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00:24How's the day?
00:29We did a crossing that like, if Dune wasn't there, I would never have done it in a million years.
00:55Ten years ago, I witnessed Iceland's massive glacial rivers from above for the first time.
01:02I guess you could say that in that moment, the seed was sown and I was obsessed.
01:12There's something so captivating about looking down on these river systems that I spent the next decade capturing and documenting
01:18their beauty from the sky.
01:25It wasn't until about two years ago that I was driving back from Iceland's east fjords that the idea finally
01:31hit.
01:32Would it be possible to cross this remote stretch of coast on my bike, unsupported, in order to get up
01:38close and personal with these rivers?
01:40What would it be like to experience them on the ground level?
01:47I spent the next year poring over maps, talking to locals, and most importantly, learning how to raft, the key
01:53ingredient to this crazy expedition.
01:56The obstacles to do this were massive, but like most things with me, once the idea is planted in my
02:01head, it's pretty hard to get rid of it.
02:28What do you think?
02:30I mean, I'm excited.
02:32I'm not less scared, but I'm definitely trying to release a little bit of this stress.
02:39I mean, we're standing at the very eastern terminus of the route.
02:43I think I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight because I'm going to be thinking about it so much.
02:47I just want to go right now.
02:51This part of the world is fabled.
02:55It's home to some of the most remote stretches of Black Sand Beach in the world, and the environment is
03:00extremely dangerous.
03:02Atlantic storms have claimed countless ships and sailors' lives along the southern coast of Iceland.
03:08After hearing so much about the shipwrecks and deaths here, it was easily the most daunting part of the trip.
03:13On top of that, our route was intersected by nearly 40 rivers.
03:17We would need to cross them, and those crossings would be our biggest crux.
03:23While I had done many bike expeditions in harsh conditions, doing something like this seemed nearly impossible and terrifying.
03:31So I reached out to the one person who had the experience to tackle something just like this, Steve Fassbender,
03:37a.k.a. Doom.
03:39In some way, riding with Doom was something I've always dreamt of.
03:43A rite of passage, basically.
03:45You know, that experience of being with somebody who knows and has seen so much.
03:49He's an absolute legend.
03:51Highly experienced in both bikepacking and rafting disciplines.
03:54And the way he reads water, it's unlike anything I've ever seen.
04:00We've been on countless trips to Alaska, Pakistan, Tajikistan, South America.
04:04You name it. Endless.
04:06This guy has packed his bike in every way possible.
04:10Even on the back of a llama.
04:12Cam, how we feeling, buddy?
04:14Good.
04:16You guys ready?
04:17Yeah.
04:19Also joining us would be Cameron Lawson, a legend in his own right.
04:23An adventure photographer and Alaskan bush pilot who had some bike rafting under his belt, too.
04:29He bike rafted the lost coast of Alaska and also floated 200 miles of the Yukon River.
04:34And it made sense that he would round out the crew.
04:46We're about to leave, which is like a long time coming.
04:49Ready for the first thing to go wrong, I guess.
04:52Just waiting for it.
04:54It started a very big day.
04:55As the plan came together, I knew I wanted to capture this story.
04:59But it would be a huge challenge.
05:04So I put out a few calls to people I knew in the area and enlisted my friend, Siggy.
05:09Siggy grew up on the southern coast and knew the area like the back of his hand, which would be
05:14critical for the mission.
05:17Also joining the production crew were photographers Ryan Hill and Jeremy Bishop, as well as filmmaker Brian Davis.
05:24We established a series of meeting places along the route.
05:27At a few instances where our route would meet up with roads or towns.
05:31This would be Vestrahorn, a super scenic mountain peak on the ocean in the east.
05:35Yukolsodon, the glacial lagoon where large chunks of ice break from Iceland's biggest glacier and flow into the ocean.
05:43VÃk, a quaint town along a long stretch of black sand beach.
05:47And ultimately culminating in the crown jewel, the Thorsau River.
05:52Many of the rivers we'd be crossing were gems in their own right.
05:55Cutting and winding their way through stunning landscapes and showing off strands and fans of glacial sediment.
06:01But of all the rivers, the Thorsau River stands out without question.
06:05It's Iceland's biggest river.
06:07And it also happens to be glacial water.
06:10The colors in this river are the most vibrant and stunning of all.
06:13This is the river that first captured my attention.
06:16The true reason why this project came to life in the first place.
06:20And it just so happened to be at the very end of a very long route.
06:25But with so many dangerous river crossings between here and there,
06:28I wasn't actually sure we'd make it to the Thorsau at all.
