Plans to expand Iceland’s Skálafell ski area face possible halt

Plans to expand the Skálafell ski area may be heading back to the drawing board after a regional committee agreed to examine the 2018 development agreement.

The cooperation committee for ski areas in the Reykjavík capital region voted to seek a discussion and decision from the Association of Municipalities in the Capital Area. The review could cover both the project schedule and the amounts of money set out in the agreement.

Skálafell is currently closed, even though the municipalities reached an agreement to develop the area in 2018. Magnús Benediktsson, an Independence Party municipal representative in Seltjarnarnes, said the planned investment would cost several billion Icelandic króna. He argued that the project did not fit the party’s priorities, particularly given current conditions in society.

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At this stage, I believe further development at Skálafell must be stopped. In addition, the project must be completely reassessed from the ground up before further investments are made.

Benediktsson described the development as a pet project. A large ski area already operates, he said, leaving no reason to run another facility of a similar size. He said he had promised voters and Seltjarnarnes residents to handle public money carefully and set the right priorities.

“At this stage, I believe further development at Skálafell must be stopped. In addition, the project must be completely reassessed from the ground up before further investments are made,” Benediktsson wrote. The committee’s decision to consider a review did not signal unanimous support for abandoning the project. Valdimar Birgisson, a deputy representative from Viðreisn in Mosfellsbær, called instead for the agreement to be honored and for Skálafell to reopen as soon as possible.

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The Mosfellsbær representative demands that this agreement be honored and that Skálafell be opened as soon as possible.