Planning for Iceland: The what to take debate

[Christophe Noel]

In just a few short days I depart for my long overdue trip to Iceland. I'll be on the bike for 11 days, and then another 10 days with my wife in a Suzuki Jimny. The bike leg is going to be the bomb, but it comes with a serious amount of logistics to overcome. I thought some of you might be interested in the gear and planning for this kind of trip.

The Route

The route is not overly ambitious from a mileage standpoint, but will include a multitude of sandy beach, sandy road, and a good chunk of singletrack. My route is planned such that I have a multitude of off-shoot routes I can take to extend mileage. Given Iceland's potential for 35+ mph winds and nasty weather, I trimmed my mileage back considerably to account for up to three days of low mileage. I'll be primarily riding around the Katla volcano into the Fjallabak National Park then back to the coast on singletrack.

The Bike

This is perhaps the best part of this trip. I'll be on the Salsa Bucksaw!!!!

The Gear

This has been a fun challenge, to assemble the ideal kit. The one limitation to the bucksaw is the small storage space in the main triangle due to the suspension components. So, a bit more weight will end up on my back. The other factor is weather and general climate. With an average temp of 50ºF with the likelihood of pissing rain and high winds, I needed at least one storage system that would be infallibly waterproof, and that was best achieved with a waterproof pack by Sea to Summit.

The handlebar bag, frame bag, and seat bag were made by our own ExPo member, Andrew, of Bedrock Bags.

Clothing: The critical consideration again fell to weatherproofness. My stalwart setup is to go with one bombproof outer, mid, and base layer system, with one set of base layers saved strictly for sleeping.

- Arcteryx GTX jacket
- Gore Cycling GTX pants
- Gore Cycling Windstopper shorts
- Gore Cycling Windstopper Knee warmers
- Gore Cycling mid-wieght long sleeve jersey
- Sugoi bib shorts under everything (just one pair of shorts is a gamble, but...)
- Windstopper Gloves, Buff, wool base hat
- extra wool socks
- extra wool gloves, primarily to sleep in if necessary
- Pearlizumi TransAlp shoes
- First Ascent Down Shirt (This is another gamble. I may not need it. But, if I do and it's on a shelf at home I'll be pissed.)

Camp Gear: With the portent of poor weather, I'm going with a full tent. I'm also taking a full size pad and good down bag. If I'm going to be holed up in a storm, I want to be comfy.

- MSR Hubba NX tent (under three pounds and fits on my bars WITH a few meals in the bag as well)
- Seat to Summit sleeping bag 30º
- Thermarest NeoAir Xlite regular length sleeping pad
- MSR Reactor 1L stove (the best performing stove in serious winds, even if it is a few grams more that other systems.)
- MSR insulated cup
(no water filter. Relying on Iceland's claimed "cleanest water in the world" as my reason to not take a filter.)

Tools and Spares: I'm admittedly relying on a lot of good fortune.

- Spare tube (27.5x2.4)
- Muchas patches and five tire boots
- spare chain links and power link
- duct tape
- bike tool with shock pump (Blackburn)
- super glue
- zip ties
- Extra straps incase a bag fails, although I really don't see that happening.

Food: This has been my nemesis. Because I have almost 9 days before I can resupply (barely), I have to carry an enormous amount of food. The plan is to sustain myself on freeze dried meals as best I can with calories augmented by an almost disgusting amount of ProBars and Epic Bars as well as my custom trail mix and even...cookie dough (sans eggs). When I depart from Vik, my launching point, I will have every possible corner of my bags filled with food.

Other Items: This being a trip of a lifetime, I will be documenting it heavily.

- Canon EOS 5D MkII with 24-105L lens (Soooo heavy. But, I'll make good use of it.)
- Sirui carbon fiber tripod. Less than a pound
- Drift HD Ghost point of view camera (also good for time lapse) Great for uber-selfies as well with the timed remote
- Extra batteries, compact flash cards, mini tripod for the Ghost camera

- Navigation provided by a Garmin eTrex GPS unit
- Communications and Tracking provided by a Delorme inReach Explorer
- my iPhone will simply be with me as it always is.

- Anker 13000mAH battery pack to recharge the inReach and/or the Ghost camera if needed
- Tiny first aid kit. Almost not worth taking

Hygene and comfort:

- Small kit with soap, pack-towel, toothbrush, toothpaste
- My "backside kit" with baby wipes, chamois cream, etc
- 3L Playtipus Hydration reservoir and one 1L Platypus Hydration bottle for extra fluids

Stay tuned for more!

