Tag Archives: road trips

Iceland Adventure

Catherine and I spent 8 days in Iceland, driving about 1400 miles on and around the Ring Road. We did some great sightseeing, hiking, and had time to unwind, all while enduring the unseasonably cold temps and winds. Catherine put together a video of the trip here. I took way too many photos, some of which I’ve put up here.

I’ll try to describe the trip from my journal notes while abroad. I’ve included a few highlight photos for your viewing pleasure.

Day 1 – Keflavik to Selfoss

After worrying about our plane tickets, our flight went smoothly. Then, disaster struck when we arrived at 6:30am. It took us nearly two hours to track down the company in charge of our car rental, since our rental agency was actually a booking agency, but they’d never told us which company had our car.

Things started to turn around after we left the airport. We drove close to the city and had no issues buying groceries. We doubled back and were able up move up our Blue Lagoon reservation. Though man-made, it was unique and relaxing. We napped after a dip for a few hours, until we could check in at our hostel. On our way to Selfoss we saw our first sights, with Catherine in the driver’s seat. Iceland is barren! Lots of snow and rocky carved cliffs. Our guesthouse in Selfoss was well equipped and provided a great base to catch up on sleep.

Day 2 – Selfoss to Höfn

It was a big day. We started early around 7:30. First stop, Skogafoss, pictured above. It was icy and roaring. I ran to the top for some more photos. It’s also the start of a big hiking trail to Porsmork. Next was Vik and the black beaches. It reminded my of our first PNW trip. Afterwards came mountains. And more and more, endlessly. We skipped Svartifoss because the trail looked lame, and we’ve seemed a lot of falls, and instead drove to the glacier nearby. It was hidden just off rt. 1 behind a hill. I took over driving there. Onward to Jökulsárlón! I was rusty at manual, but no stalling, despite limited previous practice. At the lake we saw Marcus and his brother, who’d sat next to us on to plane, on a random embankment. Crazy huh? Our hostel was perfect. Very private and we were the first guests ever in a new addition. Our hostess helped us with laundry and we had a big breakfast!

Day 3 – Höfn to Berunes

We went into town for the morning. Then, nothing but mountains and coast on our drive along the fjords. We also found moon-like terrain. Very cold and windy all day. We stopped a lot and listened to powerful surf. Before Berunes we drove into town and found a store with dragon bones out front. There we played fetch, heard stories, and bought handmade souvenirs. The hostel had been run by the same family for 300 years. The old guy running it was awesome. We went for a frigid walk in the evening to the beach. In the morning we were served breakfast at our host’s house.

Day 4 – Berunes to Akureyri

Catherine’s birthday! Also, a long, snowy, whiteout drive. We passed Dettifoss and Mývatn since the visibility was so bad, but stopped at Godafoss. Akureyri was crowded, but our Airbnb was awesome. Lamb, Einstök beer, and Toblerone cake for dinner.

Day 5 – Akureyri to Reykholt

We headed to our last minute booking at Hotel A. The drive took us longer than we expected. We found Catherine’s mountain spire and a new falls. Lot’s of roadside photos. Hotel A was quaint and quiet. A herding dog befriended us and we spent hours by the fire sipping beer and reading.

Day 6 – Reykholt to Hellnar

We slept in, got breakfast and headed out. The assistant at the hotel pointed out some nearby landmarks and we were off. First to Barnafossar, above, then past a hot springs, and back to 1 and Arnarstapi. Great views on the way. We stopped at the black church in Búðir. We were relocated from Snjofells to Hotel Hellnar. After this discovery we drove down the coast to Lóndrangar, a sea stack alone on the shore that had drawn some climbers. We took a long walk there and in Arnarstapi. Mussels for dinner were delicious, and after we smuggled beer into our room while we played Rummy and read.

Day 7 & 8 – Snæfellsnes Peninusula to Keflavik

We had two nights in Hellnar, so the second day we drove the peninsula, soaking up views of the Snæfellsnesjökull, pictured above, which dominated the area. The glacier is said to be one of the seven power sources of the world. We climbed a volcano, walked around an ancient viking village, and found yet more waterfalls. The wind whipped at us in the open spaces, threatening to knock us over at times. We drove to Grundarfjordur and snacked there, before doubling back over the lower mountain pass. On our last day we tried to make it to an archway between Hellnar and Arnarstapi, but needed to hit the road to make our afternoon flight.

