Time to prepare for the Fossavatnsgangan 2024
Because of the high latitudes and high mountains, the sun doesn’t show in downtown Ísafjörður, Iceland for a long time. Even in the tracks mid-mountain, the sun is difficult to spot when the day is short. All the more reason to get into the tracks for practice. The skiing season usually starts in earnest around Christmas and this year was no exception. Although a wave of warm air has come in the last few days, the winter has seen good snow and conditions.
The main race (50 km) is scheduled 20th April, the skating competition 18th April and the Fossavatnsgangan at Night 27th March.
Travel packages ease the planning
“We are happy with the registrations so far, but as we are late in the skiing season, people tend to register later in the year. Now is the time to start planning,” says Kristbjörn “Bobbi” Sigurjónsson, head of Fossavatnsgangan.
For overseas visitors, it is important to secure accommodation. There is a list on Fossavatnsgangan’s website of accommodation and a Facebook page with information. Wild Westfjords, a travel agency, also offers packages which both include accommodation and the domestic logistics needed, as well as sightseeing tours. Because, why go to Iceland if you only see snow?
You can also check our map of available accommodation at Worldloppet races:
Old results collected
Having started in 1935, Fossavatnsgangan is by far the oldest running skiing competition in Iceland.
“We have already started preparing for celebration of the 90 years, by collecting race results through the years into a database. This has been a more complicated task than anticipated, and there are two years missing, but I think it is as good as it will get” says Gylfi Ólafsson who is creating a database of the results. “Recently we came across the results from 1965 which we had feared had been lost forever. The results show that local legend Kristján Rafn Guðmundsson won, as he usually did in those years, this time by a margin of two minutes.”
In those years, the tracks were not groomed, the race was 17–20 km and women participated only sporadically. Skiers were divided into two groups, older and younger, with unspecified cutoff age.
The database is live on Fossavatnsgangan website with interesting statistics.
