A Cold But Humbling Experience

30/01/2023

Four explorers embarked on a 14-day multi-sport adventure in Iceland in order to explore “water” in its many forms. They followed conditions and elements around the island. From surfing the Icelandic waves to climbing up icebergs to freediving beneath the surface of 1* water, Luca Malaguti, Tim Emmett, Jimmy Martinello, and, filmmaker, Brian Hockstein chased the fine line between frozen and liquid.

Here's What Happened In Their Own Words

I think this trip came together because Luca really wanted to go ice climbing and freediving on the same trip. These two seemingly different sports have a lot in common, because in freediving, when you’re underwater, at no moment, at no time can you panic, can you let bad things, bad thoughts bad ideas into your mind, and in ice climbing it is the same thing. As soon as we start thinking about doing two different sports we were like “well, what about surfing? There's going to be surfing there as well”, so I phoned up Jimmy to see if he wanted to come and he was like “I'm coming”!

This whole trip was exciting and an opportunity to try new and exciting things and also share those things with the rest of the world, which I was super stoked about! When I first heard about the Silfra Fissure I was completely drawn to it, because I could dive between two tectonic plates, and I could dive between Eurasia and North America, which are actually splitting apart in Iceland. And you'd be diving in this crystal clear freezing water, one-degree centigrade. It’s splitting apart Europe and North America, every year they are separated by a few millimeters. Iceland will one day be ripped in half. And so the Silfra Fissure lies on this continental divide. Just a few meters from one side to the other you could be touching the North American Plate and on the other side you're in Eurasia, in Europe, and that to me is mind-blowing!

It was this up and down of emotions, up and down of joy and pain and suffering, because we're freezing we're cold, we’re shivering, but we're having such a good time and we're filming each other, we’re diving in the caves, so it was this catharsis of emotions and it was incredible. A way to interact with nature that I'd never done before.

Oh my gosh, going into the glacier in Iceland is like going into a museum that's created by the natural world. It's like being in a work of art and you can climb on these incredibly visually mirrored features, so scoops and reflections and different lights. There are different textures and contrasts and it's very quiet, there's no wind down there, it’s like you’re immersed in the belly of the Earth. Lowering down into there was like lowering down into the birth of the earth. There's water running down into these little waterfalls that just drop down into the depth of the earth. It just felt like we were part of the earth and part of this glacier. Just so much energy, the waters surging loud, but then it was also quiet, and ice cracking and having someone like Tim Emmett, it was exciting just to see his vision of where he wanted to take himself and what he wanted to climb up.

We are really happy with how the whole trip had played out and then looking at the surf forecast, it was calling for this incredible swell and you hope it's going to be as exciting as they say. And it turned out that we got up there and it was just like a winter wonderland. It was a day I'll never forget and a super great day to share with Tim and, you know, something that you look for maybe your whole lifetime in Iceland delivered.

It was very humbling, it was cold but it was also powerful and exciting you know. It was something I've always been looking for. I guess we're always looking for something that gives us excitement and gratification. It's humbling and exciting, but it also has a calming effect to it. I think the ocean has just got this power that I just absolutely love. I can't even believe how it's all come together, like the different weather conditions, the different locations, the different people that we've met, and the timing of it. We've been incredibly fortunate to be able for it to work out. I mean, a lot of trips I go on, it doesn't work out at all and it's just been incredible.

There's a famous quote, it goes “I rise each day with the relentless feeling of wanting to explore the world and wanting to protect it, and that makes it hard for me to plan my day”. I think that's a good quote because it shows that today you really need to have that awareness, you need to realize that when you go somewhere, to the ocean, to the mountains, you are having a physical impact, so coming to Iceland, traveling all the way here and then driving around this island, we need to recognize that privilege and that impact it had. But you need to have some hope I think, and you need to be hopeful that people will watch your films, people will watch your photos, and your videos, and be inspired to have at least a bit of a connection with nature. And when they have a connection, they can have love, and when they can have love, they can protect. You're not going to protect something you don't love and have a connection with, it's that simple.

Watch The Film By Brian Hockstein

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