Ferðafélag Íslands | Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers

Aug 16

‘Hiking week’ on Laugavegurinn

The volunteer camps have been very quiet this week as our teams have been away hiking on Laugavegurinn.

Each summer our 6-week volunteers have the chance to hike from Landmannalaugar during their ‘hiking week’ as a small reward for all their hard work. As well as a welcome break from the challenges of trail building, the hike is an opportunity to explore and enjoy the area (without carrying trail tools and timber).

We would like to say a huge thank you to Ferðafélag Íslands for their support with these trips. Also, special thanks to all the amazing hut wardens who have helped us along the way.

Feb 28

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Our Highland Trailteams

This summer our volunteer teams will return to worksites on the famous Laugavegur hiking trail and once again we will be organising a programme of trail maintenance projects in partnership with The Iceland Touring Association (Ferðafélag Íslands). FÍ have been providing facilities and material support for our volunteer teams since we arrive in Thórsmörk in 2012. The valuable support that our teams receive from the hut wardens is hugely appreciated.

Planned project sites around Emstrur will be accessed by teams hiking from Langidalur and staying at wilderness camps close to the trail there but activity further north is coordinated from a volunteer camp that has been established at Hvanngil. Last season the teams focused their work on a 5km section of the trail between Hvanngil and Álftavatn where the main tasks included improving drainage, repairing damaged sections and adding about 200 new way-markers to encourage hikers to stay on the trail. Working at Hvanngil is particularly challenging due to exposed worksites and changeable weather. Our teams normally walk the 28km trail from Langidalur to Hvanngil in a day.

Despite the challenges, these long-range Highland projects are extremely popular with our teams. We change the groups between the projects each week so that participants experience a variety of locations and work tasks during their placements. Volunteers joining us for 2 weeks this season will hopefully have the opportunity to take part in the Highland projects in the second week of their placement but as always, the final decision will be made by the weather.

Throughout the main season (June-August) our volunteers will be divided into four teams working on project sites throughout the area from Monday – Friday. On Friday evenings the teams will gather at the Langidalur base camp for a meal together, a campfire and the chance to catch up with weekend plans.

We plan to open the camp at Langidalur on May 1st.

Sep 20

Memories of the summer… hiking Laugavegurinn

A “hiking week” has been included in our 6-week projects since we began in 2013. The aim of this week is to provide an opportunity for the volunteer teams to complete the Laugavegurinn hike from Landmannalaugar to Thórsmörk and to hike through their work areas. This summer however, challenging weather conditions meant that things did not quite go to plan …

Because of the late snow in the highlands, the first team which was scheduled to hike in June, was redirected to Skaftafell where they were hosted by our friends at Vatnajökull National Park during their holiday week. The second team went in August but ended the hike at Botnar (Emstrur) because of stormy weather in the area. Luckily though, the team was able to return to Botnar to complete the hike during our final long-range project which included replacing 180 way-markers along 18km of the trail.

Picture of our second team setting off from Lanmannalaugar (August, 2015).

May 15

Back in business… with this season’s first volunteer team at Langidalur

Preparing for a day of challenging weather…

Mar 30

Our new (long) long-range trail teams…

We are delighted to announce that a new hiking trail maintenance project has been organised in partnership with Ferðafélag Íslands (Iceland Touring Association). This summer we will be heading 30km north from our home at Langidalur, to establish a new project working on the Laugavegur trail. We are very excited to be starting this new adventure with our friends at FÍ.

Our new northern long-range teams will include volunteers prepared and trained in Thórsmörk and will be based in the Hvanngil area. This project has been developed as a response to the urgent need for repairs to damaged sections of the Laugavegur trail and in the initial work phase, tasks will focus on clear route marking and drainage to help prevented further damage. Work is scheduled for the middle of the summer.

We would like to thank our friends at Kynnisferðir, Reykjavik Excursions, for their support and assistance with transport for the teams. We really do appreciate their ongoing support for this work.