Expedition in Reykjavik | Korpijaakko

Posted by Korpi-Jaakko on 24/03/2012

After surprisingly laid back check-in and flight our expedition landed at the Keflavik International Airport around 4 p.m. local time. We then took the airport bus to the hostel where we ended up stopping the traffic of the Reykjavik’s main street for some time, while unloading our gear from the bus. It seems we have a huge pile of it!

We settled in and then it was time to meet our local contact Paavo and acquire even some more stuff – that is fuel for our portable stove and food from the local market. The local discount supermarket chain Bonus offers amongst other things many products that are familiar to Finnish customers, like the Euroshopper brand. They even have the product information written in Finnish!

Next up was a trip to harbour district and a dinner at a fish restaurant, where we sat eating and gazing at the local night life, which is rather active and has it’s own distinctive shade & tone. Whilst the local people enjoyed the night life we had other tasks awaiting – packing, packing and adjusting the gear. This time we will pack everything ready for leg one of the skiing, because our ride to the glacier leaves at 8 a.m. local time. We planned to leave a few hours later, but the driver asked for an earlier departure to make it back before dark in case of bad weather, which could delay the trip in the Super-Jeep from an easy going five hours to fifteen hours! Luckily the weather forecast looks to be at our side.

That is not the case with statistics: Paavo told us that during this season five expeditions have tried to cross the glacier, out of which four have made it to local news after evacuation. Well, we believe that if we just work hard enough we’ll make it. We won’t still mind an occasional wishes of good weather and good luck 😉

-Jaakko