Programme news | Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers

Nov 30

Thank you to all our volunteers!

This year our trail work season ended in late October and as the first snow showers arrived in Langidalur, we closed the volunteer camp and headed down for our winter break.

We would like thank everyone who volunteered with us and made 2024 a really great season. Despite the wet conditions and some challenging and remote worksites, our teams worked very well and completed a long list of construction and maintenance tasks. We hope that our volunteers enjoyed their placements and have some good memories of their days with us out on the trails.

This season we were joined by 50 international volunteers and together we completed more than 200 weeks of trail maintenance and practical conservation tasks throughout Thórsmörk and Goðaland. In addition to our general work tasks across the trail network, this year our teams focused on trail repairs on the approach to Rjúpnafell and the west side of Útigönguhöði. A huge amount was achieved and the results speak for themselves.

Preparations for next season are already underway and applications open soon. Dates, details and application forms for our 2025 projects will be available here on December 15th.

Apr 20

Returning to Thórsmörk… our season begins

This week we headed back to Thórsmörk and Goðaland for our first visit of the season.

As well as visiting our volunteer camp at Langidalur, we were able to take a look at some of the trails and the work that was completed there last summer. Although the trails are very wet and muddy for hiking at this time of year, we found that the general conditions on recent worksites on the east side of Valahnúkur are encouraging (steps pictured below). Improvements on the Valahnúkur trail will continue this season and the work will begin when the trails have dried out. We added an Instagram reel from our visit.

We are very excited to welcome our first international volunteers and to get back to work on the trails in May.

Feb 25

All quiet at our Langidalur camp

The teams are now almost ready and it will soon be time to return to our Langidalur camp and prepare for the arrival of our first volunteers of the season.

It is always exciting to return after the winter and we look forward to heading back to Thórsmörk and Goðaland as the snow clears and we can begin survey work on the trail network and prepare our lists of work tasks for 2024.

These pictures were taken this week by our friends at the Volcano Huts in Húsadalur.

Feb 4

Final call for volunteers for our 2024 Trailteams!

Applications for our Thórsmörk Trailteams will close next week as we are nearing the end of our search for international volunteers who will join us this summer. If you would like to apply, please do get in contact by February 11th.

No previous experience of trail construction work is necessary as practical training will be provided. We are looking for participants who have some experience of camping and hill walking, enjoy wilderness landscapes and are ready for a challenge. Iceland’s notoriously changeable weather means that our teams have to be well prepared with warm clothing, good waterproofs and sturdy tents. Due to the strenuous nature of our work, participants must be physically fit and as many of our work sites are in remote locations, we do a lot of hiking to get to them! Our team is chosen from applicants and there is no participation fee.

Full details about the placements including dates and application forms can be found on our website…
https://trailteam.is/opportunities/

Applications for 2024 will close at the end of Sunday, February 11th and the remaining placements will be confirmed by the end of the month.

Jan 28

Planning for summer

As we allocate our volunteer places and the teams start to fill up, we look towards the summer trail projects ahead of us.

Our work season in Thórsmörk and Godaland starts in the spring as the snow melts and the trails are revealed. We begin with a survey of the trail network to gather information and highlight sections that have been damaged over the winter. The full picture is only clear when the snow has gone and we can then put together a task list for our Trailteams who begin their work in June.

Late snow last April delayed the trail surveys a little but created excellent conditions for exploring the area (pictured here). We also added an Instagram reel that captures our adventures out on the snowy trails.

Our volunteer placement applications will remain open until February 11th. Details, dates and application forms can be found here.