Wow, it was an awesome trip. Iceland has huge endless terrain and even has 2 heliski operations on the Troll Peninsula where we skied. Then there is great skiing to be had apparently in the West Fiords!
We put in a lotta' work on short notice to pull this trip off. Of course, I bring a laptop on these trips nowadays as I am getting heavily into the electronic mapping tools - CalTopo, GAIA, Avenzza. I use them to plan routes/days and we instruct them in our avalanche courses (at both Colorado Mtn School and Acadia) and it's fun to kick back and use them to "dream" as well as record tracks. CalTopo really helped me shine in our Guides Training day in Colorado (I got some great feedback). This all paid off in Iceland with huge corn harvests and even 2 powder days. With the latter, following weather obs, looking at terrain and being from Massachusetts I understand what "ocean effect snow" is which all paid off.
We ate incredibly well. One night of pasta and the rest was fresh caught fish - Atlantic Salmon, Cod, Arctic Char and others. The beer rocks, too! At the Dalvik bar outside, an outstanding Black IPA was the ticket
Black IPA
On the flight home I got a window seat on the right side and whaddya' know we passed by southern Greenland - WOW! That place has TERRAIN that is off the charts. I knew it would be spectacular but seeing it for real even from a distance showed how awesome it could be. Expedition anyone?
Oh, and it looks like we will be doing trips to Iceland next year - 1 or 2 weeks will be run by Acadia and in another, Al will be leading a Backcountry Babes week. Contact me if you are interested.