Author profile

Smári Stefánsson

AIMG Level 3 Ski Guide

Smári is an Icelandic backcountry ski guide and one of only five formally certified ski guides in the country. He grew up on the Troll Peninsula — skiing before he could properly walk, carried on his father’s back — and has been ski touring for over 20 years. He started guiding on skis in 2012, long before formal guide education existed in Iceland, and in 2023 completed the country’s first official ski guide training program, developed in collaboration with Canadian and Swedish guiding organizations. He now guides backcountry ski tours on the Troll Peninsula and boat-accessed expeditions into the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. He knows this terrain the way only someone who grew up in it can.

Webinars and podcasts by Smári

Helicopter flying in Iceland

Backcountry Skiing

Ski Touring Iceland: From Cozy Lodge to Last Wilderness | After Hours Ep. #3

Backcountry skiing in Iceland isn’t new — the first ski race in the country was held in 1905 on the Troll Peninsula, now called the cradle of Icelandic skiing. What’s new is the guiding: Iceland has produced only five certified ski guides through its own mountain-guide program, and four of them work out of one lodge in Tröllaskagi. Viktor sits down with Ólöf, who left a decade running Icelandic Tourism to convert an old schoolhouse into a ski lodge on her family’s land, and Smári, one of the country’s first IFMGA-track ski guides. They cover why April beats January for Icelandic powder, what it’s like skiing sea-to-summit from a converted 1975 fishing boat in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve — Iceland’s last stretch with no roads at all — and why the geothermal pool waiting at the end of the day is a UNESCO-recognized tradition, not just a nice-to-have. If backcountry skiing conjures crowds and lift lines for you, this resets it — lodge or boat, you end up skiing straight into the Arctic Ocean either way.

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