MEET THE TEAM

Hidden Iceland would be nothing without our team. We design trips that we’d be proud to take our friends and family on, but we also try to create a great environment for our team to feel like they are our friends and family too. After all, without the dedication, hard work and passion of our tour guides, trip planners, operations team and office staff we wouldn’t be able to provide such a fantastic service.

The majority of your interactions with Hidden Iceland will likely be with your trip planner leading up to the tour, your tour guide while on tour, and perhaps some of the operations staff if you have any questions or changes while in country. But there’s a mini army working behind the scenes to make your trip run smoothly too. The unsung heroes of Hidden Iceland. So this page is thoughtfully dedicated to each and every one of our wonderful team. They are all fantastic and unique in their own right, just like every tour we run.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Dagný Björg | Hidden Iceland

Dagný Björg Stefánsdóttir
Sales Manager | CEO | Co Owner 
dagny@hiddeniceland.is

Dagný is a Reykjavík-dweller who grew up on a farm in the remote West Fjords of Iceland. Growing up, she spent her summers camping with her family all around the incredible country that is Iceland. She enjoys city living as an adult and is in the know for all things happening in Reykjavík, but it was her young life on the farm that motivated her to seek out the hidden gems across the country and set up Hidden Iceland. Aside from heading up the sales team, developing the company’s policies and devising future plans, she loves to explore Iceland on her rare days off and secretly desires to be a guide.

Scott Drummond | Hidden Iceland

Scott Drummond
General Manager | Co Owner
scott@hiddeniceland.is

Scott is an Australian born Geologist who, after travelling through Europe, found himself in Iceland not wanting to leave. He holds degrees in both Geology and Finance from studies in his hometown of Perth and abroad in Sweden.

He has travelled extensively throughout Iceland, opting to explore the more remote parts of the country to find hidden gems not in the guide books. Scott was instrumental in creating our fantastic itineraries and is often helping out behind the scenes when you are on tour with our wonderful guides.

Scott is a certified glacier guide, Wilderness First Responder and is trained in a variety of emergency rescue procedures.

Ryan Connolly | Marketing Manager, Guide, Co - Owner | Hidden Iceland

Ryan Connolly
Marketing & Environmental Manager | Co Owner
ryan@hiddeniceland.is

Ryan has spent many years working and travelling the world. He achieved his life goal of travelling to all seven continents a few years ago but remembers the final moment like it was yesterday. Don’t worry, he’ll undoubtedly share plenty of stories with you. He never seems to stop telling us all about his trip to Antarctica or Everest Base Camp. In fact, it was in Antarctica that Ryan fell in love with the blue glacial ice and headed straight for Iceland. He often refers to the glaciers as his ‘happy place’ and we believe him since the smile never seems to leave his face.

These days, Ryan spends much of his time marketing the company and developing the brand, but tries to get back out on the road with guests whenever he can. Get in touch if you are an agent, journalist or trip planner. He is also the Environmental Manager and was instrumental in gaining Hidden Iceland’s Gold Class award from Vakinn and achieving Carbon Negative status.

Ryan is a certified Glacier Guide and Wilderness First Responder, guiding on multiple glaciers across the south of Iceland.

Emily Bridger
Operations Manager
emily@hiddeniceland.is

From a small village in the south of England, Emily went in search of mountains at the age of 18 and has never looked back. From Norway to the Alps to the Himalayas, she has climbed and kayaked all over the world. However, back in 2016 Iceland caught her heart and she has lived here ever since. With her Icelandic partner, she has explored all the corners of the island from the coast to the highest mountains. Passionate about the environment, Emily loves to share her enthusiasm for sustainable travel, supporting local communities and acting as a steward to ensure future generations get to enjoy Iceland’s incredible landscapes.

As a qualified Mountain Leader, Glacier Guide, Sea Kayaker and Wilderness First Responder, Emily studied a degree in Outdoor Leadership and Adventure Education in the UK and brings her expertise in Risk Management and Operational Procedures to the Hidden Iceland team.

Joe Kane | Hidden Iceland

Joe Kane
Guide & Safety Manager
joe@hiddeniceland.is

Our Guide & Safety Manager, Joe Kane, is a certified glacier guide and Wilderness First Responder. Before joining Hidden Iceland, Joe was the Manager of Glacier Operations in multiple glaciers along the south of Iceland. Joe has brought his skills as a glacier guide, passion for the ice and focus on safety with him. Joe first honed his glacier skills on the other side of the planet, in New Zealand. His experience working in multiple countries and dozens of glaciers has allowed him to take charge of training and safety protocol. Along with the Hidden Iceland management team, Joe developed our extensive Safety Management Plan.

