Our friends at the Icelandic Mountain Guides

Last summer we teamed up with The Icelandic Mountain Guides (Íslenskir Fjallaleiðsögumenn) for a trail repair project on the Laugavegur. In the first partnership project of its kind, the company awarded us a grant to support the work of the volunteer teams and take on the challenge of repairing the Laugavegur between Thórsmörk and Emstrur. We were formally presented with the award at a celebration to mark the company’s 20^th birthday in Reykjavik earlier this month.

During the project, we ventured 10km north from our home in Thórsmörk and establish new “long-range trail teams” at remote work sites along the trail. Work focused on restoration tasks in areas where the deep soil layers had been damaged and as well as re-profiling soil and stabilizing vegetation in these areas, improvements to drainage were made to prevent further damage. Five of our volunteer teams undertook the work in July and August, camping close to the work sites during the projects.

There is a great deal of work remaining along the Laugavegur, but this has been a successful start. The funding allowed us to develop out long-range teams and to complete a large amount of valuable trail repair work along the trail. We would sincerely like to thank The Icelandic Mountain Guides for their support and wish them a very happy 20th birthday!