Raving Ravens

Winter Driving in Iceland

Driving in the winter time can be tricky in Iceland. We've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks and roads have been closing down frequently due to snow and storms. 

I've been travelling quite a bit in the last few days as I've been teaching my course in Social media marketing in both Isafjordur in the Westfjords and Kirkjubæjarklaustur in the east. The roads were icy, I caught storms and on the mountains there was a lot of snow on the road. But I was well prepared and really enjoyed my trips. Though I was driving in the dark all the time I used the opportunity to take a few photos of the northern lights and the beautiful winter scenery :)

The right vehicle
I recommend you rent a 4x4 with studded tires and take into account that you might need a few extra hours for the trip. 

Be prepared
For safety you should also make sure you have extra food and drinks in the car and a warm blanket in case you get stuck somewhere. Have a full tank of fuel and let someone know at the hotel or where you're staying when you expect to arrive, so arrangements can be made if you don't show up. You can call 1777 for updates on traffic conditions before you head out into the country side in winter time. 

 

The sign in Seltún, Krýsuvík where you can find geothermal springs. The wind was over 20 m/sec, snow and very little visibility.

An angelica standing in the ice by Seljalandsfoss waterfall.

 

A fishing boat in safe harbour in Súðavík, in the Westfjords.

 

Better not drive too fast on the icy roads. This one had lost control and rolled over in the snow. Luckily, no one got injured.

 

A charming old farm in Hestfjordur in the Westfjords with the northern lights dancing above it.

 

A picture can never do the northern lights justice, but they simply filled the sky right above me, and were reflected below on the semi-frozen sea. It was impossible to capture the scale of it, but here is a glimpse. To realize the size of it, the mountain in the picture is about 3-400 meter high.

 

The northern lights were so bright that you could have driven with the headlights off. I don't recommend it though ;)

Have a nice trip! :)

Hjörtur

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The sun is back after two months behind the mountains

In the Westfjords of Iceland the mountains are high and the fjords are narrow, meaning that even though the sun does come up during the shortest days, it never gets high enough to peak above the mountains and light up the towns.

In Isafjordur, which is just below the Arctic circle, the sun is gone for about 2 months but today, January 25th, is a big day. This is the first day the sun is visible again in Isafjordur and that is a day to celebrate. Eythor Jovinsson in Vestfirzka verslunin in Isafjordur got this picture of the moment the sun appeared again in Isafjordur:

 

 

Looks like the people of Isafjordur will have to wait an additional day or two to see the sun...

Hjörtur

 

Update Jan. 26th: Eythor Jovinsson sent me this update of his second attempt to see the sun this year:

 

Oh, well. The year isn't over yet...

 

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The Adventures of 2011

It has been an adventurous year. It's been a tough year fighting the consquences of the recession, illness and a death in the family, but it has also included many exciting trips and projects. This year I have travelled to the north, west and east of Iceland, and to the south and west coast of Greenland. I have even travelled to a fictive world beyond the Wall. That is one journey I can not tell you about. Not yet at least. 

Here are a few pictures from my adventures in 2011:

Akureyri theater in the snow.

The first trip of the year was to Akureyri where I was running a course in the use of social media for the travel industry. To my luck, I got a blizzard and the heaviest snow day for years in Akureyri. What a beautiful, beautiful town.

Akureyri harbour in the blizzard. Seen from Hof culture center over to Akureyri church in the distance.

 

Greenland - Vikings

In the spring I went to the Viking trails in Greenland organized by Greenland Sagalands. Exploring some of the remains like these church ruins in Hvalsey. The last thing heard from the Vikings in Greenland is a wedding that took place in this church September 14th 1408. Since then, noone has heard anything from the thousands of people that lived in Greenland, and noone knows what happened to them. 

There are no roads in Greenland. It is a huge country with just steep cliffs and glaciers, so it's no place for roads. To travel you have to use boats, dog slegdes or helicopters. Above is an iceberg with a giant polar bear and her cub that I saw while sailing from Narsaq to Qaqortoq in Greenland. 

This is the world's oldest operating Sikorsky helicopter which was my transport from Qaqortoq to Narsarsuaq.

Greenland - Nuuk

My explorations in Greenland continued and next destination was Nuuk, the capital of this amazing country. Though it is only a town of about 15.000 people, this is where you find most service in Greenland, including the only swimmingpool, the only cinema etc. 

