Wilderness Management Team | Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers

Dec 14

Summer 2015 – Plans for next season…

As the end of the year approaches, it is time to announce our plans for next season…

We are delighted to confirm that the our volunteers will return to Thórsmörk in 2015 and we have been busy gathering the details for our summer programme. It is a very exciting time for us as we are able to build on the success of our last season, make a few key changes as well as introduce some new ideas.

Next year, placements will run from 2-9 weeks and once again there will be no participation fee. Full details and application forms will be published on our homepage on 19th December. There will be 2-week and 6-week placements as well as opportunities with our “Operations Team” (responsible for leading groups and supporting the projects). The allocation of placements will begin immediately with the first interviews planned for early January. Places are allocated as soon as suitable applicants are found and we expect this process to be completed by Easter.

Don’t miss your chance to join us!

Nov 13

Our team of volunteers “from 6 to 66 years old”.

In July we were joined by volunteers from Sjá (Sjálfboðaliðasamtök Um Náttúrvernd) for a special weekend project in Thórsmörk. More than 40 participants took part in our biggest project of the summer (and biggest project ever!).

The group worked in small teams on a series of hiking trail maintenance and erosion control projects on several sites. These included the west side of Valahnúkur as well as sites close to Húsadalur and Sönghellir where erosion fences were construced. A huge amount of work was completed in theses areas over the two days. Hosting and organizing food for 40+ people set a new record at our Langidalur base camp!

We would like to thank everyone who was involved and look forward to working with our friends from Sjá in Thórsmörk next season. We have added some pictures of the weekend to a new album on Flickr.

Nov 4

Video from Sjá… Icelandic nature conservation volunteers

Familiar faces from 2013… A video posted by our friends from Sjá (Sjálfboðaliðasamtök um náttúruvernd). Our international volunteers worked together with Icelandic volunteers on a special weekend project close to Húsadalur in summer 2013.

Thanks for posting!

Nov 1

Pictures from the Kattarhryggur steps…

One of our most ambitions and challenging projects has been the building of timber steps close to Kattarhryggur on the Fimmvörðuháls trail. Work began in 2013 and continued with a second phase last summer.

There is more work to do and we look forward to returning to the site, but we have collected together these albums of pictures to tell the story so far…

Oct 30

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!