Want to combine pack rafting with skiing across a glacier? Get in touch with Chris Burkard. Last spring, using Alpacka pack rafts as tow-behind sleds, Burkard took five days to ski across Vatnajökull, the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland and second largest in in Europe. Once across, he and partner Joel Barger paddled two days down a river to the ocean. “It was an adventure for the ages, something I’ll live with for a long time,” he says. “It was a dream expedition that I felt completely out of my element doing. The dream was a source to sea trip but it was much more than that—it was a reminder that being out of your element is the entire goal. There’s no film coming, no photos really…nothing. Just memories.” Since you won’t be able to find news of his journey elsewhere, we caught up with him for a little more beta on the unique journey…
Shot by: Joel Barger
DIT: Joel Barger
All images/footage owned by Chris Burkard
Where did you go and why?
I’ve always wanted to cross Iceland’s largest glacier, Vatnajökul, which is this massive hunk of ice and the largest glacier in Europe. There are multiple ways to cross it, but I wanted to combine glacier travel with pack rafting. There aren’t many places in the world you can do this because of the nature of glacial rivers and landscapes. But there is a path over Vatnajökul where you start in the west and finish in the east, exiting out onto a rarely traveled glacial tongue and then pack raft down the Skyndidalsa river. It was a 90-mile ski crossing and then about a 30-mile packraft to the ocean. I’ve always loved this idea of source to sea trips where you’re able to go and experience a place from where the water starts. I’ve only heard of one other group paddling this section, but they didn’t cross the glacier. So it was a first of its kind to do both. We substituted sleds for our pack rafts and dragged them 90 miles across the glacier. It was brutal and the packrafts took a little bit of a beating.
What was the hardest part?
What was the hardest part?
On day 4 a big storm hit with high wind. We were exposed on the top of the glacier, a place that gets literally 180-mph winds, some of the highest wind speeds in the world. It was pretty severe and we had to spend the whole day in the tent. It was also warm, which made it dangerous. Chunks of ice and semi-frozen sleet were hitting us. The whole time we were having to bang the ice chunks off. The next day, the temps were supposed to plummet down to negative 20. If you’re wet and then all of a sudden it gets cold and you’re exposed on the top of the glacier, that’s a tough situation. We constantly had to monitor the tent and manage the moisture and the weather.
How was the rest of the weather?
Later on, especially on the river, it was incredible. Light wind, warm, beautiful. Obviously, anything feels warm once you’ve been on top of the glacier in those kind of conditions. But we had quite a bit of fog and wind. Luckily, most of that was tailwind, so it was behind us. But it was always varying. You get these ice crystals that kind of float in the air and create these beautiful striations of light almost like rainbows around you.
How many days on the glacier, and how many paddling? The the trip took five days to ski across the glacier and two days of paddling, so seven days total.I trained in whatever capacity I could and poured over countless articles, films and tutorials on how to survive in these unique conditions.
What was the paddling portion like? We kinda of optimized the trip for the snow, meaning that we wanted to get crusty, easy, travelable snow. Normally people do this trip in June, but then they’re walking through kind of semi-consolidated snow, which is not good for the majority, but then the river itself is more voluminous and easier to travel. And so we optimized our trip for the snow. We didn’t want to be pulling packrafts that aren’t really optimized for glacier travel through soft snow.
So we went in May, which means the paddling portion was a little bumpy and rocky at first. We’d make it a quarter mile and have to portage around rocks. Luckily, pack rafts get over obstacles pretty well. But given that they were loaded down with skis, boots, backpacks, food, stoves, and more, it made it a little tricky. But once we three or miles downstream, it started to open up with a beautiful, deep canyon with waterfalls flowing in everywhere. It was probably Class II with a handful of IIIs.
It’s cool because it flows all the way out to the ocean in a super dynamic environment. You start on a glacier tongue and you’re in glacial water and then you’re in this canyon. It feels like a slot canyon and then you make your way out as it widens. You go through a variety of sections with volcanic rock next to you, and then it opens up to a big flood plain where you’re navigating through braided rivers out towards the ocean. It’s very unique.
How did your Alpackas perform?
I used the Forager, with performed amazingly. I especially like the interior storage solution with its Cargo Fly. I set up to be self-bailing, but I also had the skirt option. I didn’t bring the skirt, but I wanted a boat small enough to be nimble, but also carry enough gear. I’m used to using the bike specific Caribou, with a more bulbous nose to carry a bike. But it’s bigger and bulkier, and so I wanted something that could get us through tighter sections. But it worked well. The crux was the warm snow. We also had some icy, sharp snow that tore up the boat bottoms a little. So we had to lean into doing some repairs before we set off. Luckily, there were no real big issues. Just, good old fashioned duct tape and Gorilla tape did the job, and a little bit of glue. But that’s what you expect traveling 100 miles across a glacier.
What’s next? I don’t know. No plans, really, other than just trying to get more glacial travel under my belt. I’d love to plan another pack rafting trip. There’s one in a very similar area in the east that would be more of a hike/pack raft trip that’s never been done before. It goes through a very remote canyon. Iceland is uniquely set up to provide these experiences. And I love the fact that most of the pack rafting trips here give you a source to see experience, meaning you can start at the glacier and float to the sea.
Your new bike rafting film (“Forgotten Coast“) is pretty awesome…can you tell us a little about that?
That’s a trip I did last year, a 300-mile journey along Iceland’s southern coast. It was an incredible mission. We rode fat bikes along the sand and then crossed 42 rivers laterally. That meant 84 times inflating and deflating the boat. The goal ws to travel through a coastline that had long been forgotten because many people had died along this stretch. It’s known as the most dangerous coastline in the world. And there are hut systems along it not for travelers, but to rescue sailors because so many boats have shipwrecked there. A lot of early settlers came here for trade, including Germans, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. So, we kind of weaved in this history while adding our own story to it.
It was probably one of the most extensive, deeply planned expeditions I’ve ever done in terms of being educated about the conditions, rivers, resupplies and things. The film has been doing really well and has been accepted to some prestigious festivals. It’ll be released publicly soon as well. I never expected people to resonate so deeply with it. I feel like it’s more of an environmental film that’s masked as an adventure film because it speaks to the values I hold about protecting Iceland’s glacial rivers from energy development.
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