Once upon a time…

The Midgard Story!

The Midgard story begins with a trip of 23 years old Siggi Bjarni to Queenstown,
New Zealand. While travelling Siggi got inspired and recognized the potential of his own
hometown Hvolsvöllur in a similar beautiful and adventurous setting.

Once back home, he founded Midgard Adventure, just one day before the world famous
Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010. His goal was to share his love of the country and backyard he
had grown up exploring. He was quickly joined by Addi, the husband of his cousin Hildur.

With times getting busier and more people wanting to discover our island, Stefnir,
a neighbouring horse farmer, joined the small team. In 2013 Addi’s mother Björg left her
husband back in Reykjavik to be part of the adventure and joined them as a C.E.O (no worries, they
are still happily married). Together they created trips, activities and tours, doing the things
they love most, in this incredible area we are lucky enough to have as our backyard!

The building that is now Midgard Basecamp started its life as a cement factory and was built
by Siggi’s father Svenni more than 40 years ago. After years of being neglected, we bought the ruins
of the factory to have a place where we could wash and repair our super jeeps and store our
equipment. That evolved into having somewhere we could hang out with guests after tours,
and then that grew into our extended home that Basecamp is today!

Like Queenstown in New Zealand, we think Hvolsvöllur can be the adventure capital of
Iceland, with Basecamp in its centre. At first the banks did not share our vision for Basecamp
and wouldn’t give us a loan, so we did the best we could by ourselves with hammers and nails.
All our family and friends got involved renovating and building, and even today most of
the furniture is home-made, and we are really proud of it!

Basecamp finally came together when Stefan, Hildur’s Swiss friend from teenage times,
got involved. He was once again visiting from Switzerland and over cheese fondue, he became
so excited about the idea. He decided to invest, became a co-owner, moved to Hvolsvöllur,
got a Midgard tattoo, and the rest, as they say, is history.

When we opened the doors of Midgard Basecamp in May 2017, more family members
joined in. Hildur, previously working in the Midgard Adventure travel agency and after giving
birth to two wonderful and very active kids (and future adventure guides) now manages Basecamp
together with Stefan. Kalle, Addi’s uncle and Björg’s brother-in-law got happily stuck
after a visit and joined the team as the head chef of the restaurant.

Community is very important to us at Basecamp, we’re a local operation and most of us grew
up here or fell in love with the area and moved here. We’re different to the larger tour companies
you will find in Iceland, because we are registered here in Hvolsvöllur our taxes get put
straight back into the local community.

Basecamp is a place to unwind, relax, eat good food, enjoy a beer and make new friends.
Most of our staff is related to each other or, if not blood related, have been integrated
into the family. If you are staying long enough you can easily feel like becoming
part of the family too.

It’s a second home to all of us. You are likely to find us here even when we are
not working, with our kids, our friends and families, hanging out and swapping adventure
stories. Look out for Hekla, Addi and Hildur’s black Labrador, she is a regular visitor
too. In short, Basecamp is our home, and we really hope you enjoy your time with us.

Get to know us better!

Check out our video!