Iceland – Stormy skiing

Story 11/21: 50-years-storm – flying in wind

Story 11/21: Scandinavian scout and guide skiing expedition in Iceland

50-years-storm – flying in wind

Easter week, 1990

Sometimes “so close, but so far” feels almost too tangible. This is supposed to be the final uphill stretch before the route would turn mostly downhill – and not even too steep, but rather a gentle stroll towards the large hut.

During the day winds have been picking up and are now unfortunately against us. The downward terrain ahead practically ends to the shores of Arctic Ocean. So, the storm winds created by the vast polar sea were pushed uphill over the open snow fields and on the other side of this low mountain range they were squeezed through a narrowing valley to meet us at the top of this pass at their highest speed.

Even though the remaining distance “to the other side” was not too long in meters, it was a proper wind tunnel. First, we had wondered, why the people ahead had stopped, but ascending towards them it became obvious. As the strength of the wind increased higher, we saw people just lying flat on the ground. 

Suddenly a gust threw me off my legs and I literally felt flying with the wind. I managed to stick the handle of my ski pole to the snow and turn so that I was heading to wind laying low. Then – on all fours I crawled to the expedition leader asking what should we do.

Shouting over the howling wind we got instructions to take out our shovels and to start digging snow caves – or any foxhole possible. And as there were not tools for everybody, the rest to take cover behind their backpacks and to put warm clothes on.

We took shifts in digging and even trying to kick the snow with our ski boots. That was not much help, but once the Icelanders had finished with digging the first hole, they gave us this self-made snow saw. It was about 70 cm long, cut of thick aluminium plate. The edges of the oval handle were taped to save the gloves and zig-zagged blade ended to a sharp tip.

With the snow saw and two shovels the opening changed from a round hole to about one meter deep and over 1×2 meter rectangle. We noticed then, that one of the Finnish girls was really cold. Yes, we had asked her to put more clothes on, but in the whirling wind we had just put all our efforts to digging and had not really supervised on how the others were doing.

Her lips were turning blue and face felt really cold. So, we dug out two sleeping mattrasses and her sleeping bag, helping her to the bottom of the snow grave we just had dug. Someone had some warm water in thermos, so it was offered to the hypothermic maiden, but she refused. While the storm around kept rampaging, we were occasionally rubbing her body to speed up the circulation.

Having the most vulnerable of us protected and head count done we went to ask, if there was something else, we could do. As we were told that we had done enough for the moment, we passed the tools along and returned to our common “tomb”.

Some background data:

Iceland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

Storms, weather and climate:

Windstorms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_windstorm

Weather of the above story: https://weatherspark.com/h/d/147630/1990/4/11/Historical-Weather-on-Wednesday-April-11-1990-at-Akureyri-Airport-Iceland

Greenhouse Gases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

Carbon dioxide removal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_removal

Sustainable nutrition:

Hiking food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camping_food

Sustainable nutrition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_food_system

Sustainable energy:

Geothermal power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power

Questions – see links above, books, Internet or digital media for answers:

1. European windstorms. Extreme weather – like storms – is normal. Due to climate change these tempests have more power and may occur more randomly or frequently, than before. Our Scandinavian ski expedition got to experience the tails of the 1990 storm series, that made us dig deep into snow and teared off roofs in nearby towns.

Storms get their power of the temperature differences between neighbouring air, water or landmasses. Accumulation of the GHG (Greenhouse Gases) during the industrialisation has raised Global temperatures by almost 1,5 degrees Celsius (until the end of 2023). Cutting down the production of GHG is probably among the best methods to lessen the impacts of the storms to societies and nature.

What direct and indirect ways to limit the damages of storms can you think of? Consider:

a. The root cause – slowing down the climate change by:

a1) GHG production:

– the choice, frequency and distances of the motorised transport we use

– the amount, source and timing of energy we (individuals, companies and other unities and countries) use

a2) Removal of GHG 

– the way, frequency and amount we use, maintain or restore nature and its resources (land and oceans)

– artificial methods like carbon capture and direct air capture

b. Being more prepared:

– building dams and breakwaters to control the water, strengthening buildings, roads, bridges and other structures to be more storm resistant

– landscaping, meaning adding vegetation to urban areas (trees, bushes, green rooftops and walls) to remove the CO₂, to cool down and to absorb the excess water during (heavy) rain

– stocking reserves on food, drinks and other essentials (at personal, local and national levels) 

2. Nomad nutrition. Early men were hunter-gathers. They collected their nutrition much like other living creatures – mostly on daily basis, but colleting provisions, if possible. Thus, large part of their time went to searching food. Agriculture and later industrialisation allowed accumulation of properties and more “needs” have been created to put that fortune into use.

Nutrition of a nomad – herding their cattle – needs to be light in weight and rich in energy. Our Icelandic hosts transformed this to “Biscuits and tea for lunch”. Practise we Finns at first laughed at, but learned to value – more than the poor efficiency of our spirit burning Trangia-stoves, that were good for three semesters, but lot slower in melting water from snow than the pressurised gas-stoves some of our hosts had.

In the dawn of mankind, the human population was only a fragment of what it is today and so was the human impact to the planet. So, in the fight against climate crisis, food cannot be ignored. How can we feed all the people on Earth sustainably. Consider:

a. What and how much food is produced and consumed:

– What are sustainable sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and other nutrients – amount and type of meat, fish, shellfish, seaweed, mushrooms and vegetables and (how) does it depend on where we live?

– Both famine and obesity are global problems. How could we balance this?

b. How food is produced:

– Fertilisation increases crops by adding vital chemicals containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other soil specific minerals. Nitrogen-fixing processes invented around 1^st World War has enabled Green Revolution and speeded population growth.

– Amount of fertile soil varies. How can we protect and at least conserve the vital layers if there are longer periods of extreme draught or flooding?

– Can or should we adapt our ways of life to the changing climate on a larger scale? Could there be a sustainable and controlled system change?

c. Where food is produced:

– How to achieve a better balance between the famine and food waste?

– Are the current fields, farms and gardens enough?

– How to maintain or improve the existing food sources in changing climate?

– Do we need to rethink new ways to use old agricultural lands?

– Do we need to grow food on the growing urban lands?

– Can we or should or should we not consider waters of our planet as existing or new sources of food?

3. Geothermal power. Iceland is at the boarder of Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Because of this volcanic activity is strong and Icelanders have learned to use geothermal power in many ways.

Think of pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages): 

a)  At least 90 % if Icelandic homes are heated with geothermal energy

b) Growing bananas in Icelandic greenhouses

c) Keeping the streets free of snow and ice with geothermal heat

d) Numerous swimming halls and spas (like “The blue Lagoon”) use naturally heated (and actually cooled down) waters

e) Practically all of Icelandic electricity is produced either with hydro or geothermal sources

4. Discuss. Your view: What thoughts did rise in your mind having read the story, browsing through the background material and answering to the three questions above? Can you see links between the three topics handled in questions above? Discuss with your pair.

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