The Coldest Crossing: Four Students Take on Iceland’s Toughest Challenge

When Charlie Smith and his crew checked into their hotel in Akureyri, Iceland, on December 2, the weather was a mild 28° Fahrenheit. A light snow was falling as the short day turned to night. The team of four British adventurers, all university students younger than 21, was about to traverse Iceland from north to south without outside support, traveling on skis when they could, hauling their gear on sledges. They expected the 250-mile journey, which has never been done in winter months, to take the better part of a month to complete.

At the same time, 500 or so miles south of Akureyri, a massive low-pressure system was barreling northeast across the Atlantic. The storm, named Desmond, was tracking south of Iceland. Weather forecasters and search-and-rescue teams were unsure what impact it would have on the country, and on the four men attempting to ski across it.

"Since we get a lot of storms and many pass by, forecasting more than two days in advance is just speculation," said Brando Arnarson, a member of the Icelandic Search and Rescue Association (ICE-SAR), which had been working with the British team as they prepared for their adventure. "If you give early warning and the storm isn't realized, future warnings are not effective."

Smith and his team set out on skis on December 3. Three days into their trek, Storm Desmond came directly for Iceland. ICE-SAR sent the team an urgent warning via satellite phone, and advised them to seek shelter in the town of Kópasker, about nine miles from their location. The next day, the team skied to the small town and holed up in a hostel to wait out Desmond.

It was the biggest storm to hit Iceland in 25 years. Wind speeds topped out at 160 miles per hour. Most troubling to the crew, though, was the rain. Rain at this time of year begets ice. An iced-over tent turns into semi-flexible plastic that's nearly impossible to fit in a stuff sack. Ski bindings filled with ice need to be chipped clean before they'll take a boot. So the four Brits retired to a hostel, to the drawing board, to re-analyze all the variables.

A press release issued on Tuesday said, "The team is currently taking today and tomorrow to reassess and reorganize their strategy."

The team departed Akureyri for their second attempt at "The Coldest Crossing" on Thursday, December 10.

The team's historic expedition is all the more impressive given its members' ages. Smith, 19, is the leader and on record as the youngest person to cross Iceland north to south unsupported during summer. Stefan Rijnbeek, 20, who is half Russian, has spent part of nearly every winter of his life mountaineering in Russia's outback. Angus Dowie, 19, is a marathon runner and trainer. Archie Wilson, 19, has backpacking experience but comes with the least pertinent resume of the four.

For what they lack in years, though, they seem to have made up for in preparation.

"I spent three hours with the guys before they left for the first attempt," said Arnarson, of ICE-SAR. "In my opinion, despite their age, they were quite sensible, well-prepared, and have excellent equipment. I've seen many, many teams far worse prepared both mentally and physically. I'm not worried about them doing the month hike."

Arnarson also communicated with the team while it regrouped in Kópasker: "I advised them to change their travel plan to go a route easier for extraction. They listened."

Louis-Philippe Loncke, a Belgian adventurer who was the first person to cross both Death Valley and Australia's Simpson Desert on foot, crossed Iceland in the summer of 2010. He intends to traverse the country in the winter at some point in the future and has been watching the team's preparation and progress. He doesn't mince words when speculating about the dangers and difficulty involved in the undertaking.

"I would put summiting Mt. Everest at a 5 [10 being the hardest], traversing Antarctica at a 6, and crossing Iceland in winter at a 9.5," he said.

If the team can successfully cross the country in the next month or so, Loncke thinks it could be "the expedition of the year, if not the decade." Iceland is located just south of the Arctic Circle but it also sits on a tectonic hotspot, meaning that it's typically not fully covered in snow, even through the winter. The country sees its share of polar weather, but it's also subject to currents of warm air flowing north. Such highly volatile weather makes crossing in winter difficult, which is compounded by the nature of the landscape itself.

"The variety of terrain makes it very challenging," Loncke said. "If the wind is too strong, the tent gets shredded and blocks of ice can fly through the air. If you have places of low snow but black sand from the ash, that can cause abrasion. Rain can mix with ash in low-snow areas and then you can't ski. You might be dragging your sled over a ground that's like sandpaper. In Antarctica, it's just ice and snow. Here, the diverse terrain and wind make you way slower than people believe. It is, of course, possible if you are well prepared and you have a lot of luck—if everything is right. But look what just happened to them."

Nineteen sponsors, including Sony and SanDisk, are supporting the expedition, mostly through gear and equipment donations. One of the team's goals is to produce a film intended to inspire other young people to pursue outdoor adventures. They want to show the thrills and the challenges, but at the same time convey that such an undertaking is possible for a wide range of people, if they've prepared correctly.

Renan Ozturk and Taylor Rees of Camp4 Collective volunteered to make the film. Rees has embedded with the team since before they began trekking. Ozturk will join toward the end.

"Renan and I were intrigued to make this film because we were inspired to make a different story," Rees said. "How many expedition films are out there with 19-year-old kids?"

Rees waited out Desmond with the team in Kópasker. One of the team members, whose name has not been released, has suffered a lung infection and did not restart the journey today. Rees skied out of Kópasker with the three others, but she still expressed some concern about the undertaking.

"Now we're friends with these kids – I'm worried," she said. "On a dime, a storm can materialize. We're under the assumption there will be a storm [per] week throughout this entire thing. I'm worried, but I think they can do it."