If you’re lucky enough to have Joe as your guide he’ll delight in telling you about his experiences as a glacier guide in New Zealand and his time working on farms in Australia. Joe seems to be at home in the cold. On his days off he plans his next trip to the mountains for snowboarding. One day he hopes to even be able to ski.

Ásgeir Ingi | Hidden Iceland Guides | Hidden Iceland

Ásgeir Ingi Jóhannesson Long
Fleet Manager & Operations

Ásgeirs name translates to weapon of the gods in Icelandic. He is a local born in the city of Reykjavík and loves showing people his country and sharing the history, geology and the way of life in Iceland. A certified glacier guide and a Wilderness First Responder, with a background in search and rescue and working with the Icelandic coast guard you can be sure to feel safe when traveling with Ásgeir.

In his spare time he loves doing photography, going on hikes and travels both locally and abroad, capturing the details of nature through the eyes of his camera. With a true passion for good food he is the chef of his house and according to his wife; the dictator of the kitchen. When you travel with Ásgeir you can be sure to experience the country with a big smile, a local’s view and maybe a little bit of pure Icelandic dark humor.

TRAVEL EXPERTS & OPERATIONS

Aaron Thomas at the Volcano. Staff Picture

Aaron Thomas
Sales & Operations | Travel Expert

From a young age in the South of England, Aaron had always dreamed of travel. It wasn’t until the age of 19 when he travelled to Peru that he realised how much of a passion travel was for him. Eventually Aaron’s love of travel turned into a desire for working in the outdoors. This brought him to Iceland to become a Glacier Guide. The rest of the year was spent travelling and working in exotic places. Aaron has travelled or worked in Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Russia and many other places but says nowhere in the world feels more like home for him than Iceland.

Now a certified Glacier Guide, Wilderness First Responder and world class hugger, Aaron loves the opportunity to show everyone why he fell in love with Iceland. He looks forward to welcoming you into his family and creating some memories with you.

Alberto Marini. Glacier Guide. Hidden Iceland Staff.

Alberto Marini
Sales & Operations

Alberto is a veteran glacier and wilderness guide in Iceland. In previous roles Alberto was in charge of training new guides, safety procedures and forging new routes on the glaciers around Iceland. He often jokes that he spent the last 4 years continuously outside. These days Alberto loves to show you some of his favourite places in the country. He is well read and loves to share his knowledge and funny stories with all the customers he meets. He loves books, landscape photography, rock climbing, hiking and yoga. His charm and infectious smile will leave you feeling like you have made a friend for life.

Anika Truter | Photo by Berglind Jóhannsdóttir

Anika Truter
Sales & Operations | Travel Expert

Anika was born in South Africa but spent most of her life in Vancouver, Canada. After moving to the Westfjords for a year, she was meant to go back to Canada but 6 years later she is still in Iceland. She has an undergraduate degree in business administration and a masters degree in coastal and marine resource management with a focus on tourist safety in Iceland. As a member of the Icelandic Search and Rescue team she has spent a lot of time hiking in Iceland’s most remote areas. Her favourite hiking spots in Iceland are Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the Westfjords and Þórsmörk in the southern highlands. In her spare time she enjoys walking through Reykjavík’s botanical gardens and moving to Nordic countries only to complain about the cold.

Bryony, Hidden Iceland Sales & Operations

Bryony Gill
Sales & Operations

From sunny Cornwall in South West England, Bryony has been brought up camping, hiking and exploring with her two sisters and parents. In her early 20s she started to travel the World and has visited a total of 27 countries, working with and experiencing different cultures has given her a wonderful outlook on life. She has experience in mountaineering, Wilderness Medicine and working in Operations with other Icelandic tourism companies. She came to Iceland 5 years ago to become a glacier guide on Vatnajokull and has not wanted to leave. Now, her favorite places to visit include the Highlands, Hornstrandir and anywhere for long hikes and beautiful mountain views.

