Scott McCartney: Splitboarding in the Land of Trolls
Recently Scott McCartney from our Aviemore store travelled to Iceland with his splitboard to find the best runs of the season in this incredible place.
Unfamiliar with the sport? Splitboarding basically combines the ride of a snowboard with the agility of skis. The Splitboard is a snowboard which can be separated into two ski-like parts to make ascents easier and then can be reconnected to create a regular snowboard for wild descents. We caught up with Scott to hear about his latest adventures in Iceland.
The Troll Peninsular
When me and my friend Kahti got off the plane in Reykjavic we weren´t sure what to expect. We had seen a few pixelated pictures and trip reports of other parts of Iceland but Tröllaskagi (The Troll Peninsular) was very much a mystery to us. The weather itself in Reykjavic was quite mild for the beginning of March whilst the days are still short, this didn´t fill us with too much hope for the quality of snow.
We set off on the bus the next day through the mist seeing how Reykjavic got its name, which translates as the Smokey Bay. As we travelled we gazed in awe, looking out into the changing landscapes from the jagged, harsh and volcanic south, with ominous looking glaciers, seeing it make way to the vast fjords, waterfalls and more importantly, tall, snowy mountains of the north.
The Journey North
The further north we travelled, the more snow there was. We were constantly scanning for potential ascents and steep lines for us to snowboard down as we went over mountain passes and through the valleys.
‘The Handyman who makes really good ewes milk ice cream.'
Before we had time to take in our new playground we were in the small fishing town of Dalvík and meeting our host, Kolla. She took us to Húsabakki which would be our home for the next four months. Here we did everything from cooking for the guests to general maintenance and even pathbuilding in exchange for food and a place to stay. We met many great people who made us feel like part of the family: our awesome host Kolla who would give us the use of her 4x4 on our days off; Bogga the cook, a woman who knows everyone and can get you anything and then there was Hafliði the handyman who makes really good ewes milk ice cream.
So there we were in the north of Iceland in what felt like the middle of nowhere, Week long blizzards would roll in and we wouldn´t see anyone until the storms cleared. Surrounded by mountains we would spend our time looking out at the descents we wanted to do and planning routes on maps. Then we would venture out, not too high or extreme at first, testing the snow for stability and testing ourselves to make sure we could still snowboard. It wasn´t until we took a trip around the peninsular in Kolla´s car that we knew it was on.
We took the tunnel to the next fjord to find even crazier looking mountains with steep, tight gullies and runs that finished with cliff drops into the freezing sea. Curious of what more we could find, we travelled through the seemingly never ending tunnels under the mountains to the other fjords. We did this until we were eventually at the northern most tip of the peninsular, the only thing more northerly was Grimsey Island on the Arctic Circle which we could see from shore.
‘As we climbed we watched other skiers being dropped off by helicopters around us.'.
With all that we had found we travelled back to our valley of Svarfaðadalur for our first steep gully halfway up one of the mountains. We climbed the gully with our crampons, ice axes and the boards on our backs. I was the first to go down. I stood at the top with some slight trepidation, this was my first steep line of the season and a fall would hurt, even if I missed the rocks on either side of the 4 metre wide gully. I made it down in one piece and Kahti soon followed. This was the moment we started to push ourselves and really test our winter skills. A lot of trial and error came out of this, the mountains of Tröllaskagi feel isolated, every move you make needs to be planned and in no way wreckless. There was also the snow to take into account which could be very unstable and led to frequent avalanches but we always took the proper measures to keep ourselves safe. Apart from this we managed to ride in all snow conditions from bottomless powder to spring corn.
We progressed to more steep and narrow gullies and even some of the higher peaks in the valley, the highest of which was Rimar, at 1371 metres starting from pretty much sea level. It took us five and a half hours to climb. As we climbed we watched other skiers being dropped off by helicopters around us. We got to the top, picked a line that hadn´t been ridden and we dropped in. After a tough climb it was hard to snowboard down, trying not to make any mistakes but we made it down for one of the best runs of the season.
'People always ask whether it´s worth it, putting so much effort into a run that will probably last less than 10 minutes.'
We pushed ourselves to our limits during our four months away, but it still left us wanting more. There were too many peaks and lines we missed due to weather or lack of time so I can´t wait to go back and finish the job. People always ask whether it´s worth it, putting so much effort into a run that will probably last less than 10 minutes. To which I say it just makes you appreciate the run even more and you get the feeling you´ve earned it, forever giving you a personal attachment to that line.
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