Fjallabak guides
Stephan Stephensen, aka “Stebbi Stef”, (48), a mountain guide, returns to the highlands every summer to lead treks. In winter he is known in the underground music scene in Reykjavik and spends much of the rest of the year performing as a musician at home and abroad. He is also a black and white photographer and a sailing sailor. His good mood is infectious, his humour is absurd and his resistance to the elements is inspiring.
Orri Gunnarsson (47) joined our team in 2010. He is a civil and environmental engineer with a masters degree in Urban Planning from University of Michigan. Orri’s winters are spent not doing planning and designs for the city of Reykjavík. In-between design projects he’s found in midst of disaster zones working on water and habitat humanitarian projects for the Red Cross. With the same vigor his summers are dedicated to executing Fjallabak treks and tours. A skier, mountain bike guide, scuba diver, kayak rower, motorcyclist, paragliding pilot and a passionate camp chef. Volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis and Typhoons won’t dishearten him, but is sure to induce a sarcastic remark. -A trait the hapless occupiers of this forlorn volcanic rock have learned to master!
Estrid Thorvaldsdottir, (40), trekking and sightseeing guide. Here is another linguist genius : not only she speaks all scandinavian languages, she also masters french and italian. Throughout the year she teaches yoga both at the city hospitals and in yoga centers, which makes her the perfect guide to get in close connexion with icelandic nature and tales.
PS.Her chocolate mousse is another wonder of the highlands !
Sveinn Steinar Benediktson, “Svenni”, (33) is an electronic engineer studying at the University of Art in Reykjavik, a musician and artist. When he is not driving jeeps and trucks he is guiding challenging treks in the interior of the country. He makes his own cameras, with plastic boxes or cartoons, that is all he needs. We remember one trek he did a couple of years ago with French proffesional photographers. Sveinn, who is fluent in English but doesn´t speak so much French, was their driver-guide. When the overcharged photographers saw Svenni take out a plastic strange looking camera, they thought that the boy was making fun of them or that he was just a simple guy. They certainly proved wrong when they saw his photos.
Gabriel Patay Filippusson,“Gabbi” (47) mountain guide. As son of Philippe and Sigridur, and brother of Matta he has the highlands in his blood. An experienced leader of many Icelandic expeditions, but also trips to Greenland, Alaska and the Sahara. Fluently speaking English and French, passionate supporter of Icelandic nature, talented photographer and has a special love for mechanics . Off-season, he is a carpenter and travels Iceland and the world with little regard for personal safety. This year, he is re-furbishing a sailboat to enable more extreme travels. He became a little bit more sedentary since his son and daughter were born but he is yet planning to take them on the road of freedom. Need we say more?
Aurélien Bihr, “Aurel” (or Orwellian, as our American clients call him), 44 years old, father of Adrien, 18 years old, who is his replica, lived several years in Iceland after having lived in Scandinavia. Self-taught, talented polyglot, this frank boy is above all a runner… of the woods, at heart. Tinkerer, walker, inexhaustible reader, even-tempered. Not a meat-eater, he prepares and eats the fish he catches and the game he hunts himself. He once sewed elegant and comfortable sealskin clothes for his son. He knows how to handle the needle with dexterity on a torn tent under the snow falling in large flakes. After walking all summer through the Icelandic highlands, when the season ends, if he doesn’t lend Gabriel a hand to restore an old sailboat or a Russian truck, he goes off who knows where to seize the strangest opportunities for work or relaxation on the other side of the world. New Zealand, a shipyard in Norway and recently he was on the island of Malta building film sets. Aurélien is Fjallabak’s adopted son