 

Caroline Giroud

Caroline Giroud
Sales & Operations

Caroline was always destined for a job in adventure tourism! She was born and raised in the French Alps and from a young age really took to the outdoors. Her love of nature inspired her to travel and over many years she visited many countries. She says her biggest highlight was working as a dive instructor in Mexico, where she gained her diving qualifications. In fact, these qualifications are what allowed her to make her way to Iceland, though the diving here is a little more chilly. Fast forward many years and Caroline is now settled in Iceland. Over the years, she has worked as a diving instructor at Sífra, a glacier guide in the Vatnajökull National Park, a trip leader for multi-day hikes in the Icelandic highlands, and even gained her Rescue Diver and Wilderness First Responder Certificates. These days she finds herself promoting travel around Iceland from the cosy offices of Hidden Iceland in Reykjavík. Her experience working across the country as a guide makes her the perfect person to plan a trip with.

Charlotte Theobald
Sales & Operations

Charlotte visited on holiday in 2012 and fell in love with the island which led to her moving here less than a year later. She started out as an au pair, moving into the tourism industry which led her to spend four years living in a remote part of the South East of the country at the foot of Iceland’s highest mountain. As her family grew she decided to swap the mountains for the sea and moved to the “countryside in the city” suburb of Álftanes just outside of the capital (boasting the president as her neighbour!). Charlotte has an Icelandic husband who is a guide, and two young children who are all far more adventurous than her and so you can often find her providing the picnic and trailing behind on family adventures.

Gabríella Sif Beck

Gabríella Sif Beck
Travel Expert

Gabríella was born in East Iceland but grew up in Reykjavík, always having one foot in the East with her extended family. She spent her early summers travelling to every remote corner of Iceland in her grandparents’ RV and still loves travelling and hiking in various places around the country. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her son, doing graphic design and playing roller derby with the local Reykjavík team and Iceland’s National Team. Gabríella studied Tourism in the University of Iceland and graduated in Graphic Media Design from the Technical College of Reykjavík.

Gréta Blængsdóttir

Gréta Blængsdóttir
Finance & Accounts

Born and raised in Iceland, Gréta loves her country. She especially loves the outdoors, where she likes to spend time with her two sons. Hiking, cycling, golf, skiiing and swimming are just some of her favourite pasttimes. She also taught aerobics as well as playing football and handball, when she was younger. If it sounds like she has ‘done it all’, we agree! Gréta was predominantly brought into the team for her extensive background in Finance, but it’s her experience in the travel industry that really sets her apart from others. In fact, her first role in tourism dates back to 1999, having worked in various roles including; Sales, Marketing, Operations and Purchasing, before eventually finding her passion in finance. It’s clear that she has focused her career in tourism and often jokes that she ‘knows everyone’. It might just be true!

Jacq, Admin & Accounts

Jacquelyn Kane
Admin & Accounts

A Los Angeles native, Jacq first came to Iceland as a tourist herself in 2019. Looking to experience the most from this beautiful country, she contacted Hidden Iceland for a day trip along the south coast. As a guest of Hidden Iceland she saw the raw beauty of Iceland, tracked along a glacier, and met her now husband – who was her guide on the trip! Moving from LA to Reykjavik with her daughter has been a whirlwind punctuated by healthy doses of camping, hiking, and running around with her black and white border collie, Panda.

Karólina Verdonk

Karólína Verdonk
Travel Expert

Karólína is originally from Holland but has lived in Iceland for several years now and has really settled into the Icelandic way of life. She loves to tell us that she felt homesick for Iceland before ever stepping foot on the soil. The cooler climate was her main reason for moving, but the rich Icelandic music, history, culture, folklore and above all else, nature, made her fall in love. Karólína has a MSc in Philosophy and has always worked in service oriented jobs and loves to share her knowledge. It’s clearly her passion and you can often hear it in her voice when she excitedly talks up a new hidden gem that she’s sharing with her customers for the first time. In her spare time she loves to hike, take road trips and dive into strategy games with her friends. The harder the better! She often quips that creating the perfect itinerary is like solving a puzzle. Karólína has also set herself the goal of photographing every single church in Iceland…and there’s a lot of them. 378 in fact!

