Snow

Well, winter is finally here.

We've had some cold temperatures recently, and the forecast is for below 10°c. There's about ten centimetres of snow everywhere and the effect on these dark December nights is great: it's so much brighter. Combine that with the Christmas lights (Icelanders are really terribly enthusiastic about them, and do it with style) and the effect is charming. Even for a Christmas curmudgeon such as myself.

It's at moments like this that I'm glad I drive a... well, what do I drive? The Merkins* and Ozzies would call it an SUV, the Brits would call it a 4x4, and the Icelanders simply call it a 'Yeppie', then when they translate it into English the origin of the word becomes clear: 'jeep'.

One of the joys of being here is having ski slopes just half an hour away. It's possible to take my gear into work, change after work, drive up to the mountain and be sitting on the first lift just an hour after standing up from my desk. The snowboarding is often best in the evening, floodlit and well-groomed. The best nights are cold, less than -3°c at the top of the mountain, with clear skies and little or no wind. The hill stays open through til 21:00 and there's often virtually noone there; lift queues are tiny. The texture of the snow becomes so visible and the riding is just heavenly on these evenings. If there's powder in the off piste areas, that just adds to the fun.

Having my beast of a truck really enhances the experience, knowing that I can get there and back even in the worst snow and not get bogged down in the parking lot. Ok, so it drinks like a problematic sixties rock star, but I don't really care. There are far worse vehicles on the road...

The website for the local ski area, Bláfjöll, is here. There's another area on the other side of town called Skálafell, which is better for snowboarding, but in recent years it's not been open very often. Even Bláfjöll has been struggling to open very much.

For reliable boarding it's best to go to Akureyri's wonderful Hlíðarfjall. From Reykjavík it's a five-hour drive or a very nice one-hour flight, which is quite cost-effective even for us empoverished locals.

*Americans, of course...