While you don’t have to be an expert walking in the door, you should have recreational outdoor experience before applying for the school.  We specialize in training people to take care of clients and guests in the backcountry and the first step is learning to take care of yourself.  If you are worried about your experience level, please reach out to us by email.  

The short answer is, sometimes, but it’s rare.  We have huge respect for the rescue team training system in Iceland (most of our instructors are rescue team members) but the focus of the school is on guiding, which is a slightly different area than rescue.  In addition, we need to evaluate how team members work in technical terrain before we take students into high consequence alpine terrain in the spring semester.  We have had very experienced mountaineers and rescue team members go through the program and love it! If you come in with prior experience, it allows us to go further and do more in the field, and we have become pretty good at tailoring learning materials for experienced team members.  If you have already taken a specific course like AIMG Jöklaleiðsögn 1 / Hard Ice Guide 1, then we can evaluate it directly.  There are also rare cases where experienced guides who already have Jöklaleiðsögn 1 and first aid and alpine experience have been allowed directly into the second year of the program.  This is definitely getting thrown into the deep end, but if you think this might apply to you, please send us an email and we can evaluate your case.

About 20% of the students in recent years have been learning Icelandic, rather than native speakers.  You will have to be willing to learn in both Icelandic and English, and this means you might sometimes be out of your comfort zone. But the reality is that instructors and students have been able to work together to make sure everyone gets key information.  And we are willing to provide special support to those learning Icelandic.  Long story short you just have to be willing to learn! 

The field courses are very important to completing the program, and unfortunately, it’s hard to build flexibility into the schedule.  We publish the dates of the courses well in advance so you can arrange for time off from work and other obligations, in fact the course dates for 2026-2027 are already online.  It is also possible to go into part time studies if you think you won’t be able to take time for all of the courses at once.  In special circumstances we have provided alternate routes and projects for students to make up field courses, but this usually takes more time and effort than just attending the course, and we have found that once students fall behind, it takes a lot of work to get back up to speed.  Long story short, it’s possible to make up a field course in rare circumstances but it is usually a huge pain, and best avoided. 

Our main base is in Öræfi, next to Vatnajökull national park.  About half of our courses take place on the glaciers and mountains there.  The other half are all over the island, and sometimes dependant on weather.  We go ski touring in Tröllaskagi, cross country skiing in Landmannalaugar, and climbing wherever the sun and the ice are.  

Our graduates have worked in every corner of the adventure tourism industry in Iceland as backpacking, glacier, ski touring, and alpine trekking guides.  The program also offers ranger certification, and other graduates have gone on to teach outdoor programs at their local schools.  Still others are pursuing international certification in mountain guiding.  There are tons of opportunities if you are willing to travel, sleep in tents or remote guiding bases, and occasionally get rained on.

School fees for the 26-27 school year are 400,000 per semester, meaning 800,000 for the full year.  This covers your tuition fees and some basic gear rental, but students are responsible for their transport and accommodation for field courses.  Students often carpool to courses and book accommodation together to keep these costs minimal.  The main cost is due to the fact that we need to keep instructor ratios low to stay within industry and safety standards.  This means that most of our courses only have about 6 students per instructor and some have even lower ratios.  This allows us to do technical activities like rock climbing and ski touring safely.  Fortunately, we still get some government support, or the fees would be even higher. 

We don’t currently have the funds to provide these things, but we are accredited within the Icelandic education system, so we are eligible for union grants and student loans; most of our students take advantage of these to help with the cost. 

The school has a wide variety of technical gear to borrow for field courses, but we encourage students to invest in their own gear so that they can go practice these skills on their own.  In addition, there is some gear that is personally fitted to you, so we don’t typically loan it out.  This includes a 30-40 liter backpack for daytrips, a 50 plus liter backpack for overnight trips, mountaineering boots, and a full set of waterproof outer layers (Gore-tex or similar).  We realise that gear costs money, and we do have deals with most of the major outdoor retailers in Reykjavik to help with this cost.  There is more information about gear available on the equipment section of the website.  

Yes.  If you find yourself outside on crazy outdoor missions in all kinds of weather, then you will find a community of lunatics just like you.  We will get rained on and travel in whiteout conditions, and you may end up stuck in a tent or snow cave for multiple days.  But we also go to places that others rarely see, climb great ice lines, and ski fresh tracks.  And you may struggle to go back to an office job once you’ve seen how the other half lives!