Incident Report – 2019-12-28
On my day tour on 2019-12-28 I came to the assistance at an accident on the glacier. You can download my incident report here.
Names and other personally identifiable information have been redacted from this version.
Cleanup / Community Days
I’ve really enjoyed doing my cleanup days since I started them last summer, even though I’ve not been very vocal about them. Now that winter is finally here they are becoming a bit of a struggle. Just yesterday I spent 10 minutes hacking away to uncover a single chocolate wrapper that was partially entombed in frozen mud, and once snow arrives it will be near impossible to even see stuff anyway. Every single piece of trash removed is still worth it of course, but it got me thinking. Perhaps those winter days could be spent in a better way, by keeping the spirit but expanding the scope?
The working title of this idea is to make them Community Days. This also goes towards an idea I’ve been throwing around with a friend for some months now, and while I am not quite ready yet to go into more detail I think it could be a great plan.
New map!
Following up on my recent update on the mapping project, I did actually find good flying conditions just a few days later and decided to give it a try with just two batteries. To make it work, I reduced the map coverage a bit and flew at a slightly higher altitude than normal (110m instead of 80m). This required fewer passes and thus less flight time, and was barely doable with two batteries. Not perfect, but still a success!
As always, the interactive maps are online at https://map.hafjall.is/ .
© 2019 stephan mantler / Háfjall ehf.Update on the mapping project
Some may have noticed that my glacier mapping project has been on a bit of a hiatus. The reason is a combination of lack of opportunity and technical difficulties.
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Around Vestrahorn
The Vestrahorn hike is now finally available for online booking! Did this tour a few times already this fall and we were always blessed with amazing weather. The way I have laid out the tour it can be done as a half-day point-to-point hike from Papós over to Stokksnes, or we can traverse the Kex mountain pass and circle back to Papós. This is actually not that much longer, but going up the loose scree slopes to Kex after a few hours of hiking can be pretty tough. The usual way to do the entire loop is to come up from Papós first (where the slopes are much gentler) and come down over the loose scree, but I prefer the flexibility of starting along the coastline and then always having the option of taking Kex to loop back or just staying low and arranging pickup from Stokksnes.
In any case, it is such a great way to explore the rugged coastline in my neighborhood.