Tuesday, March 13th, Icelandic adventurer Gudmundur Eyjolfsson embarked upon the longest cross country ski trek ever taken in Iceland. The route Gudmundur has chosen begins at the tip of the Westfjord region, in Hornvik bay. From there, Gudmundur will trek south, over the rugged landscape of the Westfjord interior and down to the high plains of Iceland, north of the Hofsjokull and Vatnajokull glaciers and onward to Vopnafjordur on the east coast. The route is 600 kilometers long and the journey is expected to take about 30 days. Should everything go as planned, Gudmundur will have completed a new route and the longest solo expedition ever done in Iceland.

To ensure his safety, Gudmundur will travel with a TETRA mobile radio from the Icelandic TETRA operator Stikla, as well as a VHF handset. Through TETRA, Gudmundur will be able to communicate with the outside world, both directly (when he's within the TETRA service area), and through the TETRA-VHF gateways that in recent months have been set up in Iceland. Technical assistance and equipment preparation have been handled by the technical firm Radiothjonusta Sigga Harðar, a leading telecommunication service firm in Iceland. Additionally, Gudmundur will be carrying a new type of Breitling wristwatch, with a built in emergency transmitter.

Gudmundur's travels will also be tracked by Trackwell's cutting-edge tracking software, which uses GPS location information and the TETRA network for communication.

Local outdoor suppliers Sportis, Everest and G.Á.P also support the expedition by providing clothing, skis and equipment, and two Icelandic wholesale companys, Danol and Lyndsay provide Gudmundur with food supplies for the month-long trek.

"My main motivation is of course the desire to excel in mountaineering and to do something no one has done before," says Gudmundur. "The expedition also gives us the opportunity to test the TETRA system in Iceland and Trackwell's new technology, that have the potential to dramatically increase the safety of travellers, both here in Iceland and elsewhere."

Gudmundur is 30 years old and has been active in mountaineering for over fourteen years. He has done climbs in the Alps, Greenland and Norway as well as in Iceland. Gudmundur has worked as a guide in Greenland and has for several years served as an instructor in rock and ice-climbing for the Iceland Alpine Club. He took part in the first ever cycling expedition across Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull, in 1992 and was a member of the first Icelandic climbing expedition to Greenland.

Additional information on the TETRA technology in Iceland can be found at: www.tetra.is