We recently heard about a guy from Italy called Mattia Vettorello who is hiking solo some 800 kilometers across Iceland. He expects his journey to take a month, it will start in the end of July and conclude on the 1st of September. His project is called Iceland15 and you can support it on the Icelandic crowd funding site Karolina Fund.
His journey will take him from Landmannalaugar, Askja, Snaefell,Lónsöræfi, Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, Skaftafell, Fjaðrárgljúfur, Maelifell, and the Laugavegur hiking trail. On the way he will take a look at the main attractions, including the remains of DC3 airplane on Solheimasandur.

So Mattia, this is quite a project, what is the purpose of your journey here in Iceland?

Hi Stuck in Iceland, You are right. It’s the Project. Society makes people hollow and weak. Therefore human beings have to find back their soul which means find themselves back. Basically “Frostscape” – frost + escape – wants to provide new ways for seeing the world redefining the meaning of exploration in this era. Being alone within wilderness will ratchet up the innate relationship between Nature and Man – arriving to fully understand ourselves and our wise Planet. The project wants to be a challenge for myself and a way to rediscover back real nature and conserve it throughout photography, video and notes.

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Have you been to Iceland before? If so, can you tell us about your trip and what you learned from it?

Never been before. Yet I cannot wait to be there. I expect to learn a lot from my extreme adventure around the Vatnajokull. Afterwards I bring my experience to all who wants to know in a book which can be pre-ordered on the Karolina Fund crowd funding site.

This is a long journey across some really remote area, what challenges do you expect to face?

Rivers. Crossing rivers! During August the Vatnajokull unleashes ice that melts and flows into the water all around the glacier. I cannot count the rivers I will have to pass. This is a good challenge to face, isn’t it? Alongside with rivers there will be to fight solitude and to learn how to live with hunger. What’s more there will be water pouring down from the sky. Actually it is not a challenge but it is annoying and can slow my walking pace.

What places are you looking most forward to see?

At the moment I am keen to see all things along my drawn path around Vatnajokull that touches upon different geological aspects: rivers, lava field, lakes, craters, volcanoes, canyon, glaciers and more. A singularity is the path in itself due to its uniqueness, people have done Iceland from North to South or crossed the Vatnajokull, but no one has walked around the biggest glacier and crossing all the rivers flowing from it.

Anything you want to add?

Wish me good luck!

We here at Stuck in Iceland wish Mattia all the best of luck and urge him to be careful. Please don´t embark on this kind of journey unless you are a veteran traveler with great equipment. Please study and follow the the advice on Safetravel.is.

 

Tags #Hiking in Iceland