And I highly recommend a trip to the National museum where you can look at 600 year old mummies found buried in the tundra in North Greenland, and some interesting clothing like this seal skin thong below. 

The Westfjords

 The Westfjords are a must every summer. Chosen one of the top areas to visit by Lonely Planet last year it is a truly authentic place with mountains, fjords and small fishing villages. The picture above is from the main square in Isafjordur, the biggest town in the Westfjords.

On the fjords you can find interesting things, like this Viking ship in Dyrafjordur (above) and sea monsters in Arnarfjordur (below). 

In Greenland I met a Canadian film maker and we've now started a new adventure. The quest for the first Viking grave in America. The plan is to make a documentary about the search if we manage to get it financed. We started some demo shots and the picture above is from such shootings in Arnarfjordur, over looking the fjord from a legendary Viking grave at the top of a mountain there. Who knows where this adventure may lead in the new year :)

In the summer 2012 I plan to offer Viking trips around the legendary Viking locations in Arnarfjordur in the West fjords. So stayed tuned for more info on that.

A truly unique opportunity came in November when I got offered a role as an extra in HBO's TV series Game of Thrones, which was partly shot in Iceland. It ended up being shooting for almost three weeks in various locations in the mountains and glaciers of Iceland, creating the legendary land beyond the wall. I'm not allowed to give any details or show any pictures from this adventure, so you'll just have to watch the show when it airs in April and see if you recognize me ;)

Cold Wind Tease

 

I thank everyone who made my adventures possibly in 2011 and look forward to some more amazing adventures in 2012.

Happy adventurous 2012!

Hjörtur

 

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Midnight Sun in Iceland - Awesome Time Lapse Video

The midnight sun in Iceland has captivated many travellers who have visited us in the summer time. But few travellers have captivated it like Joe Capra of Scientifantastic has done with this amazing time lapse video. With a lot of hard work and patience he manages to bring out the best of Icelandic landscape and lighting.

"For 17 days I travelled solo around the entire island shooting almost 24 hours, sleeping in the car, and eating whenever I had the time. During my days shooting this film I shot 38,000 images, travelled some 2900 miles, and saw some of the most amazing, beautiful, and indescribable landscapes on the planet. Iceland is absolutely one of the most beautiful and unusual places you could ever imagine. Especially during the Midnight Sun when the quality of light hitting the landscape is very unusual, and very spectacular." says Joe Capra

Sunsets are a popular topic for photographers, so having up to 6 hours of sunset/sunrise combination is a photographers dream. Sean Stiegemeiers Eyjafjallajokull time lapse video caught attention amongst photographers, and others around the world during the Eyjafjallajokull eruption and we've been seeing some excellent images ever since. This one from Joe Capra is one of the best I've seen though:

 

I recommend viewing the video in HD and full screen to get the best of it :) And Joe Capra recommends you visit Iceland:

Iceland is a landscape photographers paradise and playground, and should be number 1 on every photographers must visit list. Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night, as can be seen in the opening shot and at the :51 second mark in the video. 

During the Arctic summer, sunset was at midnight and sunrise was at 3am. The Arctic summer sun provided 24 hours a day of light, with as much as 6 hours daily of "Golden light". Once the sun had set it wouldn't even get dark enough for the stars to come out, and they don't start to reappear until August.

My advice to everyone out there, photographer or not, is simple... You MUST visit Iceland sometime during your lifetime. You will never regret it.

Thank you, Joe Capra, for creating this awesome time lapse video!

Hjörtur

You can read more about Joe Capra's gear on Vimeo.

Let's make their dream come true! #TTOT

You love to travel, right? You value the enrichening experience of getting to know an exotic culture, different ways of thinking, different ways of doing things. You know the feeling of freedom when standing somewhere far away ready to explore something few of your friends have seen. I know you do and that's why I know you'll understand this:

In a little village on the east coast of Greenland is a group of ten ninth graders who've been invited to participate in a en exhibition in the Netherlands in January - and to teach Dutch kids in Leiden and Amsterdam to make toys - the Greenlandic way! 

It all started two years ago when a Dutch anthropologist, Cunera Buijs, came to visit the village of Kulusuk in east Greenland and saw the schools exhibition of things they had been making during that winter. Buijs was taken by surprise by the artistical expression, the rich heritage and by the use of recycled materials which makes their work quite unique. Buijs works at the Volkenkunde museum in Leiden and after telling the board about the childrens work in Kulusuk, they were invited to exhibit them as a part of their ethnographical collection in the museum on an East-Greenlandic exhibition in January 2012. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for both the Greenlandic kids to go out and learn about the world, and for the Dutch kids to learn about something completely different from what they know. 