06:39So what is bike rafting?
06:44Essentially, it's the process of packing an inflatable raft on your bike
06:47to allow you to cross bodies of water.
06:52First, you break down your bike.
06:56Then you inflate your raft.
06:59Put your half-assembled bike onto the raft.
07:02Basically on the nose, balancing out the weight of the raft.
07:08Then you ride the river.
07:09Send it over waterfalls or whatever you need to do.
07:13We're about to attempt our first crossing.
07:17In our case, we use the pack raft as a tool to explore
07:21and move through these massive river systems and other bodies of water.
07:24Some being 30 feet across.
07:26Some being thousands of feet across.
07:28Some are rocky.
07:29Some are fast.
07:30Some have different types of bottoms.
07:32Some have steep, scary banks.
07:34Easily the scariest thing has to do with wind on the water.
07:37Because you have no keel or fin or any kind of control.
07:40You're getting pushed around everywhere, sideways, even backwards at times.
07:44And you don't know what you're going to encounter on the other side.
07:48I'd say the most dangerous thing, the biggest challenge really,
07:51are trying to avoid the river mouse.
07:52River mouse are kind of like the death zone.
07:54It's where there's surf, there's waves,
07:56and everything speeds up and surges into this chaotic system.
07:59It's creating sleeper waves, undertow, and all kinds of hidden dangers.
08:04We tried to avoid that at all costs.
08:08So bike rafting is pretty simple in theory.
08:10But when you start to do it, it becomes complicated fast.
08:14When you're thinking about crossing 41 rivers,
08:16you're basically inflating and deflating that raft
08:19and breaking down your bike 82 times.
08:22It eats up so much time and you're just subjecting your bike
08:24and all the pieces of it to salt water and black volcanic sand.
08:28It's brutal.
08:42It felt so good to be finally off and riding.
08:45But right off the bat, we encountered our first problems.
08:54He just needs a pretty major adjustment.
08:57Which isn't too bad to fix, but like, you gotta do it right.
09:01It takes a little while.
09:05Yeah, so we got Doom here.
09:08Nasty mechanic.
09:19This is crazy.
09:22I can't believe we're here.
09:36That's like the perfect spot over there.
09:39Am I dreaming?
09:41Maybe just a little bit.
09:44Today was mega.
09:46We did like the first big chunk of our route.
09:50Bunch of open water crossings.
09:53A couple of rivers.
09:55And the weather has been incredible.
10:01A little hot air.
10:03A little hot air.
10:21A little hot air.
10:24A little hot air.
10:26It has been there too.
10:27Oh my God.
10:28This is incredible.
10:30Woo!
11:03I really didn't know after the first day when we'd see the production team again.
11:07They had our GPS location and were trying to track us from a distance
11:10and find areas where they can meet up with us.
11:13But the problem is waves and tides on these beaches cause the sands to shift constantly.
11:19Sometimes new islands are formed in a matter of days.
11:22Other areas of the coast are separated from roads by impassable volcanic terrain.
11:26The most promising areas for coastal access are often private farmland
11:30that's guarded by farmers who are protective and wary of tourists.
11:34We just arrived to Hotel Schmittlerberg.
11:36They told us we could grab a cup of coffee here
11:39and we're also going to ask them about roads that lead down to the shore here.
11:45Well, this road will definitely get us part of the way down.
11:54I'm going to just see you off by the scales and flip around down here.
11:59It's pretty nice weather.
12:01We're out here checking the road, trying to get to the beach.
12:05There's a shelter up ahead that the guys have taken refuge from the elements
12:10and we're trying to get there to meet them, but we're not sure if we can.
12:13The road's all kind of underwater and the sand could be soft.
12:18Day 3, pretty crappy weather, cold and drizzly, about to be rainy and windy.
12:28But we've only got 22 miles to do, a couple crossings.
12:38It's not ringing.
12:40I feel like flash, flash.
12:42Yeah, next number.
12:45I've been in a total goose chase.
12:47I've been calling like a million farmers.
12:51But hopefully we're able to get a driver for tomorrow
12:54that has a truck capable of taking us down to the shore
12:57because it's, yeah, it's not a good road down there.
13:22The film crew was on their own, and our focus was on the ride.
13:27Our heads had to be in the moment
13:28because the upcoming section was going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:41The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:48The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:53The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:54The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:54The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:54The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
13:57The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
14:02The film crew was on their own, and we're going to be the first proper test of our approach.
14:03Iceland's Glacier River so captivating is the unique process that creates them.
