FEBRUARY 2025 · ADVENTURE
Winter Adventure — Icelandic Highlands
Icelandic Highlands
Iceland issued a red danger warning while we were in the highlands. Not amber. Red. The country, officially, locked down. We were already inside it.
The highlands in winter are not a landscape you navigate so much as endure and occasionally rejoice in. The terrain is volcanic — dark rock and lava field under a metre of snow, the colour palette reduced to grey and white and the occasional brutal black. Wind moves the snow horizontally. Visibility drops to the distance between you and the person in front. The person in front becomes the navigation system.
The highlands in winter are not a landscape you navigate so much as endure and occasionally rejoice in.
Icelandic Highlands — February 2025
There are cabins on some slopes — red and orange, partly buried in drifts. In those conditions they looked like the warmest places on earth. Highland huts appear from the fog: corrugated black buildings with lit windows, snow piled against the walls, vehicles half-buried in the yard. The interior is warm and smells of wet gear.
The group moves across open terrain — hiking or snowshoeing, poles down, following the track. Good pace on the flat, careful on the descents. The plateau is featureless in whiteout — only the occasional dark volcanic outcrop breaking the white, or a geothermal feature where moss survives in the ground heat, orange-green against snow.
My Sony A7 did not survive this trip. The camera frosted, then failed in the cold. I watched it slowly dying, carried on with what I had left.
One frame: a hiker with frosted glasses and heavy cold-weather gear, face turned toward the camera. The ice is on the outside of the lenses.
Hikers trekking through deep snow in whiteout conditions
Winter expedition on snowy volcanic slopes with distant peaks
Winter hiker in frosted glasses and heavy cold-weather gear
Skier descending snowy slope with team members visible behind
Snowy mountains with pink-lit sky and exposed volcanic terrain
Solo hiker in severe whiteout below snow-covered mountainside
Hikers on plateau with snow-covered mountains under overcast sky
Wind-sculpted snow patterns across desolate highland plateau
Emergency A-frame shelters on snowy slope during expedition
Highland building with lit windows surrounded by heavy snow drifts
Vehicles and team outside highland base building during storm
Emergency shelter isolated in snowy whiteout landscape
A-frame emergency shelter on snowy Highland slope in whiteout
Highland building emerging from fog with snow-covered windows
Wooden shelter with tin roof buried in snow during blizzard
Black corrugated building exterior with snow drifts in foreground
Hikers trekking across snowy terrain with ice-covered cliff above
Dramatic ice-covered cliff face with snow plateau below
Emergency shelter isolated on snowy slope during whiteout
Mountain base complex at dusk with lit windows and shelters
Emergency shelters scattered on snowy slope with mountains beyond
Winter landscape with snowy mountains and overcast sky
Expedition camps on snowy Highland slopes with distant peaks
Distant building on Highland plateau with dark volcanic terrain
Desolate snowy landscape with distant mountains under grey sky
Skiers descending snowy terrain with distant snow-covered peaks
Team trekking through whiteout conditions on Highland plateau
Hikers on snowy terrain with distant mountains and sky
Team interacting on snowy plateau during winter expedition
Skier on gravel path with group behind on snowy slopes
Expedition members ascending across snowy Highland terrain
Single building structure on snow-covered Highland landscape
Team in whiteout conditions during winter Highland expedition
Hikers silhouetted in whiteout on snowy plateau
Team descending snowy terrain with colorful gear visible
Skiers descending across snowy Highland landscape
Solo figure walking across vast white snowy plateau
Team spread across snowy terrain during descent
Skier in red jacket on snowy plateau during expedition
Snow-covered mountains with layered volcanic terrain visible
Highland building structure isolated on snowy landscape
Expedition team ascending across snowy Highland terrain
Geothermal feature with moss and ice on snowy plateau
Team trekking in line across snowy Highland landscape
Team in winter gear skiing across snowy terrain
Moss-covered geothermal rocks protruding from snowy plateau
Solo skier on snowy landscape with grey overcast sky
Team skiing down snowy Highland slope in formation
Distant poles and scattered rocks on desolate snowy plateau
Team skiing across Highland terrain with distant power line
Wind-swept snowy landscape with scattered dark volcanic rocks
Building structure on Highland plateau with distant mountains
Emergency shelters in snowy Highland valley with steep slopes
Expedition base camp with vehicles and structures in snow
Small building structure isolated on snowy Highland plateau
Skier on slope with layered mountain ridges in background
Snowy landscape with rocks and distant mountain ridges
Skier with team members across snowy Highland terrain
Distant mountain with poles and rocks on snowy plateau
Skier on vast snowy plateau with snow-covered mountains
Sharp volcanic mountain peak with snow-covered flanks
Distant poles and scattered rocks on wind-swept snowfield
Skier in red jacket on snowy terrain with mountain backdrop
Skier descending with team visible ahead on mountain slope
Mountain peak with team spread across snowy plateau
Snow-covered mountain with single figure on vast snowfield
Dark volcanic outcrop protruding from white snowy landscape
Team trekking across snowy terrain with mountain ridge beyond
Skier on snowy plateau with distant mountain slope
Wind-swept snowy landscape with scattered poles and rocks
Snow-covered mountains with complex terrain patterns visible
Team trekking with mountain backdrop across snowy terrain
Team in winter gear ascending snowy Highland slope
Team trekking across snowy terrain with mountain landscape
Skier descending with team on snowy Highland plateau
Team crossing snowy landscape with snow-covered mountains ahead
Skier descending through snow-covered Highland valley
Two hikers in whiteout on snowy plateau during storm
Hot spring stream with ice-covered banks in snowy landscape
Snowy mountains with volcanic terrain beneath grey sky
Snowy mountains with volcanic terrain and scattered dark rocks