The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 45

cial River in the mid-90s.
As you can imagine setting up a rafting operation
on a river in the north of Iceland was a mission
in itself. Buying equipment, advertising and most
of all training or hiring guides with suitable class
4-5 experience and knowledge was going to be
an uphill struggle.

Two local companies managed this and are still
around today to bare the fruits of there early
labour. Iceland can now boast its own unique
guide culture.
Both of the companies based in the north have a
diverse mix of European, North and South
American along with Nepalese raft guides. There
has been a strong partnership over the years
between Nepal and Iceland. Each year around
eight guides come here from may until late
September. Iceland also has a small community
of guides that have now settled in Iceland and
started families.
Each year the teams from both companies pit
their wits, skills and knowledge against the East
River. In July 2012 a team of guides tackled the
multi-day upper section of the East Glacial River.

The small village of Varamhlid is the base for
rafting in the north of Iceland. The off road 4x4
drive from Varmahlid takes about three hours
and takes you high into the interior desert of the
Springisandur region. A true no-man’s land!
The drive to the river in its self is a expedition in
its own right. Tough 4x4 vehicles are needed to
cope with the rugged moonscape. The occasional
water crossings are sure to get the pulse racing. It
is a common thought amongst the rafting world
that if the journey to the river is tough. The river
journey its self will be tougher. This speaks
volumes of the East glacial river.
As we were all lazy raft guides we did not leave
the base until 1pm we knew that we could take
full advantage of the midnight sun.
The put in point for the East Glacial is a mere
20km from the Hofsjökull Glacier on a clear day
the Glacier is visible in all of its splendour. Today
was a lovely clear sunny day. The raft was
unpacked we made a improvised harness from
webbing to lash our bags to and we were ready
for the off.

Flat and a easy warm up

We put on the river at around 4pm. The first 12
km of the river are flat and a easy warm up as you
make your way through the desert. You slowly
start to notice the river narrowing and some
pretty spectacular rock formations in the
distance. These formations mark the start of the
first canyon. A quick picture and nature stop on a
small beach on the river left prepared us for the
action to come
The next 20-25km of the East Glacial is a
constant barrage of long technical read and run
class 3-4 rapids. We cautiously ran the first few
rapids until we started to relax and tune into the
river.
Once we were all in tune each member of the
team had the biggest ear-to-ear smile on there
faces. The rapids flowed into each other Just
giving enough time to make a quick scout from
our boats and a snap second decision about
which line to take. Due to the fact that this
section only sees around two or three trips preseason none of the rapids have names yet.
Us kayakers were having the time of our lives. Aapo
mentioned that he was just waiting f ?H?]?\??\?\[??H??Y?\??
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