A Year In Review: 2025 Hiking Expedition Season Wrapped 

Looking back on the 2025 expedition season, we are absolutely mind blown (once again) by the incredible adventures, stories, and people we met that shaped the year.

2025 took us deep into wild places around the world, guiding adventure hiking trips and remote hiking expeditions that rewarded perseverance and a willingness to adapt to the environment. Wild weather kept us honest, routes never ceased to amaze, and the shared experience of travelling far beyond the crowds turned strangers into trail family.

Let’s take a look at the highlights from our 2025 expedition hiking season and a sneak peek at what’s in store for next year!

Our 2025 winter expedition in Iceland kicked off the season back in February. One of the two groups we hosted was celebrating a milestone birthday, bringing family and friends from around the world to Iceland for a deeply personal adventure! It was a great reminder of how meaningful our curated expeditions can be for those looking for a unique way to celebrate a special occasion — and it doesn’t get more memorable than a wild and rugged winter adventure in Iceland!

We spent our days snowshoeing through the Kerlingarfjöll mountain range, deep in the Icelandic Highlands, moving through geothermal valleys and across snow-covered ridgelines that felt especially raw in winter. 
Steam rising through fresh snow, shifting winter light, and complete silence beside our footsteps crackling through the snow were common. Between snowshoeing days, we explored hidden ice caves and weathered a series of powerful winter storms. Challenging at times, yet always adventurous and memorable.

Learn more about our Iceland winter adventures.

Patagonia is one of the most renowned trekking destinations in the world, and for good reason. Every time we return to hiking Patagonia, we’re met with sprawling glaciers, turquoise lakes, and jagged peaks that truly make us feel like you’re exploring the edge of the world. 

Our 2025 Patagonia hiking and sailing expeditions kicked off with nearly perfect weather while trekking the Dientes de Navarino, a rare gift in this corner of the world! Our Patagonia trek began at the Errante Ecolodge in classic Chilean style with a traditional Fuegian asado, where a whole lamb (cordero) is slow-cooked over an open fire using a time-honoured technique known as al asador. It was the perfect way to ground the journey in local culture before heading deeper into Patagonia’s wild landscapes.

From Puerto Williams, we boarded the Tecla and began our sail north toward Puerto Natales. A powerful storm stalled our progress for several days before reaching the Magellan Strait. But when the weather finally opened a window, we sailed across both the Beagle Channel and the Magellan Strait, travelling through legendary waters few will ever witness.

Once we were back on land, our guides led the group along unmarked trails toward glaciers and mountain terrain traditionally travelled only by the Yagán and Kawésqar peoples. These weren’t polished viewpoints or well-trodden paths, but deeply immersive adventure hiking experiences that reflect what traveling with Amarok Adventures is really about — moving through the land, reading the landscape, and reaching places rarely visited by other travelers.

Learn more about our Chilean Patagonia hiking expeditions.

Our final Faroe Islands expedition began in the village of Bøur, where the group shared their first meal together inside a traditional hjallur, a Faroese drying shed used for fermenting and air-drying meat and fish. We always love introducing local cuisine and traditions at the very start of our adventures to set the tone for the region, and there’s no better way to do that than gathering around a shared meal.

The first two days, we followed familiar trails on Vágar, allowing everyone to settle into the rhythm of the mystical Faroe Islands before the expedition took an unexpected turn. In a slight last minute scramble, we had to swap our usual expedition vessel for the historic MS Tórshavn, a refurbished sailboat with decades of stories in her hull and a crew that welcomed us aboard like family. 

It was a slight logistical hiccup that had an unexpected positive twist. The MS Tórshavn had a more reinforced dinghy which opened the door for more ambitious shore landings we’d never attempted before. One of the most memorable was a challenging approach near Saksun, which led us to black-sand beaches and through a tidal lagoon nearby dramatic coastal terrain that felt distinctly Faroese.

Evenings aboard the MS Tórshavn were a highlight of their own, capping off long days of hiking with cozy comforts, shared meals onboard, including a fresh crab delivery from a local fisherman.

