Iceland ski & sail

Never in a million years would I have thought my ski guiding career would have brought me to buckling my boots on the deck of a sailboat. Now I have found myself skiing in the Land of Fire & Ice: Iceland.
In 2024, a time with advanced technologies and a fast paced lifestyle, it's nice to be able to say that we can still enjoy the pleasant aspects of the old world: the sailboat. Built in 1993, this expedition charter sailboat was crafted in the Netherlands for voyages in the Arctic, and stretches out to a length of 25 meters. Its name is Byr, the Icelandic word for the phrase “wind in your sails”. I find it to be an expression of good luck. The Byr is fitted with a main sail, mizzen sail, foresail, two jibs and a topsail. A weapon for the arctic. Byr not only boasts high efficiency for use of the wind, but she does it with comfort. There are 12 bunks aboard the ship, 2 shared bathrooms, and the luxury of a shower. Though, it is hard to imagine that there were entire centuries of humans looking to adventure and travel the world in these boats - inevitably spending years on them - the Byr is made for exploring the North with comfort and efficiency in mind.

However, a ship is only a ship, but a ship with its crew? That's something different. After an adventure is done and I disembark a ship, which I've done a fair amount now, the ship is memorable, but I always remember its crew. The crew is mastered by an Icelandic-Finnish family: Sigurdur “Siggi” & Annukka. Siggi - a ship builder, explorer, and one of the original captains to start skiing and exploration in the Northwest Fjords of Iceland - is a multi-generational inhabitant of Isafjordur. Isafjordur is a northern town which we found ourselves in starting this epic trip. And Annukka (Siggi’s partner) - a well accomplished sailor with a marine biology and environment background - originally hailing from Finland, and who seems to be at home on the water. Siggi and Annuka also share their experience, love for the ocean, and their passion for mastering the Byr with their two children. The whole family is leading the sailboat and our trip throughout the north western Fjords. It is incredible to experience them taking amazing care of us, and their children - who are turning out to be even more seaworthy then me or anyone else on the ship. It is truly a beautiful sight.

When it comes to ski guiding off of a sailboat, the skiing part ends up being only a portion of the overall experience. However, what I am certain of, is ski guiding for Ice Axe Expeditions is a dream come true - no company do I have a greater pride and honor working for. So when I got the call to work with Andrew E. and 8 guests I did not hesitate to make it work with my already very busy ski guide season. So off to Iceland I went!

I hopped onto a plane from Anchorage, Alaska and 4 planes later, me and Andrew arrived in Isfjord, Iceland. The town name is Icelandic for “Ice Fjord” or “Fjord of Ices”. Isfjord has a population of about 2,600, the largest in the peninsula of Vestfioir, and has history as far back as the 9th century (interestingly, Isfjord became a town with municipal status in 1786 and my home state of Alaska didn't even become a state until 1959…). Isfjord is a small fishing town with a little bit of tourism that is attached to Hornstrandir, Iceland's northernmost peninsula which is where we do all of the skiing. The area of Hornstrandir is roughly 220 square miles and it is a protected nature reserve.

So now we have the vessel and the starting destination but what about the skiing part of the skiing trip, right? How was the snow? What was the vertical?

This is my first time skiing in Hornstrandir. Andrew has been here before, which was nice, and he refers to it as “plug and play” - a common guide term meaning the experience is fairly straightforward and there are not a lot of complexities to the terrain or objectives in the area. Regardless of the complexities (or lack thereof), I find myself guiding in places that I have never been to before. In the industry we call this “on-sight guiding”, which describes itself exactly. At this moment, I rely on my previous training and past experiences/skills to manage this new and interesting terrain - and the terrain is a dream: epic faces, couloirs, and steep slopes with incredible top out peaks, like the deserts in the states. The terrain is covered in ice and snow - a skier's dream. So far we have seen perfect slopes, no vegetation, and not many large hazards (no crevasses or glaciated terrain). These features also mean less gear for us guides and the guests.

I have heard from the locals that this April is a little different than most. We arrived in what felt like a full winter. The spring that many talked about had not arrived yet to the northwest of Iceland, nevertheless we kept up our optimism as we first set sail across to Hornstrandir from Isfjord.

Oftentimes ski expeditions run the risk of not getting the best snow conditions, and a “Hit or Miss'' mindset kicks in. We all know you can have blower powder and epic corn every time you head out, but it's just not always a reality. However, we have been scoring. Skiing in the West Fjords has been epic and we managed to find some great snow, playing the right aspects with the weather and finding what softened up - and with that pure bliss.

In the days we have been out here, we have been lucky enough to ski tours for long days with incredible views and great descents. Also, we have not seen a single soul (besides our crew) out here. It keeps blowing my mind that we are experiencing maybe some of the best skiing Iceland had to offer, and there wasn't another skier, sailor, or human in sight.

And, picking where to ski has been pretty easy. In addition, our captain Siggi is not only the best sailor but also a born skier. Skiing from when he could first remember. So this has been the icing on the cake as far as planning. When you have your naval navigation with a skier mindset it can be challenging - this hasn’t been the case. While we have been out here, we have found ourselves doing “Up and Overs”, which is when we start in one bay, ski tour to the highest peaks, and then ski back down into a completely different but adjacent bay. Our home base, our aquatic lodge, moves while we are skiing so that we end in a new zone to us.

I want to reflect that there are some amazing feelings you can get when you are in the mountains or skiing. We all remember our deepest powder day, our best ski day, and the one day we skied perfect corn with a good friend. In Iceland, skiing off of a sailboat, I have been introduced to an amazing new feeling: skiing perfect soft snow down to the beach, with a sky so blue that it looks like something out of a comic, and a sailboat just anchored a few 100 yards away.

Svalbard