Lola Leighton Profile

Lola Leighton
Sales & Operations | Travel Expert

Lola has lived in Iceland for the past 5 years with her Icelandic husband, and husky dog, Tófa. She originally hails from the great state of Maine in the US, where she was born and bred in the small town of Princeton near the Canadian border. Known as a ‘Sportman’s Paradise’, this area of Maine is full of lakes and rivers and gorgeous woods teeming with all manner of wildlife. Childhood summers were spent swimming and rafting, fishing, hiking, exploring, and generally being a wild child of the Maine woods. As a young adult, Lola traded the bucolic north for the wilds of Manhattan and lived and worked in NYC for several years in the culinary world. It wasn’t long before the solace of nature began calling again, and this time she traded the concrete jungle for the Colorado Rockies where she worked on a horse farm, learning how to ride Colorado stallions, irrigate fields, and bring in the hay harvest. Eventually life and love brought Lola to Reykjavík, where she has lived for the past 5 years and never looked back. 

Sarah Sommariva

Sarah Sommariva
Travel Expert

Sarah is originally from Germany but has found herself living and working in Icelandic tourism since 2017. She holds a degree in German Philology & Art History. Previous to this she was travelling back and forth between Germany and Iceland since 2010. This is where she met her current Icelandic partner and decided to make Iceland her full time home. She loves to travel (also in Iceland), read books and would love to open up a hamster sanctuary if she had the chance. Her warm and caring demeanor makes her an ideal person to help you plan your dream vacation.

Unnur Silfrá Eyfells

Unnur Silfá Eyfells
Travel Expert

Unnur was born in Iceland and grew up in the winter wonderland of Akureyri. She inherited her family’s passion for travel and the outdoors, having spent most of her childhood summers running around in the Icelandic highlands and her winters skiing down the mountains in her home town. Her favorite places in Iceland are the remote highlands and the Westfjords, from where she can trace her family’s roots back hundreds of years. Unnur has worked within the Icelandic service industry since she was a teenager. After traveling the world as a solo female backpacker, her interest in travel services and the positive impact of socially and environmentally conscious travels was sparked. She now holds a BSc in Tourism from the University of Iceland where she minored in business and East Asian culture and history.

THE GUIDES

Andrés Andrésson

Andrés Andrésson
Driver Guide

Andrés (Andy) was born and raised in Reykjavik. As a youth he travelled extensively around Iceland with his family creating a lifelong appreciation and love for his country. As a professional guide, Andrés has had the privilege to share his country with travelers, and connoisseurs from across the globe, experiencing the joy and amazement through the eyes of others. He believes one of the most rewarding aspects of his profession is the human factor, getting to know people. He loves to educate and entertain and brings to the table a wealth of knowledge about all things Icelandic: history, current affairs, culture, myth, and geology. A background in history, political science, education, and English, as well as having attended a professional guide school, have equipped him well in tackling the nuances of guiding. He also loves to read and write with his main literary critique and confidant, (his English Springer Spaniel, Frodi), being very “vocal” about Andrés’ artistic talents. Traveling is essential to Andrés’ existence, a passion he shares with his better half.

Arna Hrund | Guide | Hidden Iceland

Arna Hrund Jónsdóttir
Driver Guide

Arna was born and raised in Iceland. She grew up in the city but spent most of her summers during childhood in the countryside in the west of Iceland. With a passion for adventure and the outdoors, Arna usually spends a few months a year travelling the world, exploring new places and different cultures. In her free time you can find her in the yoga studio or roaming around the mountains on her own two feet or on her horse. Apart from living in Iceland, she has also lived in the US and Ecuador and speaks fluent Icelandic, English and Spanish!

Auður Eggertsdóttir
Glacier & Driver Guide

Born and raised in Reykjavík, Auður loves to explore the outdoors; hiking and swimming in Iceland’s outdoor pools in her spare time, whilst also taking care of her big family. Now Auður is a full time guide, but back when Icelandic tourism was still in its infancy, Auður would work as a guide in the summer and study furniture restoration in the warmth of Spain in the winter.

She has always been interested in the old Icelandic stories, poetry and everything related to Icelandic history, “without our past and our stories, we wouldn’t be who we are today”. You will learn all about the history, culture and stories of Iceland when you are lucky enough to explore with Auður. Not to mention that she is not only fluent in Icelandic and English, but also Swedish, Spanish and French!

Auður is a certified glacier guide and Wilderness First Responder, so you are in safe hands when on the ice with her.

