The initiative “Health Improvement” in Ísafjördur (pop. 4,100) and the worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs, Junior Chamber International (JCI), in the Westfjords started issuing mountain passports this summer to encourage hiking, a scheme which has proven very successful.
The scheme operates as a competition to see how many mountains near Ísafjördur people can climb in one summer. At the beginning of June, interested people acquired passports from the organizers. Participants stamp their passports at the summit of each mountain and hand it back to the organizers fully stamped, Morgunbladid reports.
The competition will continue until September 10. After that, the passports will be put in a lottery and a few lucky hikers will receive an award. There will also be a photo competition, where hikers submit the photographs they took while hiking.
Ísafjördur residents have been so keen on participating in the mountain passport scheme that there are no passports left. Organizers are currently printing more. Some individuals have even gone hiking without the passports, but plan to stamp them afterwards.
