It seems school is keeping me just busy enough that I can't go away, but not busy enough to keep the boredom at bay. At long last, the Westfjords have been conquered, and in a mellow but swift swoop, I was able to hit the reset button on my brain... until I flew back into Reykjavik on monday morning.
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Jájájá, I say as I sit by the fire and sip another swig of good cider. This is the way I should be living my life. I think of all the time I have wasted away in the city where there is nothing but beer and creativity to keep me company. No mountains, no surf, no snow, but a lot of wind and rain. It rains almost every day here, it is slow, miserable, and dark. Sometimes the sun comes out, which is a truly wonderful thing. All I can think about is my new set of skis waiting at home for me... Begging to be mounted, begging to slide down a hill with covered in cold white stuff. I am the pilot, the skis my plane without a captain. I digress.
The trip begins on the tarmac of the small domestic airport in the heart of Reykjavik City. This is the biggest domestic airport in Iceland, but it has only a couple of gates, one small terminal, and one walk across the pavement before you can climb onto the prop plane that will take you across the country. I climb onboard and think about everything that the Westfjords might have on offer.
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| My Chariot |
"Coffee?" Danny asks after a long yawn on my part. He's just introduced himself. We've just met for the first time after being put into contact by a mutual friend from Canmore. The environment here is amazing, I find myself thinking as we run around town finding people and tracking down some surf gear for me to wear. Everyone is so unfazed by the slow pace of life in the mountains. The darkness has a calming effect on the people. Nobody is fighting it, the cold and dark has a relaxing effect on the soul.
Everyone is talking about the show tonight. I can tell that not much happens here. This small 200 seat concert is the talk of the town on a Friday night. It is sold out, and people have had tickets for weeks. This does not discourage anyone, and as it turned out later there was plenty of room for people willing to pay at the door.
There is a certain amount of magic in sharing a good meal with some good friends. It was a good Friday. Some running around, some surfing, some cooking, some beers, and great company. I had the chance to belt out the Canadian national anthem with four other nationals while walking down the middle of the street on the way to the bar. Any day that that happens, even in your own country, it is a beautiful day. The fact the we were in a remote village in northern Iceland made it all the more beautiful.
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| The end of a great evening sesh |
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| Moonlight surf |
Later we head to Blungarvik for a burger, hot-pot, and sauna session. It's a late lunch and much needed relaxation after two days of battling the waves. This is the dirtiest hotpool that I have been in my entire life though. You can literally see the dead skin floating on the surface. The water is slippery on the skin, full of bacteria, and I am stuck wondering when the last time was that it was cleaned. The only reason we are still soaking is because the sauna isn't open yet. It's Friday, and the sauna is on women's time until 3:30.
Pizza is for dinner tonight! And a beautiful lady joins us from Oregon. Then off for some calorie bomb cake and a couple of other desserts that the receptionist at the university has baked up. We stay in, eat more pizza, download a disappointing movie and struggle through it.
Sunday was a truly magical day. Once we got going around 11:30 or something, we decided to drive out to the highest peak in the westfjords and make a solid effort to climb it. The weather was not on our side, but be definitely caught some wicked views.
It was the first time I had spent in the mountains in almost 4 months, and I was ecstatic to have the chance to move around and listen to the mountain energy. Word is there's elves that live in some of the boulders here. Their homes are sacred and respected by all, and although no Icelander would ever admit that they believe in elves, there is an unspoken and deep-seated respect for these rock dwellers.
As the weather moves in, we change tact and decide to go for a small subpeak that remains below the shroud of the descending mist. The wind is picking up, and the rain is starting to fall, but we make it to the objective just in time to see a cloudy view of the valley below. Across the way is a massive crater from a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago, and a fifty-degree sustained chisel peak that runs to the valley floor for probably 750 meters. If only there were snow...
We managed a couple of pictures for Mr. Beamer on the hump, and then made our way down the scree:
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| Trying to beat the timer... Obviously I did not fall off the mountain |
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| Yeahhh! A true shot from Iceland: groggy, cloudy, and raining |
It's time for a nap by the time we get back to the car, but we've got a bit of a drive and the sun is shining on the mountains making for a beautiful sunset.
Before long it's dinner time, and then we head out for a bit of a campfire before sessioning with the didgeridoo on the front porch. It's almost a full moon, and an amazingly clear night. The only thing missing is the Northern Lights, but I got a few good shots.
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| Ísafjörður |
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| The bay at Ísafjörður |
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| On the stoop |
Now here I am back in Reykjavik. There is significantly less magic here, but I am coming home soon! The ticket cost me $200 to rebook, but there was no way I was going to spend an extra two weeks here. It is a small price to pay for the knowledge that I will be home for Christmas and get to see all of my friends.
I will come back here in the spring when there is endless first descents to ski and 18 hours of pure sunlit energy. I'll also bring a good friend with me. We'll call it "magic and maintenance: a tale from the land of fire and ice."
That's it for now though folks. Sorry for the disjointed writing :(
Just had to get it out there and give y'all an update. Hopefully I will write again before I leave, but otherwise it'll be from the departures terminal of Keflavik international.
Cheers, bestu kveðjur
~Yuri
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