Skip to content

Tents and camping

Iceland_road_sign_E05.61.svgAll participants bring their own tents to the programme. There are a huge number of brands and designs to choose from so we have listed the main considerations in our guidelines here…

Choosing a tent for Thórsmörk

  • Strength and quality – Above all, the tent needs to be strong enough to cope with heavy rain and possible stormy weather conditions.
  • Size/weight – Although we move the tents every few days to prevent damage to vegetation, we only have to carry the tents with us when we move camps, which is usually not more than once a week. We recommend a tent that has enough space for all your equipment to be brought inside and many of our volunteers choose a “two person” tent so that they have plenty of room. Tents vary in weight but are normally about 2.4 – 3.5 kg.
  • Plenty of guy lines/tying points – The tents will need to be well secured if we encounter a storm during your visit. Having plenty of guy lines and/or tying points are a good feature to look for.
  • Porch space – This is extremely useful as it provides a place to leave things like muddy boots so that personal equipment is under shelter but not inside the tent with you.
  • Ground sheet or tent “footprint” – Some tent models offer a fitted groundsheet or “footprint” type ground sheet which are very good as they fit the exact shape of the tent. If a separate ground sheet is used, care must be taken to ensure that it doesn’t stick out from under the sides of the tent as this will actually help to collect water. This can be avoided by cutting a separate ground sheet to fit the shape of your tent exactly. It is useful to have a ground sheet that extends under the tent porch.
  • Have a trial run – If you haven’t used your tent before, it is important to have a practice run before you join us in Thórsmörk. It is important to check that you know how to put up your tent, that everything works and that nothing is missing.
  • If you are intending to do the Laugavegur hike or other hikes during your placement it is especially important that you try and find one that is light weight (a rough guide would be 3-4kg). Consider getting an additional groundsheet to protect the bottom of the tent as some areas away from our established campsites have little or no vegetation on them.

Back to Equipment and clothing list

%d bloggers like this: