Off Road In Iceland
by Peter Phillpotts
(Chesterfield, England)
Thanks for the latest issue; I've spent an hour looking at it already and hardly scratched the surface. I have to stop work to do this so it's not easy to justify the lost time. But the stories from Iceland are superb !
You may remember we were having a holiday there recently. Although I had your telephone number there never seemed to be any spare time, so I apologise for not calling.
It is a brilliant place to visit, even though we saw only Reykjavik (with a "golden circle tour") and the region around Akureyri, when we hired a car. Too expensive to get a 4x4; I could ship my Jeep over for less than a week's hire ! So I sat very frustrated at the start of several "F" routes which looked to me no different to the roads leading up to them.
Of course I understand that there were probably fords to get through just around the next bend, and these fords will not be like English ones !!
I got a leaflet put out by the government about off road driving in Iceland and can fully agree with the policy: no driving except on ice or snow. The vegetation, what there is, is so fragile I felt guilty about walking on it in places. We have to remember that some of this has taken 9000 years to get so far. It's precious.
Similarly the idea that tyre tracks across such a barren and readily visible landscape can easily ruin the appearance of a pristine wilderness. But a road is only a lot of tyre tracks joined together, and who decides where there should be a road or not ? I would think you have a bit of room for more discussion there. What about river beds ?
A long time ago I realised that, off road, there is no such thing as a big enough tyre. Nature can always provide a tougher obstacle to get past, sometimes in only a few metres. Off the road is whatever nature has put there: big rocks, ravines, holes, deep rivers - anything. Many drivers seem to me not to grasp this very easily; they drive off road as though they are still on road.
But I can fully understand people in Iceland putting up to 49" diameter tyres on their vehicles. How ever do the brakes cope with such sizes ? It's the same as putting bicycle brakes onto a normal car....... scary. Just as well the speed limit is so low.
I am not happy though with the use of such large vehicles. If someone is running a tourist business, taking people on glacier trips then I can understand a Landcruiser or even van kitted out like this, but it seems so unnecessary for just one guy and perhaps his wife/girlfriend. In your country it is acceptable, perhaps, but these pictures get around the world and the conservationists just love them to use to show what greedy, wasteful and indifferent-to-nature people we off roaders are. You are not yet part of the EU but we are, and it won't be many years before this body comes out with legislation to restrict us off roaders right across the continent, if what they've done in other areas is any indication. The anti- groups seem to be very good at getting such laws put in place, because legislators just love banning things.
Further, Iceland is like a huge nature reserve, so little inhabited and so empty. With population pressures everywhere else there will eventually come international pressure on you to make Iceland some kind of reserve for the rest of humanity ! A last wilderness resort for rest and recreation after the daily battles to survive in modern civilisation. It will come, believe it, and how will such a tiny population resist ?
I urge you and your fellow enthusiasts there to look at using smaller vehicles. As you point out under a pic of a Suzuki Vitara on 31" tyres, it's light weight makes it very capable. Those huge trucks most of you drive must weigh 3 tonnes ! 38" tyres must be absolutely the minimum they need to work at all as a 4x4. Yet the space inside is not so much bigger than a Vitara and the little diesel engines you often use must really struggle with such weight.
I accept that conditions you work in call for all sorts of extra equipment plus space to carry it, and also the sort of 4x4s available from the big makers leave you little choice. The auto industry seems intent on making everything big and heavy nowadays, as though none of the concerns exercised by many about pollution etc had any relevance.
But enthusiasts are very clever at adapting things and if it were not for this "biggest is best" mentality which dominates the 4x4 world, more people would appreciate the fact that off road, most of the time you want the lightest machine you can get. Deep, fast flowing rivers are one of a few exceptions and you do have that problem frequently there, I also accept. So I only ask you to think about this matter and remember, your pictures may be seen by people who will react in a very different way to you or I.
Otherwise keep up the good work ! I look forward to reading and seeing more.
Regards,
Peter Phillpotts
Chesterfield
England
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