Iceland was stunning, and varied. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but it felt like the opposite of a tropical volcanic jungle. Iceland had the beaches, and active volcanoes but was certainly no tropical paradise. Our only regret was not seeing the green pastures and spring growth delayed by the cold.

See many more photos here! Thanks for reading.

Glitch in the Matrix

When one of your adventuring vehicles has problems, you have several options. In the interest of saving money for an upcoming Seattle/Portland trip, Catherine and I opted for the do-it-yourself discbrake/rotor repair.

We bought the parts, and with the right Autozone tool rentals, got the job done without too much trouble. To give a quick run down:

Catherine loosens the tires.

Jack the car up. Chock the wheels. Put it in neutral. Read the manual for this one since I wasn’t familiar with Catherine’s car.

Me unbolting the caliper after removing a tire. Remove the worn pads. If the rotor shows signs of improper wear (It shouldn’t), replace it.

Compress the brake caliper. For rear brake calipers that require a twist to compress, rent the tool from Autozone. You did rent it right?

Compressing the front caliper with a C clamp

Unusual wear from only the driver’s side rear pads, which tore up the rotor.

To replace the rotor, unbolt the caliper bracket, and then use a bolt from the caliper screwed into the rotor to pop it off the axle. Then seat the new (cleaned) rotor, and re-assemble. Before you replace rotors, make sure to clean the new ones.

Secure new pads into the bracket, and apply sound dampener (the orange glue). Re-attach the caliper, and then put the wheel back on, tightening the bolts evenly to 100 foot lbs.

The first try it took us a second trip to Autozone to acquire the brake tool, and we ran out of time. Our second attempt, while doing the rear wheels, went incredibly smoothly, especially considering there is no Haynes manual for her car. Working with someone else on a job like this helps as well.

The Oregon Trip: Wallowas Highlight Reel

This post is part of a series.

The Oregon Trip: Big Mountain Lines

Continued From The Oregon Trip: Road Trip.

We settled on making a push for The Horn. We’d head due west for a few miles, make our way into the alpine and try our luck at the couloirs descending from Horn. We made breakfast, melted some snow to top off our Nalgenes, plotted a few waypoints on our GPS devices and hit the skin track.

Our route brought us down into Bob’s Hole, up and over Norway Ridge and due west along the southern face of Norway Ridge and straight into the alpine. Eventually we’d hit a steep face just beneath the floor of the bowl underneath the horn. We’d kick turn our way up the face, and transition for a boot-pack up one of the couloirs to the top of The Horn and commence the slaying of big lines! Check out the objective area below.

View Norway Basin in a larger map

When we hit the trail, the whole place was totally socked in. It wasn’t really fog, just low cloud cover. Armed with map, compass, and GPS we hit the trail with confidence and determination. We kept spaced out for most of the skin track, but regrouped for route-finding discussions at islands of safety. For most of the skin we could really only see the person immediately in front of or behind us.

Instruments only. Rob skillfully breaks trail and navigates.

Karl and I get ready to space out before making a traverse.

The clouds start to break up, and we realize we’re right on target!

Rob gets to work on a snow-pit. He gets a Q2 CT 20 and an ECT with no propagation at all!

We emerged from the fog and cloud cover to discover that we were more or less where we wanted to be if not guilty of setting a ridiculous skin-track.

Until the fog lifted, there was some debate as to which route was best…

From here we had only a short climb into the floor of the bowl, where we could start our final ascent and get ready for the skiing! As we made our toward the last big push, the clouds totally clear out, and we start to get a good look at what we’ve gotten ourselves into. We can’t help but split ear to ear grins…

Karl, on the floor, just beneath run number one. In the background, a large cornice can be seen with avalanche debris below it.

Brad, with our second run of the day in the background.
Photo credit: Ryan.

Me, in the floor of the cirque facing out toward Red Mountain.
Photo credit: Ryan

Ryan, ready for action.

