When asked about the vehicles, Harriton replied “Iceland is unique and they have their own way of doing things. In terms of the 4WD drive world, they have very specialized vehicles that do very specialized things. It is not uncommon to see people driving a Toyota Landcruiser or Nissan Patrol on 38-44″ tires, they are just normal family cars in Iceland. It was a great learning experience. I try to always take away a little knowledge from everywhere I travel and incorporate it into our designs. It is extremely important to do this so I can better understand different ways people will use our products.”
Harriton elaborated further, “AEV is known for building well rounded vehicles that are perfect for long distance traveling and excelling in all types of terrain, so the vehicles we brought to Iceland were exactly that. We wanted to see how these all-purpose vehicles would perform under the harsh conditions of Iceland, and they performed flawlessly. We also had seven people between the two vehicles, plus all of our gear. Our vehicles performed as expected, allowing us to successfully cross several major glaciers in Iceland, including the Langjokull glacier, the second largest in Europe.”
During their time in Iceland, Harriton and Checuti also climbed some major volcanic ash dunes, crossed fast moving rivers, and traveled on the Heckla and Katla volcanoes. One of the more unique experiences was traveling on the Snaefelljokull glacier, which happens to be the location where the characters in Jules Vernes 1864 classic, “The Journey to the Center of the Earth” begin their journey to the center of the Earth.
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