Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers | Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers

May 29

Training volunteer leaders in Thórsmörk

This week we have been training our volunteer team leaders and preparing them for the season ahead.

Five leaders from our operations team joined us for a week of induction and training which included helping to set up the Langidalur base camp and organise food and equipment for the teams arriving in June. The group tent is now up, the hut is ready and the new drying room is nearing completion. The Langidalur base camp is now ready for business!

The leaders course was organised and presented by Tony Newby and hosted by Ferðafélag Íslands at Langidalur. Tony helped to establish our training programme last season and has a long history of training volunteer team leaders in both the UK and Iceland. The course has been developed specifically for our programme and it addresses the challenges faced by our team leaders and volunteers, living, working and hiking in the area through the summer months.

Now we are ready…

May 21

The first volunteers of 2014…

Our first volunteers arrived in Thórsmörk last week to help with preparations at the Langidalur base camp. The team included EVS (European Voluntary Service) volunteers from the Hafnafjöður Scouts who joined for the first time this season. As well as general repairs at the camp, work included setting up a new composting system, planting a few birch trees and painting our hut – inside and out (they were also very good at lighting the campfire!).

The team had a chance to explore the area and help begin this season’s GIS data collection as we continue our work extending the pathfinder mapping project throughout the area. After ten days alone at the Langidalur camp it was good to have some company – Thank you to everyone who came to help!

Now we can start the summer…

May 6

Valahnúkur steps (2012)

Timber steps built by our team in 2012 – looking good after their second winter.

Apr 17

Two weeks to go… and the team is ready

In about two weeks time, the Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers return to Langidalur for their second summer season. Ahead of us are 5 months of camping and practical conservation work… and maybe some adventures in Thórsmörk!

This summer, over 60 international volunteers have signed-up to join us. Registration is now completed, (apart from the last few stragglers) and this season we hope to complete more than 200 weeks of trail maintenance and erosion control work throughout the area. We are especially excited about hosting our new 2-week placements. Created and developed last winter, this short-term “free volunteering” programme will be running for the first time this season. Our little programme continues to evolve.

Our training and induction week for team leaders will take place at Langidalur in May following an initial period of preparations and survey work to create this summer’s task list. Everything will be in place in time for the arrival of our first volunteer teams on June 1st.

It is very exiting to be returning to Langidalur, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming our volunteers and getting started!

Apr 1

Sunshine at Monkton Wyld Court

Our weekend pre-summer planning meeting recently took place at Monkton Wyld Court, a sustainable community in Dorset, UK. It was our first activity outside Iceland and the aim of the meeting was to gather together people who will be joining us this summer, to answer questions and explain our plans. We were able to catch up with old friends as well as get to know some of the volunteers who will be joining us in Thórsmörk for the first time this season. We were also able to finalise details of the leaders training week that will take place in Thórsmörk in May. The last stages of preparation for volunteers joining us this season will take place in our forum; Langidalur.is.

Our meeting took the form of a weekend of practical conservation and organic gardening. On Saturday our work included cutting willow, clearing out a stream and processing fire wood. On Sunday the team worked in the gardens, digging and preparing for potatoes and experimenting with the harrow. We do hope that experiencing the human harrow team didn’t put anyone off too much, and we look forward to seeing everyone again this summer in Thórsmörk.

We would like to thank the community at Monkton Wyld Court for hosting the meeting, for their support and friendship, and for the extremely good food!

More pictures from the weekend.