crater hockey

Who is Úlfar Jón Andrésson?

Úlfar Jón Andrésson works as a guide for his family’s travel company, Iceland Activities, which he runs and owns with his parents. When he was 12 years old, his father came up with the idea of creating a travel company around the old tours they used to do in Iceland as a family. Since 1983, they have been doing family trips, and they wanted others to experience those breathtaking trips. Úlfar is in love with his job, continuing activities that he has been doing since he was a kid. Such activities include skiing, super jeeping, mountain biking, ice hockey, camping, laving caving, bathing in hot springs, and much more.

Pond Hockey under the Northern Lights

Since childhood, Úlfar’s family vacations contained trips to volcanic craters–and being the hockey player he is, we all know he had to play pond hockey in them!

The first trip we will share is when he played pond hockey under the northern lights in a remote 10,000-year-old crater in Iceland–now how cool is that? He and his family have been skating there over the years but never decided to capture the breathtaking scenery and share it on social media. The trip started with them travelling up to the crater, clearing the snow off the ice, and setting up camp. Later that night, with the temperature being -14°C/7 F, they opened their sleeping bags and the pond hockey began. Outside of the crater, it was quite windy, but inside, on the other hand, there was absolutely no wind, the crater acted as a wind barrier. Throughout the winter, this crater is not always a skatable service–as it’s dictated by the weather conditions. But when it is skatable, the ice is perfect!

The Struggle of Playing Pond Hockey in Iceland

He loves playing pond hockey, but in Iceland, wind can be the greatest challenge–making outdoor hockey games difficult to organize. Although, once you find a crater that works, he says there is no better feeling once you are inside. It feels like you are entering an entirely different world–your own private arena. This is in the second biggest volcanic area in Iceland. To make it even more thrilling, these volcanoes are due for an eruption in the next 1000 years. For some that may be scary, but for Úlfar, that only adds to the experience.

Check out this game Úlfar and his friends had. Might be the most epic pond hockey arena in the world. They had a goalie geared up, 12 hockey players, and a referee.

Be sure to checkout Iceland Activities.

Click here for his Instagram, Youtube, and Website.