The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.1988, Qupperneq 46

44
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING, 1988
source of Jokulsa in Iceland’s Vatnajokull
to its mouth at the Arctic Ocean. Prior to
this expedition, this river had not been
navigated in its entirety. An international
twelve man team from Britain, France,
United States, Australia, and Iceland made
this daring and adventurous trip. Their aim
was to show that microlight aircraft could
serve to transport both men and equipment
over inhospitable and impassible portions
of the river while kayaks and rubber rafts
served to carry the adventurers through the
navigable parts.
The team began their memorable voyage
on the south coast of Iceland and travelled
north to Vatnajokull. They lowered their
kayaks by means of ropes down a large
shaft which the vapours from hot springs
below had melted within the glacier itself.
The men actually made their way on the
river from its source beneath the ice of
Europe’s greatest glacier.
At length, they reached the open river
with a blue sky, instead of ice, above. As
the boatmen moved downriver, the micro-
light kept pace in the air and scouted prob-
lem spots in the river, as well as assisting in
selecting a path amongst the ice floes and
in finding places to rest or have meals.
Two Icelanders, Gisli Hj&lmarsson and
Gudbrandur Jbhansson, formed the back-
The Christmas book trade in Iceland is
brisk indeed. Every publisher hopes to
make enough at this time to last him
through the rest of the year. Just about
every writer tries to time the completion of
his manuscript so as to cash in on the
Christmas book rush. Just about every liv-
ing soul in Iceland gets at least one book
for Christmas, and, of course, many get
several. Some of the books published at
this time of the year are quite ordinary;
up crew that ensured adequate supplies
were available at the appropriate places.
Hjalmarsson (true to his name) was at the
helm of the larger raft while Jbhansson
drove the huge Ice Cat tractor which
brought in supplies and was the main form
of transport over the glacier.
The film showed many magnificent shots
of the rugged and beautiful scenery of Ice-
land. Particularly impressive was Dettifoss,
over which the microlight proved its worth
in transporting the men and equipment,
and without a problem.
When they reached the Arctic Ocean,
the explorers realized that this team had
proven the usefulness of the microlight air-
craft in river exploration. Jokulsa had
shown itself to be the ideal testing ground
for this innovative method of river trans-
port and reconnaissance.
This film is thoroughly interesting and
often exciting, while the scenery is breath-
taking. The National Geographic did its
customary excellent job in photography
and in presentation of the film. It is highly
recommended for all persons interested in
Iceland and its scenery, in white water
boating, in microlight flying, or in pure
adventure.
Reviewed by Thomas R. Einarson
Bokautgafa Menningarsjodur,
some of them sell well merely because they
are on a subject that catches the popular
fancy but have little or no lasting value. But
occasionally a book is published at Christ-
mas time that is quite out of the ordinary.
Such a book is Refska. Written by Kirstj&n
J. Gunnarsson, former Superintendent of
Schools for the city of Reykjavik, it was
published by Bbkautgafa Menningarsjbdur
just in time for Christmas 1986,391 pages
long.
Gunnarsson, Kristjan. Refska Reykjavik:
1986. 391 pp.