IronMind® asked Bill Crawford if he had an update on his next trip to the Land of Fire and Ice, which offers the perfect environment for awakening your inner Viking.


Husafell Stone proving ground: Bill Crawford on his way to earning full-sterkur status. IronMind® | Erik Sauve photo.

"Petur Gudmundsson and I have pulled together an itinerary for the Viking Stonelifting Challenge that is scheduled for May 3 - 8," Bill Crawford reported. "The tour will start on the morning of Saturday, May 3, meeting in Reykjavik and proceeding from there. We plan on six stone sites in four days, with personal guides to each of the sites. Here is a rough draft of the schedule.

Day 1) Meet in Reykjavik and proceed to the Snafellnes Peninsula to meet Geiri Vijlhemsson to travel to and lift the Dritvik Stones. As I said in my [MILO] article last year about our Iceland Stonelifting Tour, the heaviest of the Dritvik Stones is an unheralded superstar among the testing stones. It weighs 370 pounds and is smooth as well as the most defiant stone I have ever lifted.

Day 2) Travel to the Western Fjords and lift the Stones of Latra. Among these four stones is a stone the Icelanders named Judas, because it is very unbalanced, so that you get it to your knees and it betrays your efforts by rolling out of your hands.
Then off to lift the Brynjolfstak, a 600-pound column of stone that is to be lifted from the ground to a full standing position. My guess is that Brynjolfstak means 'bear hug' in Icelandic.

Day 3) Travel to and lift the Black Stone, a mysterious stone that I frankly know nothing about, but we will have a guide to help us find and lift this stone of mystery.

Day 4) Travel to and lift the Leggstein, a 485-pound stone that has a legend attached to it, and I will include details about the stone in the article that I will write for MILO, so stay tuned.

Okay, so if lifting a total of ten massive stones in four days is not enough, we finish with the legendary Husafell Stone as the last stone on the last day. Only the heartiest souls need apply.

So there you have the schedule of stones to be lifted. We have several hardcore stonelifters who have committed to the trip, and so far my communication indicates that everyone is training very hard, as a schedule of stones of these weights and the grueling nature of day after day of stonelifting will be quite taxing.

We have room for one or two more of the right stonelifters, so if anyone else is interested, we have some room on this epic journey."

If this sounds like your idea of a good time and think you're up to the challenge, please send an email to sales@ironmind.com and we will forward the information to Bill.

Incidentally, lest you forget, Bill Crawford proves that just because you're an Ivy League-educated MD doesn't mean you should settle for any less than full-sterkur status.