Why is it only now that I am posting a page about snowmobiling? Good question, let me try and explain...
I love activities which involve snow and speed: check! I love petrol-head shenanigans: check! Our world travels have taken us to many places where snowmobiling is, in theory, available: check! On that basis, I should have experienced snowmobiling already, but for two key things: 1) snowmobiling is expensive and usually comes with an agreement that says "if you damage it, you pay for it", 2) Gill went snowmobiling in Colorado more than a decade ago with her gung-ho motorcycle riding work colleagues. They found a sweet little operation which let you hire the bikes and go out on your own into the deep, wild powder with a basic map. They had a blast and the stories have set the bar way high for me to this day.
So it comes to Iceland. Naz and Hans were keen on a snowmobiling trip. We were too, but I was wary of it being too tame to justify the high cost. My worst nightmare on a first experience such as this was following a guide around a well-marked track for a short time barely breaking a canter. I didn't want to be a petulant child about it, so after some to-ing and fro-ing we came to an agreement.
And so it comes to this trip. We booked it online via one of the popular Iceland trip web sites, which routed through to local operator Arcanum. The 2 hour trip costs 180 GBP per person. To be fair, it navigated an interesting route to the top of the glacier with a few twists and turns, but the snowmobiles were woefully underpowered for petrol-heads and the time on the bikes was less than two hours. Plus, the helmets had seen some action and the visors were difficult to see out of in the driving snow sections.
Overall, a good trip. Expensive. Medium ferocity, but a quality operator and good to get to the top of the glacier and to see the views down to the coast. Thanks to Hans for the GoPro video capture.
By Darrell Grundy - visited on 21 November 2012