What truly set this expedition apart from previous years was the amazing weather we experienced throughout the trek (a very different story from our 2024 Faroe Islands expedition season!). Nearly perfect conditions and calm seas gave us access to every planned route, a rare gift in the Faroes Islands famously temperamental environment. We made our first-ever dinghy landing in Gjógv and followed a hidden local trail into Ambadalur, then sailed on to Nólsoy, where Captain John reunited with old friends. 

Our final hike took us across the island in dense fog, completing a full traverse from village to lighthouse in cinematic silence. It was a fitting final season for Amarok’s Faroe Islands expeditions as we close this chapter and turn our focus toward new remote destinations, like the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in Iceland.

See our full 2025 expedition recap for the Faroe Islands here.

Our first official Baffin Island hiking expedition delivered exactly what the Arctic promises: uncertainty, problem-solving, and deeply rewarding landscapes for those willing to persevere. 
We experienced it all: weather delays, cancelled flights, boat travel, unmarked routes, powerful river crossings, and vast Arctic mountain views. We won’t sugarcoat it – this trip asked a lot of both the guides and the group. By the end, we had become an unbreakable team that pulled off an ambitious trek.

We were the first team to access the Auyuittuq National Park that summer, stepping into a landscape that still felt fully asleep from winter and completely indifferent to our plans. When our domestic flights fell through due to weather, we chartered a Twin Otter to get the group to the trailhead, one of the many reminders that the Arctic rarely likes to cooperate with your set logistics. 

Access from the northern end of the Akshayuk Pass Trail proved impossible, which forced us to adapt and hike from Pangnirtung to Summit Lake and back again. Along the way, we moved through the vast glacial carved valleys of Auyuittuq National Park, with little to no signs of other life beyond the occasional lemming or arctic hare sighting and tracks from foxes and wolves crossing the valley floors.

This expedition had its challenges. One guest required a helicopter evacuation after twisting their knee, not exactly a highlight but a moment that showed us just how well our group came together to support one another through a difficult decision. We reunited back in Pangnirtung at the end of the trip, but not before being stopped by high river levels that forced us to set up camp and wake at 2:30 a.m. to attempt a safer crossing. Linked together in a ten-person chain, we moved slowly and deliberately, and everyone crossed safely.

What made this expedition especially meaningful were some of the stories we encountered along the way. We met Scottish climbers retracing their grandfather’s legacy, the very man who named many of the mountains along the Akshayuk Pass Trail. We even captured the spirit of our adventure in a short film inspired by West Anderson’s storytelling style.

Learn more about our Baffin Island hiking expeditions of the Akshayuk Pass Trail.

Our Hidden Trails of Iceland expeditions is by far our most popular trek, and therefore one of our most frequently completed journeys. Returning to the Iceland Highlands each summer always feels like coming home. 

The 2025 Hidden Trails season hugely benefited from having our own brand-new dedicated basecamp in Reykjavik. From a logistics standpoint, it streamlined everything from daily planning to gear management, but most importantly, it gave each group a consistent welcoming place to meet at the start of each expedition.

This season also marked our first year working with Tom, our new logistics manager. Tom took full charge of the food planning, gear prep, and on-the-ground support for us, which freed up our lead guides to focus on route-finding and the guest experience, while ensuring each day ran smoothly behind the scenes. Let’s give a huge round of applause to Tom! 👏

This year in the Highlands was marked by generally favorable weather which allowed us to move more fluidly through the landscape and spend extra time exploring some of the region’s most remote terrain. River levels forced us to change routes more than once, reminding us that no two seasons, and no two crossings, in the Highlands are ever the same.

Between the steaming geothermal valleys of Landmannalaugar, the vast expansive views of Langisjór, or better known as “The Long Sea,” black sand volcanic deserts and the piercing green moss covered mountains, hiking in Iceland never gets old. Guests are always astounded at how drastically the surrounding geography changes day by day, sometimes mile by mile, and honestly so are we!

Finally, 2025 also marked another milestone for the future of our guiding team with Jóhann joining us as a guide-in-training. Watching him grow into his new role over the course of the season was a highlight in and of its own right. We’re beyond excited to welcome him back as a full guide for the 2026 expedition season.

