6 February, 2011

Bláfjöll, the local ski resort, had been closed on Saturday, but it had been dumping snow, and when we went to bed Saturday night, it was still closed. So we made plans to go out over the other side of the range, and try and hike up a hill somewhere, get a run or two.

As we drove past the turnoff to Blafjöll, we saw plenty of cars turning up, but it was clouds down to the road, so we patted ourselves on the back, and headed over the range.

Which was nice and clear, as we'd hoped, and surprisingly in tune with the weather forecast. However, it seemed that over the range hadn't had anywhere near the amount of snow recently as we'd had in town. Most of the hills were looking a bit grassy and rocky. So, we sort of went for a bit of a drive around, visiting most of the golden circle, and having a look.

Oh, did I mention that we also learnt how much my car SUCKS in the snow? Despite the appearance of the tires, having plenty of tread depth, and a good looking prety aggressive tread pattern, we almost got stuck in the carpark at Geysir. This was not fun! I had bought a big jeepy jeep! This was embarrassing!

But a lovely day nonetheless :)

I later learnt that tjöruhreinsir, a solvent sold here in petrol stations, and applied liberally to the tires, makes an incredible difference. It was like an entirely new car. I don't believe it's even remotely good for the environment to just pour solvents on your tires, but it works wonders! Surprisingly, it also lasts a while. It seems that the lack of traction is caused by the tire getting coated in some sort of road tar here in Iceland, and the cleaner just dissolves the tar, giving you back the original rubber of the tires.