Ásdís Birgisdóttir

Ásdís Birgisdóttir
Driver Guide

Ásdís was born in Iceland and spent her youth in the US. Growing up with the family the vacations were spent outside enjoying nature, either camping in the highlands of Iceland or in the national parks of the US. The love of travel and adventure steered her towards the guiding profession but as Icelanders tend to have many hats, Ásdís also has degrees in textile art and design and is halfway to becoming a carpenter. So she can tell you all about the Icelandic traditions in handcrafts and with the added passion for geology, wildlife and horses would keep you interested and entertained while exploring the Icelandic countryside. Ásdís is a certified hiking guide and Wilderness First Responder.

Atli Sigurðarson

Atli Sigurðarson
Driver Guide

Born in a small fishing village in the Eastfjords of Iceland, a village with less than 1,000 inhabitants. As a young man he worked as a deckhand on a trawler to finance his education. He has a degree from the University of Iceland in business management and economics but found himself in guiding as he loves people and to tell them about the history, nature, geology, culture, and social structure of Iceland. Atli has finished his education in a professional guiding school.

Throughout his life he has been going camping in the amazing nature of Iceland as his lifestyle is being outdoors, hiking, camping, and exploring. Being the arctic person he is, with direct ancestry from the first settler of Iceland, Ingólfur Arnarson, he loves the winter equally to the summer. Atli does not believe in elves but thinks that when he can’t find his keys or phone it might be the teasing nature of the elves.

Einar Sveinn Westlund
Driver Guide

Einar Sveinn Westlund is from Hafnarfjörður, a town on the outskirts of Reykjavík. After taking one year exchange studies in the Dolomites in Italy, Einar got interested in becoming an adventure guide. Since then, he has been to Canada to study an Adventure Guide Diploma in TRU, worked as a multi-day trekking guide with an emphasis on great food in the highlands of Iceland. Einar has also studied navigation, studied in Finland for a year, where he met his French partner. They have been moving back and forth to and from Iceland ever since with the aim to seek out new experiences and meet interesting people around the world. In fact, one winter in Rovaniemi, Finland, he rebuilt an old-timer campervan and travelled around Europe in it. In 2020 Einar went to Denmark to learn how to forage wild edible herbs from the world-renowned restaurant Noma for 7 months. Einar loves food and anything to do with food. You can always talk to him about food. He is curious and threads the line of being entertaining and informative.

Einar is a Thompson Rivers University graduate with Adventure Guide Diploma and Wilderness First Responder, with extensive multi-day trekking and cooking experience.

Fannar Andrésson

Fannar Andrésson
Driver Guide

Fannar, comes from the Icelandic word fun (fönn), which is often how his customers describe him. He describes himself as easy going with the phrase Hakuna Matata never far from his lips. We agree with both! He was born and raised in Iceland in a small town near Reykjavík but also lived in North Iceland for 3 years. His passion to explore his own country led him to guiding. In the summertime he plays a lot of golf but his other passions include fishing, hunting and bird watching. Also, for his entire life he has been an Eider duck farmer in Breiðafjörður in West Iceland. He has been guiding for 7 years, all over Iceland and in 2019 started a kayak company in West Iceland. He loves to tell stories, interact with people and ‘claims’ to have some great taste in music to fit the landscape.

Dr. Holly Spice. Our Hidden Iceland glacier guide.

Holly Spice
Glacier & Driver Guide

Holly was born and raised in Scotland, and first visited Iceland as a teenager on a Scout summer camp. This trip inspired her to study Geology at university and she went on to complete a PhD related to volcanism in Iceland. She loves to tell you all about the volcanoes in Iceland! She even gained the nickname, Doctor Volcano on a recent private trip. A fitting name in our books. Holly moved to Iceland to pursue the outdoor life. She is a keen rock climber, mountaineer, skiier and runner. Holly is a trained Wilderness First Responder and glacier guide, and also holds the UK Mountain Leader and Rock Climbing Instructor awards.

Ingimundur | Hidden Iceland Guides | Hidden Iceland

Ingimundur Stefánsson
Glacier & Driver Guide

Ingimundur is an Iceland native, family man and seasoned veteran in the guiding community. He has guided across every inch of the country over the years and delights in sharing his rich family history and how it connects with his passion for the outdoors and folklore. It’s hard not to become best friends with Ingimundur by the end of the trip as his stories and personality make you feel like you are sharing a memory with a trusted friend rather than facts and figures from a tour guide. When Ingimundur isn’t teaching our clients about the wilderness he’s out exploring it with his family. Ingimundur is a certified Glacier Guide and Wilderness First Responder.

