Fjallabak guides
Stephan Stephensen, “Stebbi Stef”, (42) mountain guide, returns to the highlands every summer to lead our tours. Yet, he is a very well known member of Reykjavik’s underground music scene and spends much of his year performing as a musician in the band Gusgus, at home and abroad. His ability to navigate whilst signing autographs for young girls is legendary in the mountains here
Estrid Thorvaldsdottir, (37), 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.
David Kelley “Kelso”, (45), mountain guide. He came to these shores 10 summers ago, after “getting his mid-life crisis in early…”. An experienced, passionate leader, he loves food just as much as he loves walking, so a good trip is guaranteed. Also a keen photographer, he is fascinated with the Icelandic geology and wildlife. A world traveler, he has led trips in the Sahara and China and also lived in New Zealand for a while. An ex-rugby player, originally from England, resident in Reykjavik and sick of being accused of being an Australian. Recently with Arna, his icelandic wife and they two children they moved faraway from the “crowd” of the capital in a little village on the south shore of iceland where they run a Bakkabrim a little organic coffee shop facing the ocean and the birds.
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