14:08Pieces of rock come loose and the glacier pulls them along with it. Water flowing
14:15along the bottom of the glacier seeps down in the rock below. As the glacier
14:20flows down a mountain it gets warmer and starts to melt. And as a glacier melts the
14:26rocks fall to the ground and the material becomes a tasty mixture of rocks, stones,
14:32sand and clay known as glacial till. The melted ice turns into melt water and flows
14:39downhill into a larger body of water, ultimately the ocean. And as this glacial
14:46till fans across the riverbeds something magical happens. The colors, contrast and
14:53textures seem to open a window into another world.
15:28We had just made our most challenging crossing and so far everything was looking good.
15:32The weather cooperated and our equipment was tight.
15:39And now we were crossing a threshold into a very remote section of the route. This region
15:45was home to some of the biggest dangers of the journey. It was a place where some of the
15:51the most raw elements of nature collide. And waves and wind create and destroy islands of sand.
15:58They actively change the shape of the coast from day to day. Here, the largest glaciers break off into
16:05the Atlantic Ocean. Visually, this place is full of beauty. But I knew we couldn't be naïve how fast the
16:12conditions
16:12can change for the worse.
16:16So
16:25so
16:34so
16:50Just pinching myself because I know how rare it is to get this kind of weather.
17:06My friend Mumy, who is a local Icelander, joined us for a small section.
17:11He said he'd been tracking our GPS.
17:14As an experienced guide and cyclist, I knew he was keen for an adventure.
17:20It always blows my mind how tough Icelanders are, and that he was eager to jump on a ride
17:24like this at a moment's notice.
17:30I don't think I've ever seen a whale this intact, washed up, this must have, like, just
17:38happened.
17:38This is wild.
17:45Being able to bond and grow closer with people through adventure is easily my favorite thing
17:49in the world.
17:57There are a number of emergency shelters along the route that we hunkered down in.
18:01As I was planning the route, I had learned their fabled history.
18:04The remote emergency shelters are used as a sort of hut system that is designed to save
18:09you in case a shit hits the fan.
18:12The emergency shelters and the hut system really was designed specifically along the
18:16south coast, not for travelers or tourists, but for sailors who, over years and years
18:21of traveling here, had lost their lives trying to get to the coastline, specifically the south
18:25coast, where putting your boat through some of these waves was absolutely the most dangerous
18:30thing you could ever do.
18:32Knowing the purpose of these huts, you understand clearly that you're submitting yourself to an
18:37area that human beings are just not meant to exist.
18:57Sigi had found a local who was as crazy as the route itself.
19:01He was eager to help them gain access to us.
19:03He's going to drive us down here to the coast, and he knows the landscapes better than the
19:11back of his hands.
19:15It's probably good to get as close as we can to them, just so we don't have to use the
19:20drones as much.
19:22And it's about here, the shipwreck.
19:24There they are just on the bikes now, so we better get moving if we want to cut them
19:29up there.
19:29Yeah, yeah.
19:50OK, across the river, but as soon as I'm up there, it's really like a quicksand to get
19:56out of the river.
19:57And with these wheels I might get stuck there.
20:03OK.
20:04Love it.
20:04Let's give it a try.
20:06All right.
20:10Fantastic.
20:12Nothing to it.
20:13But not really a place where you want to get stuck.
20:15Dang.
20:16Easy for you.
20:20Against all odds, Sigi and the crew were making it happen.
20:23I honestly couldn't believe it.
20:28Yeah, that was deep, huh?
20:31But their time with us was short-lived, just a few hours.
20:35We were on our own for the next section, a series of seven big river crossings.
20:39And we didn't know it was going to be one of the scariest parts of the trip for us.
20:43This was the point that Mumy decided to part ways.
20:51When you're out here in such an exposed place, where the elements are so raw, things can
20:56get serious really quick.
21:05I really love this lighthouse so because we have a really big shelter.
21:13And we've got to run and roll on.
21:21After hours of riding and being beaten down by the elements, we finally made it to the
21:25lighthouse.
21:28But the shelter was gone.
21:33We soon realized it had been buried in eight feet of sand.
21:36We were standing right on top of it.
21:38I knew there was another shelter.
21:40But it would require three more huge river crossings.
22:20That's pretty fucked up.
22:21Yeah.
22:23We did a crossing that like, if doom wasn't there, I wouldn't have to have done it in
22:29nine years.
22:42We were all processing what we'd just gone through in our own ways.
22:45It was fucked.
22:46Yeah.