Kristjón Grétarsson

Kristjón Grétarsson
Driver Guide

Kristjón (or Kris), was born and raised in Reykjavík and Keflavík, but spent his summers as a young boy exploring the Icelandic countryside on a farm with different domestic animals and exploring the unspoiled nature. His love of nature, hiking, climbing, and guiding doesn’t go unnoticed by his family and friends. He also manages to squeeze some golfing into his schedule but admits that there is room for improvement in this particular field. As a certified Glacier Guide and a Wilderness First Responder, Kristjón has climbed many of the Icelandic peaks with his friends, both in winter and summer conditions, and reached the summits of some of the most renowned peaks in the Alps. With years of experience as a professional driver guide in Iceland, Kristjón has established a loyal following of very happy customers. When you travel with Kristjón you can be sure that safety and fun are at the heart of every trip!

Maksim Kachanzhi

Maksim Kachanzhi
Glacier & Driver Guide

Maksim has been living and working as a guide in Iceland since 2017. After getting his bachelors degree in Tourism and Recreation in 2013 in his native homeland of Moldova, he has worked with various outdoor companies back home, and around the world. Maksim often claims that he knew Iceland would be his future home before even stepping foot on the soil. With his diverse outdoor and adventure guiding CV, we can see why we thought Iceland’s rugged and natural landscape would be the perfect fit. In Iceland alone, Maksim has worked as a glacier guide, multi day trekking guide, kayaking guide, snowmobiling guide and ATV guide.

Maksim also has a passion for cycling, traveling, natural sciences and everything that has to do with the geography of Iceland. He will gladly show you his favorite locations and will share his knowledge of the area helping you create unforgettable memories from your adventures.

Maksim, amongst his qualifications and skills, is a certified Glacier Guide and Wilderness First Responder.

Marcin Grzyb

Marcin Grzyb
Glacier & Driver Guide

Marcin was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. Growing up in a city, he dreamed of the mountains and sea – managing to travel extensively through Europe every chance he got. He first stepped foot in Iceland back in 2013 duing an Erasmus student exchange, not realising back then that this country would soon become his home for life. Marcin realised that by working in tourism as a guide, he could combine his passion for the outdoors with his career aspirations. He started his guiding career in earnest as a glacier guide in 2016 in the Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland. Since then, he has gained experience and qualification in many different terrains such as; glacier hiking, wild trekking, sea kayaking, whitewater rafting and ocean sailing. He has also guided in New Zealand, Canada and Norway, but he often tells his clients that Iceland stole his heart. After taking part in 2 sailing expeditions to Greenland and Svalbard his interest widened to the whole Arctic region and he’s always happy to teach you about its geography, geology and history and the special place that Iceland holds in all of them.

Marcin is a fully certified AIMG Hard Ice Guide, Wilderness First Responder and IRATA Rope Access Technician. He also holds a degree in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics.

 

Mike, Hidden Iceland Guide

Mike Walker
Glacier & Driver Guide

Mike grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States but he has wandered all over the world during his guiding career, working on four continents and in over half a dozen countries. He has a degree in political science from back home, and was first attracted to guiding because it has nothing to do with politics. Mike arrived in Iceland in 2013 wearing shorts and flip flops and feeling extremely lost. He quickly gained a love for woolen sweaters and the people who wear them (one in particular!), and has been stuck in Iceland ever since. In his off time, Mike loves rock climbing, mountain biking, trail running, surfing, and falling over on skis. When he’s not guiding for Hidden Iceland, Mike works as a climbing and mountaineering instructor at an outdoor school in the east of Iceland.  He also serves on the board of the Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides.  He looks forward to getting an office job when he finally grows up, probably some time in his late 60’s.

Mike is a certified Wilderness First Responder, AIMG Level III Hard Ice Guide, AIMG Level II Alpine Trekking guide, AMGA Single Pitch Rock Climbing Instructor and SPRAT certified Rope Access Technician.

Prokop Teper Staff Picture

Prokop Teper
Glacier & Driver Guide

Born in a country that no longer exists, Prokop has been on the move since 2010, having lived in 7 foreign countries before finding his new home, Iceland! As Prokop says, “you can guide people on ice and do it year round, what’s better than that?” Since arriving in Iceland in 2016, Prokop has guided on multiple outlet glaciers in the south east of the country, where the mighty Vatnajokull ice cap is situated. Or as he calls it, “the 3rd heaviest ice-cube in the world.”

