{"id":233783,"date":"2025-01-07T16:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T14:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/?p=233783"},"modified":"2025-01-17T18:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:28:56","slug":"getting-there-is-a-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/getting-there-is-a-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting there is a mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Iceland really has been the \u201cland of fire and ice\u201d lately, with the recent eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula causing the temporary closure of the Retreat at Blue Lagoon, a 60-suite hotel and subterranean geothermal spa. Luckily the sustainably minded wellness company\u2019s new sister venture, a year-round off-grid retreat for adventure extremists, is 110 miles\u2014and another planet\u2014away in Iceland\u2019s vast and mostly frozen interior, which remained unexplored until the 1930s. Highland Base in Kerlingarfj\u00f6ll\u2014a vast reserve of snowdrift-blanketed peaks, glaciers, lava fields, and silence\u2014might as well be on the moon. Getting there is a mission. In winter, after arriving at Skjol Basecamp (90 minutes on the Golden Circle from Reykjavik) it can take two to five hours of \u201cfloating\u201d over virgin snow in adapted Super Jeeps. The angular Highland Base huddles in a valley like a Nordic minimalist space station, a 28-room hotel and six podlike lodges occupying the abandoned structures of the pioneers who have gone before. The pods, which have sunken living rooms, Polaroid-like windows, and hanging ponchos, were designed with sustainable aged wood and concrete by Icelandic firm Basalt Architects, masterminds of the Blue Lagoon. There\u2019s also a sleeping bag option in A-frame huts left over from a 1960s summer ski school. Activities include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and hiking, as well jumping in the geothermal baths to see the northern lights after dinners of Arctic char and warming shots of Brenniv\u00edn schnapps.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233778 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Hveradalir_cindy-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233772 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_CB_ExteriorWinter_1223-1224_2-2048x1368.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233774 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Winter_NorthernLights_CR_1223-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233776 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Highland-Base-Kerlingarfjoll_HB-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233770 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5-1024x677.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HB_Accom_CRL_0723-UNL-5-1536x1016.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-233768 img-responsive img-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Photos Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/highlandbase.is\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/highlandbase.is\/<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iceland really has been the \u201cland of fire and ice\u201d lately, with the recent eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula causing the temporary closure of the Retreat at Blue Lagoon, a 60-suite hotel and subterranean geothermal spa. Luckily the sustainably minded wellness company\u2019s new sister venture, a year-round off-grid retreat for adventure extremists, is 110 miles\u2014and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":233780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18532,18542,18563],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233783"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234331,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233783\/revisions\/234331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mancodestyle.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}