Sunday 03.January 2010
Skiing the Troll Peninsula Iceland
I hope this little message finds you well rested, fed and happy after the Christmas festivities and that the new year is starting well for you all. I just wanted to thank you very much for all the great times in the mountains and elsewhere in years past and wish you my best for the year that has just started. As per usual my annual end/beginning of year monologue could be very long and detailed but I would just like to share with you some of the highlights both personal and professional that occurred in 2009. If you have no time to read, are completely dyslexic or simply don't care you can check out the brief video version of this years new years greeting by clicking this link.... or visiting the Bergmenn youtube channel.
2009 started with some great ice climbing in Iceland but than I headed to Canada to work for my good friends at Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing in Revelstoke BC. It was a good season, skiing the deep powder of the Selkirk
and Monashee mountains but more importantly it was great to ski with all my super motivated and highly skilled colleagues and all the wonderful guests at STHS. This last year I made my way over the
big sea alone leaving the family to await the latest member on the Troll Peninsula in Iceland, and than in May the highlight of the year happened with the arrival of Úlfur Berg Jökulsson
a big healthy boy who already wants to start walking and is eyeballing my skis with a curious expression on his face. As with the first born the timing was a bit off, as I was in the middle of my
busiest ski season ever on the Troll Peninsula in Northern Iceland. But thanks to the boss of all bosses my lovely lady Sunna, everything worked out good.Arctic Heli Skiing, the heli ski arm of Bergmenn Mountain Guides took of for a steep ascending flight this year and as of now it looks like our 2010 season will be fully booked in the next few weeks. With this comes a web site dedicated to the heli skiing which you can check out by clicking the link above, where we will also be promoting heli skiing in Greenland and elsewhere in the near future. To check out some great photos and images from ski touring and heli skiing in Iceland this spring just click on this link. The ski touring season was also a big success with many great people from all over the world sampling the goods of the Troll Peninsula and as always the ski touring remains my big passion. For 2010 we have ordered up our most ambitous ski touring program as of yet with new destinations and trips to check out. Big thanks go out to my friend and fellow guide Stephane Poirier who worked the mountains of the Troll's with me this spring.
But there was no rest for the wicked, for as the snow melted I got seized by business fever and started a new company along with my good friends Einar Ísfeld and the feisty lads as Arctic Adventures. The new
venture,
called Glacier Guides operate all sorts of glacier tours, hikes and ascents from the
scenic SE of Iceland in Vatnajökull National Park, Europe's largest national park and largest glacier. With the Icelandic currency competing hard against the ex Zimbabvian dollar for
worthlessness tourism was booming and we took thousands of people on trips and had 10-20 guides working all summer. In short.... a big success. Ones the Glacier Guides were up and running it was time
for some alpine adventures and the high summer months were spent in France and Switzerland climbing peaks with great guests from around the world. Check out some of the great little shots from this summers alpine season. This coming season I will be based in the Alps
again so if you are looking to go climbing just drop me a line and we will go giv'r.Fall was spent on relaxing a bit and introducing the stranger to his son but also on planing this years adventures. 2010 has arrived with fury on the ice climbing front here in Iceland with awesome conditions and also knee deep powder snow, so hard to choose between ice climbing and powder skiing..... This winter will be my first in Iceland for 7 years and my schedule is fast filling with ice climbing trips to all corners of the country where hundreds of first ascents await. I am very excited about renewing my connection with the Icelandic ice although the cold smoke of BC will be greatly missed. All in all 2009 was a great year for me personally and professionally and 2010 promises to be even better, I hope that is the case with you my friend and wish you ones again all my best for the coming year, may it bring you deep snow, hard ice and sun baked rock and if you ever need anything that I can help you with, please do not hesitate to drop me a line or call.
All the best for 2010 from Niceland
Jökull Bergmann