In addition to being a fully certified AIMG Hard ice guide, Prokop is a NOLS Wilderness First Responder, a PROAOA class 4 white water raft guide and a D5L Fritidsskipper motor boat operator. These qualifications allowed him to guide in places as diverse as the Canadian Rockies and western Norway but he always knew “unique, one of a kind” Iceland would be his home. Prokop is also a passionate advocate for protecting the environment and sharing best practices on the climate crisis. In his spare time, he loves to go fishing or to unwind in one of many Icelandic hot springs.

Robert Konopka

Robert Konopka
Driver Guide

Robert is orginally from Poland but now considers Iceland his home, having worked as a guide and in operations for many years. Robert’s move to Iceland follows the same story as many guides. His first career was in the corporate working environment, as a Human Resources specialist but he knew that his life was not one that revolved around 2 screens and lots of copy and pasting. So on one fateful day, Robert decided to buy a one way ticket to Iceland and start a new life here. Quickly, he found himself working as a glacier guide and in operations on the south coast of Iceland. His years of experience in Iceland, and his infectious smile, is what led to him joining the team of Driver Guides at Hidden Iceland. In his spare time, Robert loves to travel, with his fondest memory being a solo long distance bike ride through Europe with stop offs in the Balkans, Romania and even as far east as Ukraine. He loves sharing the beautiful wonders of Iceland with you and swapping stories. Robert is also a keen amateur photographer, so don’t be shy if you want some great pics from him.

Simon Adolf Haraldsson

Símon Adolf Haraldsson
Driver Guide

Born in Reykjavik Iceland and raised in Árbær, a village within the city surrounded by nature. From an early age, traveling with his parents and camping all over Iceland made him fall in love with Icelandic nature. Working five summers on a farm during the age 11-15 just under the famous volcano of Eyjafjallajökull made him permanently hooked on glaciers and mountains. His curiosity has also taken him all over the world, living for some time in Spain, India and Thailand. With a background in business and consultancy for almost 20 years and an MBA, he one day decided to change his office but keeping what he loves, which is to be around people, teaching them and telling stories. He has been a fulltime guide since 2018 and he finds his passion for Iceland and Icelandic nature grow by each day. Iceland truly is “like a box of chocolates’ as he often quips. There are few things that do not interest him and his attention to details is remarkable. His focus is to always add value to each day and capture the moment after all “God is in the details”.

Teitur, Hidden Iceland Guide

Teitur Torkelsson
Glacier & Driver Guide

Iceland born, Teitur Torkelsson, is a life long adventurer, TV personality, peacekeeper, public relations specialist and traveler of more than sixty countries. Basically, anything that allows him explore the outdoors is his passion. These days, he follows this passion in a guiding role and loves to share his experiences while on new adventures across Iceland with his guests. Growing up, Teitur was raised on farms in three different parts of Iceland and educated in Iceland, France, Japan, and the USA. He has worked in several countries around the world and is extremely knowledgeable about world affairs and the nature, economy, culture, and history of Iceland.
Teitur also holds degrees in Philosophy and Journalism from the University of Iceland and International Law and Security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA. He is a level two Certified Glacier Guide, Wilderness First Responder, Sea Captain and Advanced Scuba Diver and is currently working on his private pilots licence.

Thor Tulinius

Þór Tulinius
Driver Guide

Although Thor (Þór) was born in Iceland, he was raised in different parts of the world, spending a year in the Faroe Islands, a year in Germany, five years in the USA and five years in France, thus being fluent in English and French. Since the age of 15 he has more or less lived in Iceland and he started his guiding career early, at the age of 18. The definite lack of French speaking guides back then allowed him to work and learn on the job. Thor is a well-educated and experienced guide and has explored most parts of Iceland. When we asked him what his favourite part of the country is, he was at a loss for words because the list crosses the whole country. You’ll just have to decide for yourself when you’re travelling with him! Being a trained actor and having a master’s degree in creative writing, Thor especially enjoys sharing the History and legends of his country. Being a Wilderness First Responder, Thor‘s motto as a guide is: “have them feel safe and then we can start having fun!”

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