Programme news | Thórsmörk Trailteam

May 11

Back on the trails again

It is always exciting to get back on to the trails at the start of each season and see how our trail work looks after the winter. These early surveys help with planning for the season as we can prioritise damaged areas and also review the techniques that were used and see what has worked best.

Although the winter has had some impact on the network as it always does, the first trails and old worksites that we visited are looking quite good. There is still plenty of maintenance work for us to do however and we look forward to the arrival of our first volunteers and getting started on the practical tasks in about two weeks time.

Steps on the west of Valahnúkur, where maintenance work was focused last season.

One of the viewpoint benches added last summer.

Timber ‘ladder’ steps added on an area of slippery bedrock last summer (just waiting for additional landscaping at the edges).

Apr 12

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Returning to Thórsmörk

We made an early start to the season this week with our first trip to Thórsmörk.

As well as delivering equipment ahead of the volunteer teams, it was a valuable opportunity to take a look at conditions on the trails and in the forest as the snow clears, and to make some final decisions about our work priorities for the season.

It was very nice to back at our volunteer camp at Langidalur (it felt like returning home), and exciting to begin preparations for another Trailteam summer. Our first international volunteers will be with us in less than 6 weeks time and we are looking forward to getting back on work on the trails.

Pictures taken at Langidalur volunteer camp on April 11th.

Feb 20

Summer ready

After weeks of applications and interviews, our summer teams are now finally (just about) ready.

Once again, this year we received a lot of interest in the placements with many strong applicants and there were some difficult decisions when making the selection. A couple of new teams were added to the programme so that we could include as many as possible.

Our 2022 teams are made up of participants from 18 countries and include first-time volunteers, returners and others with placements that were deferred due to travel disruption last summer. We are delighted that several of our most experienced volunteers will be returning as team leaders this summer and we very much look forward to working with them again.

We plan to return to Thórsmörk for preparations and trail survey tasks in April (when conditions allow) and our first volunteers will begin the practical work in May.