 

[landcruising]

Can't wait to see how this will evolve. Good luck and above all, have a ball!
Adventurous greetings,
Coen

 

[jeepgc]

Make sure you secure that light weight tripod, that wind can easily tip it over.

There's been reports of increased glacial melt around Katla which the authorities are monitoring.

Have a great trip!

 

[Christophe Noel]

Make sure you secure that light weight tripod, that wind can easily tip it over.

There's been reports of increased glacial melt around Katla which the authorities are monitoring.

Have a great trip!

Been following it almost daily. Seems things are starting to settle down a bit. They're reporting less activity, less conductivity (whew, who needs deadly gasses in the rivers?) and water levels are going down a touch.

 

[grimbo]

Will be following your trip for any info. Have fun

 

[jeepgc]

Been following it almost daily. Seems things are starting to settle down a bit. They're reporting less activity, less conductivity (whew, who needs deadly gasses in the rivers?) and water levels are going down a touch.

Good news.

Yeah, me too.

When will you be there? Looks like we'll just miss you.

We're going again this year, but will be going on our own this time.

We leave the UK on Aug 9th and will get to Iceland on 14th, leaving on the 27th 😢.

Travelling and camping out of our Jeep, not a hardcore bike trip like yours.

Am looking forward to reading your trip report.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I leave on July 18th. I'm on the bike from July 20 to the 31st. Then my wife comes over and we're traveling by Suzuki Jimny until the 10th.

 

[Co-opski]

Flounder,
Take lots of photos.
Not sure of the villages you will be stopping at, but I did find small little cafes around. Yogurt and musli was a standard breakfast, and dried meats and bread could be found all over the place for quick lunches. But if you are on the coast take part in the abundant sea food.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Flounder,
Take lots of photos.
Not sure of the villages you will be stopping at, but I did find small little cafes around. Yogurt and musli was a standard breakfast, and dried meats and bread could be found all over the place for quick lunches. But if you are on the coast take part in the abundant sea food.

That's great advice for when Deana (wife) comes over and we're in a Jimny. The rest of my route is pretty isolated. I'll get near a system of huts on days 6-7, but they won't have food. Day 8 or 9 I will be at Porsmork and a restaurant. I'm going to DESTROY that place with a fork.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Risky change of plans:

It's the eleventh hour and I have decided to make a change of shelters. Instead of taking an MSR Hubba NX which is 2 pounds 7 ounces, I'm going to opt for my alternative tent, a Terra Nova Laser Competition 1.

The reasons are three-fold:

1) The TN Laser is 8 ounces lighter. That's half a pound to you mathematicians out there. It's also considerably smaller, by maybe 20% by packed size, but roomy inside.
2) The TN is a hoop tent with the pole affixed to the outer shell and the inner tent free-hangs under the fly. This makes for a "dry" pitch in the rain. The inner tent is never exposed.
3) The TN is a stronger shape (hoop tent) in excessive winds. Tuesday's weather calls for gusts to 40mph.

It's actually a really nice shelter. But....

There are some potential negatives to this tent that have me modestly concerned. Despite the fact a hoop tent is VERY strong in high winds, that is only true if it is well staked. The TN requires a minimum of 8 stakes. This is both good and bad, especially in the inner part of the island where ground conditions can be tricky for good stake outs.

Ugh...these decisions are tough. They come with big consequences if I get it wrong. One thing I'll do to mitigate the stake out challenges is affix the primary stake points with dynema cord to lash to rocks. If iceland has anything...it's rocks.

 

[jeepgc]

Risky change of plans:

It's the eleventh hour and I have decided to make a change of shelters. Instead of taking an MSR Hubba NX which is 2 pounds 7 ounces, I'm going to opt for my alternative tent, a Terra Nova Laser Competition 1.

The reasons are three-fold:

1) The TN Laser is 8 ounces lighter. That's half a pound to you mathematicians out there. It's also considerably smaller, by maybe 20% by packed size, but roomy inside.
2) The TN is a hoop tent with the pole affixed to the outer shell and the inner tent free-hangs under the fly. This makes for a "dry" pitch in the rain. The inner tent is never exposed.
3) The TN is a stronger shape (hoop tent) in excessive winds. Tuesday's weather calls for gusts to 40mph.