Learn more about our Hidden Trails hiking expeditions in the Icelandic Highlands.

For the first time ever, we hosted two consecutive East Greenland expeditions back-to-back. Running the trips consecutively allowed us to experience East Greenland through two distinct group dynamics while also deepening our understanding of the region.

For the first expedition, we were joined by Ivik, a local Greenlander who shared insights into daily life, traditions, and culture from a lived perspective that added real depth to the journey. Both groups were supported by an exceptional crew aboard the expedition sailboat Byr, with Annukka sailing as first mate on the first trip and Höskuldur joining for the second.

Together with Captain Siggi, who has been navigating these waters for over two decades, we explored remote fjords scattered with drifting sea ice and towering icebergs. Several of these fjords were new not just for our groups, but even for the captain himself, opening up fresh ground for future expeditions.

Our days were filled with long hikes to glaciers and high mountain passes. One day we even  paused between hikes to fish for Arctic char. With the first group, we crossed to Ammassalik Island, briefly stopping at the Sermilik research station to speak with scientists working in the region, a glimpse into the ongoing research shaping our understanding of the Arctic. The second group experienced a very different surprise — an earthquake while crossing a mountain pass!

Despite no polar bear sightings this season, the Arctic delivered in countless other ways. Cold-water plunges became a regular ritual for our groups, and long kayaking sessions often stretching into golden hour, offered a peaceful counterbalance to the bigger days on foot. Remote, immersive, and full of firsts, East Greenland once again proved why it remains one of the most powerful places we travel.

Learn more about our East Greenland hiking and sailing expeditions.

Just when we thought the 2025 season had come to a close, we received a message from a private group looking to experience Iceland in winter… and, naturally, we jumped at the chance! In December, we hosted a small private expedition for a group of seven, offering a four-day winter adventure built around Þórsmörk, Þjórsárdalur & Iceland’s southern highlands.

Travelling off-season in the Highlands gave us rare access to places like Þórsmörk and Þjórsárdalur, exploring by super jeep and on foot through quiet, snow-covered landscapes that feel entirely different in winter. Evenings balanced the adventure with a few carefully chosen highlights, including a memorable dinner at ÓX, Iceland’s most exclusive restaurant, and a final night soaking at Sky Lagoon.

It was a fitting way to close out an epic expedition year and reminded us as to why our curated, private expeditions continue to be some of our favourite adventures to lead. When a keen group of travellers comes together and trusts us to build something truly custom, it allows us to blend our expertise and exclusive access, into a creative, one-of-a-kind adventure.

Learn more about our Curated Expeditions.

2026 is shaping up to be one of our most exciting expedition seasons yet.

The 2026 expedition season will begin deep in the Southern Ocean with our first ever Antarctica hiking and sailing expedition in January and February. 

Once completed, we’ll set out on a series of brand new multi-day treks in Patagonia with a new route plan linking the Yendegaia National Park and the famous Dientes de Navarino Trail for a demanding yet rewarding hiking experience at the southern edge of the world.

In Iceland this year, we’re expanding our Landmannalaugar winter expeditions with two new March departures, travelling through the Highlands by super jeep and on foot while winter still has a stronghold on the landscape. As summer rolls in, we’ll launch a brand-new hiking and sailing expedition into the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in June, followed by our flagship Hidden Trails of Iceland hiking expeditions throughout July and August.

In the Canadian Arctic, we’ll return to Baffin Island in August to hike the legendary Akshayuk Pass Trail, one of the most challenging and spectacular hiking routes in North America.

We’ll close out the season in September with our renowned East Greenland hiking and sailing expeditions that blend remote trekking, fjord sailing, kayaking, and Arctic exploration.

Looking a little further ahead, we’ll be announcing a brand-new hiking and sailing expedition planned for 2027 by March 2026, taking us even farther north into truly remote Arctic terrain. Details will be shared with our newsletter subscribers first so be sure to sign up to stay in the know!

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Thanks everyone for the incredible memories from this past year! Happy holidays from the Amarok Adventures team and we can’t wait for all the adventures next year will bring.