Viking Heliskiing Secures Infrastructure in Northern Iceland

Ski tourism has expanded beyond traditional in-bounds terrain, driven by a demand for remote, pristine backcountry lines. For skiers and snowboarders looking toward the subarctic, northern Iceland has emerged as an enticing destination. The pull is its geography: a volcanic wilderness where steep couloirs drop directly into the Arctic Sea, offering stable maritime snowpacks and long twilight daylight hours, set in a fire and ice landscape where the northern lights define the night sky.

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The country’s broader tourism data reflects this shift toward high-yield adventure markets. According to the Icelandic Tourist Board, international visitor numbers reached a steady plateau of 2.3 million overnight guests in 2025. Data from Statistics Iceland confirms tourism expenditures reached nearly 914 billion ISK (approx. $6.6 billion USD), accounting for 8.8% of Iceland’s total GDP in 2025—up from 8.2% in 2024. This is an anomalous footprint when compared to most developed nations, where tourist markets typically account for approx. 4% of total GDP.

Recognizing a growing interest in the far north, Víking Heliskiing has recently secured a permanent operational footprint on the Tröllaskagi Peninsula. Rather than executing a costly multi-million-dollar new build, the homegrown operation purchased the long-defunct municipal buildings at the Siglufjörður Airport. By doing so, they are transforming a piece of regional infrastructure into a strategic northern aviation hub.

The Real Estate Acquisition

As reported by RÚV.is and the Iceland Review, Víking Heliskiing purchased the municipal infrastructure at Siglufjörður Airport for 12 million ISK (approx. $87,000 USD). The company’s assets now include the former terminal building and the control tower, along with maintenance garages and service sheds. While the physical landing strip remains municipally owned, the town council stipulated that the active runway must remain functional as an official alternate emergency landing strip due to unpredictable northern fjord weather.

The company’s initial offer required the town to guarantee the structural integrity of the buildings and allowed for deductions for hidden repair costs from the final purchase price. The town declined those specific liability terms, prompting the company to submit a modified, unconditional offer to take the structures “as-is”. By acquiring the existing buildings instead of investing in new builds, the homegrown operation secured an ocean-front backcountry launchpad for a song.

Viking Heliskiing

Operating since 2013, Víking Heliskiing was founded by childhood friends Björgvin Björgvinsson and Jóhann Haukur Hafstein, who grew up skiing the very slopes they now guide. Björgvinsson is a three-time Winter Olympian, representing Iceland at the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Winter Games, and both are former world-class alpine ski racers on the Icelandic National Team. After retirement, they returned to the Tröllaskagi Peninsula, leveraging their elite backgrounds to build a premier global guiding team.

To service their 5,000-square-kilometre territory, billed as the largest private heliskiing zone in Europe, Viking Heliskiing partners with Austrian aviation firm SennAir. They utilize high-performance Airbus AS350 B3 and H125 A-Star helicopters. This setup allows guides to maximize 1,500-vertical-meter (4,921-foot) descents, guiding guests down steep, technical couloirs and wide-open glacial faces straight to the ocean’s edge. While the traditional resort ski season in Iceland runs from November to May, heliskiing operations here leverage a later subarctic calendar. Because the Tröllaskagi Peninsula sits just 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, March and even April offer prime winter powder, while May and June transition into highly stable, fast corn snow skied under the 24-hour sun.

Reaching this remote terrain involves straightforward logistics: a 45-minute flight from Reykjavík to Akureyri, followed by a scenic drive up the peninsula to the base in Siglufjörður. Feedback on major booking sites is overwhelmingly positive, with clients consistently highlighting the operation’s tailored, fluid approach to the mountains. One reviewer noted that there is no rigid itinerary, emphasizing that the guides adjust daily to client preferences and real-time conditions.

Their all-inclusive packages feature accommodations at the upscale, ocean-front Sigló Hotel in Siglufjörður. Built into the town’s small boat marina, the hotel offers a classic Scandinavian aesthetic where guests can watch local fishermen bring in the day’s catch from a cozy window seat. After a day on the peaks, skiers and riders unwind in geothermal outdoor hot tubs and saunas that sit against the edge of the freezing fjord waters.

Geography and History of the Tröllaskagi Peninsula

The Tröllaskagi Peninsula is defined by a landscape of rugged mountains, deep fjords, and coastal fishing villages. Outside of the interior Highlands, the region has the tallest peaks in Iceland, with many exceeding 1,000 metres (3,281 feet). The highest is Mount Kerling, standing at 1,538 metres (5,046 feet). Carved out at the end of the last ice age, the geography features inland valleys shaped by heavy glacial and river erosion, creating a network of rivers and waterfalls that flow toward the sea.

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Siglufjörður itself is a historic, working-class fishing community built around the realities of the North Atlantic marine economy. Long built before the arrival of modern tourism infrastructure, the town’s deep-sea fishing crews and industrial docks sustained the local population through subarctic winters, leaving a legacy of grit that still shapes the town’s identity. The rugged determination that built the mid-20th-century herring boom has simply pivoted; today, the traditional harbor economy shares its historic footprint with high-end backcountry adventure in the high peaks.