clod was craving milk to suck

- but all he got was buck

the stiff legged bastard couldn't much

- running out of luck

 

There are twelve more to come - so stay tuned ;)

 

Hjörtur

There are still trolls in Iceland!

Hvitserkur was a troll who lived in Strandir, west of the bay. He was very annoyed by the church bell in Þingeyrar, so much that one night he lost his patience and waded the bay to smash the bell. On his way back the sun came up and he turned into stone where he still stands till this day.

Hvitserkur is only about 15 minutes drive from ring road 1, between the towns of Hvammstangi and Blönduós. 

Hjörtur

A little trip to Iceland - The winners' video

Remember the SAD cars competition we were running in June where you could win a trip for two to Iceland with a tent, a rental car and some excursions? Well, the winners were two sisters from Belarus who had a lively video and loads of likes. 

This August they travelled around Iceland for two weeks covering just about every corner of the island. They had a lot of fun exploring the oddities of Iceland, dance around the hot geothermal springs, jumping, running and singing. They even went snorkling between the continents, cave exploring, river jetting and whale watching. Not a bad little trip - and all free thanks to SAD cars :)

Here is their fun video from their great little trip to Iceland:

 

 

Wanna go? It can't fail. No matter what goes wrong, as long as you get home in one piece it's always an adventure :)

Hjörtur

Russell Crowe and Patti Smith's surprise concert in Reykjavik

As I told you last Monday Russell Crowe spent the summer here in Iceland shooting not only a new movie, but also a music video with Alan Doyle. In August there was a festival in Iceland called Reykjavik culture night and the day before Russell tweeted about his desire to perform at the festival. 

Before the day was over he had booked three gigs in Reykjavik during the festival. In two of them he brought a surprise guest - Patti Smith. Here is a recording from one of the attendants to one of the concerts:

 

Hjörtur