2010 Travelling Alone in Iceland - Skidoo at Vatnajökull (English)－旅行は私の人生なのだ

2010.8.14

The weather is quite good in the morning, and also good for the skidoo tour today.

Because th time for picking up is at 9:30 at the intersection of ring Road and road F985, so I don't have to hurry to go there.

I find a place located in the west side of Hofn where I have a nice view of glacier. If you take care of the location of the scenes (East or West?) and where the sun is now, then you will probably see what you want.

After that, I drive back to the intersection of road F985. I'm the second one when I arrived there.

The sun is big. It's for sure that the day will be a sunny day, so I put on my sunglasses.

It's thanks to the big sun that I almost forget the sunglasses is necessary in the snow field.

For about 9:30, there is already groups of tourists gathering in the parking place, includes the tourists whoa also comes from Taiwan.

Glacier Jeep send two 4WD cars for picking up. The normal one could carry six people and the other big one could carry eleven. Some tourists have to drive their 4WD car for the number of all the tourists is more than the number they could carry.

It spends about twenty minutes on the gravel road up to the mountain.

The condition of the road seems to be worse than the way to Landmannalaugar. You could see the special scenes of the mountain on your bumpy trip, and the driver will sometimes introduces about these scenes. But I don't listen very clearly.

When we arrived at the office, we have to pay first, and then get our equipments from the staff.

There seems to be a restaurant here, but it doesn't open today.

After I get the ticket and put on my suit and helmet, I really think that I'm so similar to the role, Porco Rosso, that appears in the film Kurenai No Buta (紅の豚：http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%85%E3%81%AE%E8%B1%9A)

That's quite a strange feeling.

Except for the jeep, this special vehicle is for driving on the snow.

We have to take this vehicle to the location where the snowmobiles are arranged.

Today we take the white on, and you could look at our suits for skidoo on this man.

The snowmobile is good for driving on the snow. In other side, it doesn't contain wheels, so it's not suitable for the ground or road.

We arrived at the real start of skidoo tour, and listen to the coach introducing the control of the snowmobile.

The control is quite similar to the motorcycle, but the speed control is like the brake on the right hand.

You push the control for more strength, the mobile will drive faster.

Of course, the brake is on the left side.

Because the front is the skis, it's hard to make a turn on the hard ice, and you have to tilt your body to the direction of your turn.

If your arms are powerful, it will be better to control the mobile.

In summer, they will drive a special vehicle to make some soft snow on the glacier so that we could drive easily.

The ice surface is hard and not good for driving:

And this vehicle does a favor for us in advance:

Finally, we ride on the snowmobiles. That's very exciting, I'm excited too, and there is a light smell of the petrol.

When I come to the resting area, I take some pictures of someone driving behind us. They meet a malfunction on their mobile, so the coach carries one tourist in the last (as shown below), and the Taiwan team drive ahead the coach. Actually, if not in the resting area, you could not stop your mobile in the half way for that will delay the moving of all the mobiles behind you.

By the way, the coach seems to not be afraid of the cold weather.

There is a rest area for us to take a break and take photos.

When I try to take off the sunglasses, that's quite shiny. Therefore, the circular PL is also the sunglasses for the camera that is good for photographing of the snow.

The Big snow field and mountains are all around us.

I could not tell you this feeling just for a picture. That's amazing.

This is the snowmobile I drive.

There is skis in the front that control the direction.

And the belt is in the back for stability.

The head is similar to the motor, and there is a space for your feet which will keep your feet safe.

It will be danger to put your feet outside the mobile, and the mobile is quite heavy, so you don't have to worry about the overturn.

When we take the second break, it's also the time for change the driver.

Because I'm alone, I drive all the trip myself, but I have pay more. That's worth, I think.

For more than one hour, we finish our exciting trip with the snowmobile and back to the start. Then, we get on the vehicle again, and turn back to the office. The scenes will never make you feel bored.