A foreign couple intends to hike from Hraunhafnartangi, Iceland‘s northern-most point, across the central highlands, to Skógar in South Iceland, despite having been encouraged by rescue services not to. The hike is expected to take a month.
Read more: Make your trip to Iceland a safe one with a little pre-planning
According to the National Broadcasting Service, the central highlands are still covered in snow and travel conditions in the area are poor.
Jónas Guðmundsson, project manager at ICE-SAR (Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue), says this is not an isolated incident. Foreign travellers that have planned their trip to Iceland months in advanced are more often than not unwilling to alter their itinerary in accordance to Icelandic weather conditions.
“There is little sense in heading out into these conditions. In case of an emergency it’ll be very difficult to reach these people because the melting snow means we cannot access them by vehicles or snowmobiles. We have no means to prevent people for setting out on these trips. We can only urge them to leave a detailed travel plan on Safe-travel and rent an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon to alert search and rescue services in the event of an emergency. I’d like to see stricter travel regulations for the central highlands to ensure traveller safety.”
A foreign couple intends to hike from Hraunhafnartangi, Iceland‘s northern-most point, across the central highlands, to Skógar in South Iceland, despite having been encouraged by rescue services not to. The hike is expected to take a month.
Read more: Make your trip to Iceland a safe one with a little pre-planning
According to the National Broadcasting Service, the central highlands are still covered in snow and travel conditions in the area are poor.
Jónas Guðmundsson, project manager at ICE-SAR (Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue), says this is not an isolated incident. Foreign travellers that have planned their trip to Iceland months in advanced are more often than not unwilling to alter their itinerary in accordance to Icelandic weather conditions.
“There is little sense in heading out into these conditions. In case of an emergency it’ll be very difficult to reach these people because the melting snow means we cannot access them by vehicles or snowmobiles. We have no means to prevent people for setting out on these trips. We can only urge them to leave a detailed travel plan on Safe-travel and rent an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon to alert search and rescue services in the event of an emergency. I’d like to see stricter travel regulations for the central highlands to ensure traveller safety.”
