Expedition medic
KatrínÓlafsdóttir
“The best day is the one nobody remembers having a problem.”
- Based in
- Selfoss, Iceland
- Guiding since
- 2017
- Languages
- Icelandic, English
- Leads
- Ice Caves of Vatnajökull, The Highland Traverse
About Katrín
Katrín grew up in Selfoss and qualified as a paramedic in Reykjavík in 2014. She worked on the Westman Islands ferry and, for three summers, on a rescue helicopter, before she joined Nordvik as expedition medic in 2017.
She joins every Iceland departure above fitness level 3, and every Ice Caves group. Most guests never see her use her kit, which is how she likes it. She teaches the group how to check a pulse and how to treat a cold hand on the first evening, and answers the questions that follow with a patience that is somewhat legendary.
On days off she swims in the sea at Stokkseyri, in all weathers.
The cold hand
On a February afternoon at Svínafellsjökull, a guest stopped speaking and stopped walking. Katrín saw it from forty metres away: the pale lips, the stillness. She had a hot drink in the guest’s hands in under two minutes, and a warm layer on in five.
“It was not an emergency,” she says. “It was the moment before one. That is the only kind I want to attend.”
Leads
Ice Caves of Vatnajökull
6 days, Dec to Mar, from €3,450
The Highland Traverse
9 days, Jul to Aug, from €4,200