I can easily relate to that myself, because the summer after 8th great I went on a school trip myself - to that exact same school in Kulusuk. It was a fantastic experience, seeing how kids our age were living in Greenland, travelling on a dog sledge, living in a village with only one car where there was no running water except in a handful of houses, seeing a drum dancer and watch one of the old masters of tubilaq carving at work. It was completely different from what I knew and yet this was in the village closest to my home village in Iceland, only about 400 km away. It was an experience that enriched me and my understanding of the world - and I still have some of the amazing artwork I got when I was there. I'm forever grateful for this fantastic opportunity I got to broaden my mind.

These kids have only once been outside of Greenland before, when they went to Kopavogur in Iceland to learn to swim. That's the only time they have had the change to see a movie, to go into a swimming pool, to see a cow. Things that most of us take for granted.

There is one obstacle though. It is a long journey and an expensive one. They have applied for several different grants and support from authorities in Greenland, Denmark and the Netherlands. They have got more than half of what they need, but are still short of 8.330 Euros, and now it looks like they have to cancel the trip. That would be such a shame as cultural exchange of this sort can be such an inspiration both to kids in Greenland as well as in the Netherlands. I would hate to see that happen so I wanted to try to help them. I can't give them the money they need, but maybe I can help them raise them, Maybe we, you, me and all our online friends, can help them raise the money needed to make this fantastic adventure of two different cultures crossing in Leiden in January.

I have therefore created a donation account in their name on PayPal with the aim of raising the 8.330 Euros needed so these ten kids from Kulusuk can go to Leiden in the Netherlands with their exhibition. If you can donate 30 Euros, 20 Euros or even just 10 Euros it will get use one step closer to the goal. And more importantly, if you can share this with your friends on Facebook, on twitter, on your blog or via email, I believe we can make this happen. It all adds up! If we can get 50 people a day donate 10 Euros on average, we can do it in only 17 days!

 

 

But we have to move fast. They need to raise the money fast to be able to book plane tickets so we need to collect these 8.330 Euros ASAP and no later than December 31st.

Dear online friends, I have seen the power we have when we help each other out. You have helped me reach over 800.000 people in 213 countries allowing them to vote for the next US president on IfTheWorldCouldVote.com. You have helped me and my family competing against 12.000 others and win 365 hotel nights so I can travel more around the world with my 5 kids which is invaluable. I can never pay you all back for the help, but I can pay it forward by asking my social network to help someone else. By donating only a few Euros each, we can offer these kids a life changing experience. Let's make this happen and give these kids from one of the most isolated villages in the world the chance to go to Europe and to show Europe what they are capable of!

With deep gratitude
Hjörtur 

 

UPDATE: The donation button has been fixed. It's not possible to send money to Greenland via Paypal, so the donation will go through KALAK, the Iceland-Greenland friendship association in Iceland and the account is in their name. Thank you for your contribution!

Goal: 8.330 Euros
Collected: 736 Euros
To go: 7.594 Euros

If you donate more than 100 Euros, I'll give you a mention and a link here below :) 

Beautiful Images of the Arctic Light from Lofoten, Norway

My twitter friend Simon Martindale shared these beautiful images of the Arctic light. They're shot in April 2011 and show the beauty, the freshness and the tranquility of this amazing region.

 

Photographer is Terje Sørgjerd (TesoPhotography) who catches these magnificent colours as the sun just tilts below the horizon, but her colours never do, before she comes up again. This is something that can not be described, only experienced. And Terje does a fantastic job catching it on film! It wasn't easy though, as Terje describes on his Vimeo page:

"And almost as if planned, the trip would turn out to become very difficult indeed. I had numerous setbacks including: airline lost my luggage, struggling to swim ashore after falling into the Arctic sea: twice, breaking lenses, filters, tripod, computer, losing the whole dolly rig and controller into the sea, and even falling off a rather tall rock and ending up in the hospital. As much as I wanted to give up, the best way Out is always “Through”. I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting. At 1:06 you see a single scene from day to night to day which is from 9pm to 7am. Think about that for a minute.. 10 hours with light like that."

Thank you Terje, for sharing this phenomenon!

Hjörtur

ps. You can follow Terje's page on Facebook.