The snow conditions on Iceland are often pretty hard because the country is located in the middle of the Atlantic and affected by fast changing and sometimes harsh weather. It is not uncommon to experience snowfall, rain, wind and sunshine all in one day. We were really lucky because before we arrived it had been snowing with cooler temps so we actually got slushy riding.
It’s hard to say what the average age of the riders is because it's really mixed. You often see younger boys and girls riding with older riders as well in the same group, and they have ridden for many years together. But they have one big thing they share, they love riding snowmobiles!
Iceland is a young lava plateau with no less than 200-300 volcanoes, of which around 30 are active, and this kind of scenario is everywhere in Iceland, because of the steaming water coming from underground. It makes for some amazing scenery. And because of that steaming hot boiling water coming up from the ground, it creates hot springs. In these natural jacuzzis the water is 20-45 degrees Celsius and it’s just an awesome feeling. It feels pretty surreal when you taking a bath out in the middle of the mountains with the snow surrounding you but the water and the ground under you are so hot.
The first night we came to Iceland we traveled with our sleds to a house in the middle of the mountains and stayed there for two nights. We did daily trips from that house and every night we went for a bath in the hot spring just 100 meters from the house. It was the perfect ending to a day on the sled. For local people, it was something they often did, but for us, it was something new. Something new that you really missed when you got back home.
The first plan was that we would travel from south to north, east to west, but in Iceland, the weather is kind of fast turning and we decided to stay north instead of going east to bad weather. In Iceland it's not usually sunny for so many days in a row. We got 7 days with sun and the last time the weather was that good was 9 months ago, so we stayed to the north where the sun was shining.
The only thing we knew when we first started to plan this trip was that we would meet up with a group of awesome snowmobile-loving people. The local BRP dealer in Iceland, Ellingsen, was the head planner of this trip with his friends. This trip has really made memories and friends for life!
One thing that I really have noticed over the years in this sport is that every single person you meet in this snowmobile community is a good and friendly person, and it was exactly the same in Iceland! They really made our trip a blast!
Definitely, a place to come back to.