I would say that you've made the right decision and not a risky move.

You cannot underestimate the wind in Iceland.

On our first night (although I haven't updated this bit in my own Iceland thread yet), here's an excerpt from my soon to be added post.

This was at the Sigurdarskali camp ground near to the Kverkfjöll volcano.

We'd previously tested our tent and gear at multiple locations in the north of England and Scotland. Our tent managed fine in up to 60mph gusts without any issues, then we went to Iceland :

We were woken by the sound of the wind and the tent flapping around.

I'm 6”1 tall and I can stand in the center of our tent without touching the ceiling.

The roof of the tent was being pushed down by the wind and was almost on our faces. First thing we did was to check on the girls and thankfully, they were still fast asleep.

With our backs on the ground, we pushed the ceiling of the tent back up off of our faces with our legs in a leg press position, the wind was so strong that with both of us pushing back, the tent was still being pushed down, it was if a large group of people were constantly jumping onto the tent roof.

You could hear the wind barrel down off the glacier and along the valley towards the campsite.

You could hear people moving their vehicles around to shield their tents, we just concentrated on keeping the tent off of our kids' faces.

The ground in that area is volcanic ash, you could easily pull out our tent pegs out of the ground.

We put the heaviest rocks we could find to secure the ropes and pegs. The next morning, 2 of our guy ropes had snapped during the night, so I'd recommend you bring spares if you can.

Your tent is a lot lower and more suitable to the high winds than our family tent.

Although our tent was pushed down by the wind, it did pop backup again. We had to resort to adding additional guy ropes to tie the back of the tent to the Jeep's roof rack.




This also, was a storm that hit Iceland a few weeks after our visit:

http://www.icelandreview.com/iceland..._0_a_id=402904

"Storm Wreaks Havoc across Iceland

Approximately 70 people spent last night at a makeshift emergency center in Hofgarður in Öræfi, under Vatnajökull glacier in South Iceland. The windows of their cars were shattered by rocks hurled by the raging storm.

These were travelers picked up by search and rescue on Skeiðarársandur plains and other commuters who had sought refuge in Freysnes.

The storm had caused rocks to rain over their vehicles, damaging paintwork and shattering windows. Doors were also blown open. Search and rescue squad Kári in Öræfi used an armored car to pick the people up, as stated in an ICE-SAR press release.

Gale force winds also wreaked havoc in Mýrdalur further to the west. Outhouses at farms were damaged and a large truck blew over on to its side.

Search and rescue were busy securing roofs in South Iceland, assisting stranded drivers on highland road Kjölur and beating ice off electric lines in North Iceland into the night.

Earlier in the day, drivers were also assisted on Jökulháls, Námaskarð, Sprengisandur, Vatnsskarð eystra, Fjarðarheiði and Kollafjarðarheiði. Mountain roads have become impassable due to snowfall and icy conditions.

From Höfn in the southeast to Akureyri in the north, people reported roof slates coming loose, containers blowing away and trees being blown over. In Bolungarvík in the West Fjords, boats were coming loose at the pier."

 

[jeepgc]

This report about last Thursday, much closer to your route:

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/07/11/fifty-tourists-rescued-laugavegur-route

 

[Christophe Noel]

This report about last Thursday, much closer to your route:

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/07/11/fifty-tourists-rescued-laugavegur-route

Heh. Yikes. I read about that as well. As an avid mountaineer, I've spent several ugly nights with a tent in near collapse. The most severe was in 1998 at 13,000 feet on Longs Peak with 60mph gusts. Mine was the only tent out of a dozen to survive. Like you, my Bibler tent would at times get squashed onto my body, then pop up.

This should be an interesting trip!

 

[jeepgc]

Heh. Yikes. I read about that as well. As an avid mountaineer, I've spent several ugly nights with a tent in near collapse. The most severe was in 1998 at 13,000 feet on Longs Peak with 60mph gusts. Mine was the only tent out of a dozen to survive. Like you, my Bibler tent would at times get squashed onto my body, then pop up.

This should be an interesting trip!

Of course, you're an experienced hand at this. Having the tent ceiling on our faces was a brand new experience for us and we were pretty scared when it happened.

But, it's this wildness that draws us back there.

Have a safe and fantastic trip Christophe!

 

[Christophe Noel]

My other memorable tent fiasco was waking up to Hawaiian waves pushing on the tent. The lesson there is relative to rum consumption prior to picking a tent site.