III
Dalá
Tom on the Dalaa Short piece of easy water to warm up on. Grade III drop and some other simple rapids.
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Eystri-Jökulsá
Tom on the lower Eystri Jokulsa canyon The first few kilometres are almost flat and the river doubles back on itself a few times after which the river speeds up and enters a very wide valley. The following 35 Kms is cont
IV / V / VI
Geithellná (lower section)
View of the lower Geithellnaa The first drop is a small grade III. The river then flattens before taking a sharp right into the gorge. Inspection is essential, the river falls 4 m followed by several stoppers. This shoul
IV / V
Geithellná (upper section)
The road to the put-in on the Geithellnaa This section starts with the V notch fall followed by several grade III drops before the river enters a small canyon. Two further drops require inspection, the first is shot just
III
Hamarsá
Rob below the top fall on the Hamarsa, a rare moment in a slalom C1 The track ends near a small corrugated iron hut, and this is the natural place to access the river. You can scramble further up the canyon, and find som
III
Hverfisfljót (lower section)
For the lower section put in just below the second of the 2.5m drops. The river is no harder than grade III, the most difficult part being near the end. There's lots of fast eddies and some good waves.
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Hvítá in Arnessýsla
Tom on Dangleberry Drop After the bridge there is 2 km of flat water leading to the first rapid. This is no harder than grade III and can be run anywhere. The river then splits around a small island. Get out on the right
III
Hvítá in Arnessýsla (lower section)
There is nothing serious anywhere on this section. It consists mainly of big waves and a few good play holes. The main attraction is an excellent play wave/stopper on river left above the bridge. We didn't run the gorge
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Hvítá in Borgarfjörður
Tom looking at the horrors of Barnafoss This section begins with 1/2 a km of easy grade III after which the river narrows and becomes very trench like. This consists of a lot of undercut drops and needs inspecting. We po
Flat
Hvítárvatn
This is another Iceberg filled lake with parts of the Langjokull glacier falling into it. It would be worth a paddle just for the spectacular scenery and photo opportunities.
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Jökulsá in Fljótsdal
Ian on the Jokula i Fljotsdal The first major rapid is a drop on a right hand bend. You have to catch the eddy on the left just at the top and then down the centre or else skirt just past the large stopper on the right.
V
Jökulsá á Brú
Big-volume Grade V river in multiple sections: the committing Poo Canyon upstream of Merki, an 18 km middle section of huge waves and boils, and a lower canyon with further portages.
Flat
Jökulsárlón ice lake
Tom and Andy on the Jokulsarlon The Jokulsarlon Ice lake is undoubtedly one of the most impressive places to go canoeing in Iceland. It is formed by large lumps of the Vatnajokull ice cap breaking away and falling into t
IV
Kolgríma
Ian on the Kolgrima This river falls directly off the Vatnajokull ice cap. When we did it the water temperature was only 10°C. There were also numerous ice bergs floating about in the eddys. Get on just above the first b
IV
Laxá in Aðaldal
This is 500 metres of fairly tight and technical low volume grade IV (Welsh Stream Grading) with one possible V drop at the bottom. The drop immediately below the weir is best avoided because it lands on a rocky ledge. G
IV
Markarfljót (canyon section)
Tom trying to get a closer look at the Markarfljot Canyon section This would be a very impressive place to be canoeing if only you could get down to the river. It is not possible to get in before the canyon starts becaus
III
Markarfljót (upper section)
The best place to start is below the 4m fall on the right hand bank. We found a gap in the canyon some 8km down from the fall, the rapids are continious of varying difficulty but never harder than grade III. Several cany
IV
Norðurdalsá
Andy on the Nordurdalsa After bobbing down the tributary and joining the river there are several III and IV drops leading up to a larger drop. Most of the water going down this hits a large rock on the left hand bank. It
IV
Skaftá (lower section)
The river is very easy to start of with, a few drops between flat sections, nothing harder than grade III. The river opens up and becomes very flat and shallow for about 2 km. It then enters a canyon and things start to
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Skaftá (middle section)
Extreme caution is needed when running this section. The river changes very fast and it would be difficult to retrace your steps if you found you were on the wrong bit. Continues inspection is essential. This section sta
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Skaftá (upper section)
Andy on the Upper Skafta This section of the Skafta is a very serious undertaking. It is a medium volume glacial river and is very highly sedimented giving it a chocolatey brown appearance. The Skafta was formed by volca
IV
Skjálfandafljót (Aldeyjarfoss)
Planning to rescue a boat trapped in a syphon This section starts with a 2-3 metre sloping drop which should be run down the centre. It is followed by a few more little rapids all very easy which lead up to a big foss. O
III
Skjálfandafljót (Goðafoss)
Rob on Godafoss (as used in Pyranha Adverts) The main reason for doing this section of the river is Godafoss, a very impressive river wide horse shoe waterfall about 8 metres high. This has been shot numerous times down
III
Tungnaá
There are numerous big drops some to big to run. It would be grade III if enough portages were done.
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Ytri-Rangá
Tom Playing on the Ytri Ranga The first easy section is followed by slightly harder grade in after which a fall looms. At the top of this fall start left, then head right missing the large hole. A flat section leads to t
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Þjórsá (canyon south of Búrfell)
This has not been run to the best of our knowledge. After the new weir the river gets steeper and splits into two channels. There is a large fall on each channel that may require portaging. The right hand channel is defi
IV
Þjórsá (lower section)
Tom on the Pjorsa This is the biggest volume river in Iceland running at around 900 cumecs???. This section is mainly big and bouncy. It's easy if the right line is taken, but it's not easy to see and the consequences of