Here’s where it starts to get good…

After having a good look around, eating some snacks, drinking some water and joking around, we put on our game faces. It was time to throw the skis on our backs, set a boot pack, and then ski! Until now, we hadn’t really done anything remarkable. Sure, we’d had a few good turns the previous afternoon, and we’d done some nice skinning in a relatively pristine wilderness, but this is what we were really here for. We were in the alpine, the sun was out, stability was excellent, and there were only a few precarious steps between us shredding couloirs and bowls! The planning, the, flying, the driving, the credit card bills, the labored breathing, and the sweat were all about to pay off…

At the top of the climb we arrive at a convenient landing area. We stop to admire our boot-pack and scope out run number two.

A short stroll from our landing area, Brad makes a discovery…

…and we all go to have a look.

We sit in awe for a good 20 minutes, speculating endlessly about the bewildering array of skiing and climbing spread out before us.

Rob surveys the land.

Mountains, desert… …and mountains.

The entrance to run one, and run two in the background.

A view of the ridge, as it wraps back from our position toward the south facing flank.

After we’d had our fill of breathtaking scenery, we returned to the task at hand: slaying big mountain lines. After some debate, we decided to split up: Rob and Brad would ski the steep, narrow chute running northeast off of The Horn, and Ryan, Karl and I would take the wider, mellower chute off of the northwest flank of The Horn. We’d regroup in the floor of the bowl, then cross the floor, and ascend the south facing slope, traverse northeast along the ridge and drop in from somewhere near the top. Most of the best GoPro footage is from these two runs.

Gettin’ ready for action!
Photo credit: Brad

Rob does the honors…

Brad follows suit.

Rob and Brad’s line can be seen winding it’s way down from the buttress at the top left of the frame.

A closer view of the same.

Me, taking that tentative first turn.

Karl, dropping in. Ryan spectates from the top.

Karl opens up the throttle.

Ryan gets after it.

Some high speed shredding.

All smiles, for some reason…

The line skied by me, Karl and Ryan.

Mission Accomplished! Our first objective of the day was a resounding success, and armed with a powerful adrenaline rush, we concocted a route up the opposite face in search of our next conquest. The next climb was relatively short and totally non-technical – we took our time and enjoyed the climb. We were greeted by stunning views in practically every direction we turned.

Brad on the traverse.

Ryan and Karl breaking trail toward line two.

Scale… Right around here Karl remarked that he was ‘baking’ and felt like he was ‘crossing the desert’. We were, after all, in the middle of a Superdome sized parabolic mirror.
Photo credit: Brad

Rob on his way.

Kick turns…
Photo credit: Brad

Just one last traverse before run two!

Not a bad place to hang out.

On the home stretch…

Ryan looks back over our skin track.

Ryan and Brad dropped in just below us.

Karl, wrapping up a transition.

Rob, ready for round two.

Again, we were compelled to loiter around the top of the ridge admiring the scenery and contemplating the awesomeness of alpine touring. We lazily traversed across the ridge from the saddle toward the high end where we planned to drop in. It was mostly non-technical, with one brief steep section that simply required some deliberate movement. We stopped short of the absolute top of the ridge because the snow quality seemed to deteriorate close to the craggy top. There were certainly a few cool chutes dropping down from the top and emptying out into the wide-open run-out. However, in the afternoon sun the snow was warming up quickly. Lots of wet slough was running down from the craggy peak and ruining the snow surface. We kept our eyes open for rollerballs and planned to make this our last run for the day before heading back for Bob’s Hole and the yurt. We stuck to the middle of the slope for the best skiing and laid down some nice super-g turns.

I start getting the camera ready for action while Ryan and Brad, to the left, and Karl and Rob to the right study their line.

Ryan, all smiles as usual.

Brad slays.

Rob charges the fall line.

Last but not least, Karl gets after it.

Making our way back to the yurt.

After an epic day in the alpine, the yurt might as well have been the penthouse suite: we split some wood, stoked the fire, and made ourselves at home. The view from outside the yurt was nearly as good as the view from the alpine, and the yurt itself was like a haven of warmth and comfort in the midst of a vast wilderness. Truly, life was good!