22:47None of the crossings have been dangerous in any way at all.
22:50But that one had danger that I didn't like.
22:53Cam was pretty beat down.
22:55It was a long day.
22:57I'm feeling totally beat.
22:59He is a little jacked.
23:02We were destroyed that day.
23:04And that last crossing, it was a little too close for comfort.
23:07The wind and the water was just total chaos.
23:10And it could have been really bad.
23:12On top of all that, Cam's knee was pretty messed up.
23:19He was laboring over his decision whether to stay or drop out.
23:23Because this was one of the only places that he could exit the trip safely.
23:28It was a bummer to see such a strong person and a friend leave the expedition.
23:32But we all knew it was the right decision.
23:47The hope of us all finishing together was lost.
23:50We did still have the Thorsau River in our sights though.
23:53Doom and I pushed on.
23:54People were saying, please let me follow the Luan.
24:15He's running up thezhou North from Laleale.
24:18The Trijus'sital's
24:18That's a good source for my Jaguar.
24:20This is how I am on.
24:20So I'm done.
24:23You just asked, it went wrong.
24:23Take out about the contradictions.
24:24drone, but they should be on their way.
24:40We're so beat.
24:43We're losing it.
24:54That is so cool.
24:56I was going to go to Machkundries.
25:00Reinich drove us out here.
25:02This is a friend who has a super jeep.
25:05And he's going to help us to access these more, I guess, remote places the last few days of the
25:10trip.
25:42My good friend and pilot Arnar surprised me on the last day with a flyover in his Piper Cub.
25:48It was an inspiring gesture because it was with him just a few weeks earlier that I had scouted many
25:52of these rivers from his plane.
25:54I'm nice.
25:54Oh, yeah.
25:56So awesome.
25:57It's moments like this that make you realize why these kinds of expeditions are meaningful.
26:02Here we were with nearly 300 miles of the hardest sand riding in my life and close to 40 river
26:08crossings behind us
26:09with our final approach to the Thorsau River.
26:12And a friend comes to wave you on.
26:35It's just kind of cool to remind yourself at the end why it's significant, why it's important, why it's so
26:42beautiful.
26:42And I'm trying to, like, take it in.
26:46I think the coolest thing is that a lot of these rivers, to me, were once, like, so scary.
26:53And they still really are. Maybe more now.
26:56But I understand them better.
26:58And to navigate them is to know them, to, like, love them, I guess.
27:02And that's really cool.
27:03And, you know, I've flown over every single one of these for, like, the last 10 years
27:08and photographed them and now to be in them is, like, really significant.
27:24Like abstract paintings, Iceland's glacial rivers meet something profound in the human soul.
27:29And experiencing them firsthand has changed my perspective of the world around me.
27:34It's hard to describe or even sum it up in words, so I won't even try.
27:39My love for these rivers has only continued to grow deeper with time.
27:43And my hope is to share that beauty with others.
27:46So that, hopefully, they will want to advocate for these wild places just as much as I do.
27:52You easy rider, your daughter of my green.
27:59But tell me what you see, tell me what you see.
28:05Oh, it's no use, there is no excuse.
28:21You easy rider, your daughter of my green.
28:27You easy rider, your daughter of my green.
28:27And your home's in all the lines, your home's in all the lines.
28:34Just go and find a new easy rider.
28:41All you got to do is start...
28:44Here we are.
28:47Final couple feet of sand on our route.
28:54The end.
28:57Wow.
28:59I need to shave and a shower.
29:00Yeah.
29:02Yeah.
29:03Come and see me again.
29:06Come and see me again.
29:15Come and see me again.
29:19Come and see me again.
29:21Come and see me again.
29:22It was the company that made it sick, you know?
29:25You would never want to do that alone.
29:26It was so lame.
29:28That's why you do these things.
29:30Yeah.
29:30Absolutely.
29:31It's done.
29:33Work is done.
29:34It's over.
29:35Work is done.
29:37Work is done.
29:53Have a nice rusty road.
29:55Take care.
29:56Take care.
30:00Let's see you again.
30:01Come and see me again.
30:05Easy rider, you misbegotten, take me what you've done, take me what you've done.
30:17Then go on, you easy rider, all you've got to do is start, but that's the hardest part, that's the
30:30hardest part.
30:40Don't go on, you easy rider, all you've got to do is start, but that's the hardest part.
30:41You have to do it, you have to do it, you have to do it.
30:41You have to do it, you have to do it.
30:43You have to do it, you have to do it.
30:44You have to do it, you have to do it.
30:44You have to do it.
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