Skiing with the weather in Iceland
It is January, and low-pressure systems chase each other upon the Icelandic coastline, tumbling over the country and bringing winds, snow, and sometimes rain with them. Weather in Iceland is generally unstable, and no season is as unstable as when our days are the shortest and one year melts into the other. Even the sun goes into hiding, disappearing from valleys and fjords for up to two months.
Icelanders live with the weather and have for centuries. It formed the basis for our isolation and fears, the foundations of their troll and ghost stories as well as the undiluted stubbornness it took just to survive one more winter at the edge if the Arctic.
Icelanders have a singular relationship to the weather. We talk about it incessantly, we curse it, we swear never to trust it again, but come the sun, we rejoice in it, believing in our hearts that it will not let us down this time.
Weather is a state of mind
Today, most Icelanders mainly brave the weather for recreational purposes. We have become an active nation, biking, running, hiking, sailing, kayaking, and boating in the summer, and skiing in the winter, cross-country, backcountry and heli-skiing. Since the weather always lets us down, we have learned to enjoy all sorts of it in our outdoors adventures at the turn of the year. It‘s that or stay inside for a couple of months.
In between the storms, it is oh so beautiful. And when the sun peeks over the mountaintops in Fljótin after hiding for almost two months, we celebrate with all our heart.
At Sóti Summits, we try to work with the weather. We start using the short daytime hours for cross-country skiing at the start of the year, skiing with headlights as the long dusk falls. As the year progresses, daylight comes back, and the weather stabilizes. This is backcountry ski season – when the weather in Iceland works with us for our mountain adventures.
As spring takes over, it is glorious. The endless daylight, the corn snow in the mountains and the freedom that comes with feeling that you can make this moment last forever.
Join us this spring for unforgettable adventures in the rugged nature at the Tip of Troll peninsula.
