A Tour of Elemental Iceland - Hvannadalshnjúkur (Hvannadalshnúkur) - Highpoint Climb - July 2012

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Arriving back at the southern crater rim, we had one look back at Hvannadalshnjúkur, which looked grand in the crystal clear afternoon light, then headed down the long slope of the Kotarjökull glacier. Once past the initial open crevasses, it was a straight shot back down to the rocks, where we would put away our climbing gear. Hatko and I took to trudging along in the fresh snow beside the wide boot-track. The going was much easier and less tedious this way - and it was even possible to liven things up with a bit of boot-glissading.

Hvannadalshnjúkur closeup

Window to land below

Weaving between cracks

Down into the murk

A little bootsliding

Nearing dry land

As much as I (and I imagine the others, too) enjoy walking on glaciers, we were getting a little tired of it by late afternoon, and we were glad to see the rock outcroppings that marked the boundary of the glacier. We stopped relatively briefly to put our gear away, then continued on. The downhill grade was tiring, but not particularly strenuous, so we didn't need much of a break.

Margins of the Kotarjökull glacier

Glacier stuff off

Last few snowfields

Slip-sliding down the last few snowfields brought us to the barren tundra-like section, where we had to search a bit to regain the climbing path. Free of the need to stay separated from each other on a rope team, we congregated into various pairs and small groups, chatting to pass the time as we walked along.

Back on the tundra

Golden Plover

Now below the clouds

Skeiðarársandur outwash plain

Through the rocky gates

Back on well-defined track

There's not too much more to say about the descent down to the van. We continued to re-trace our steps down the path we had ascended early in the day. The weather remained beautiful, with the puffy clouds of mid-day gradually dissipating as we descended, and with a late-day sun bathing the grass-covered coastal plain below in a warm glow. We arrived back at the van shortly after 8:30 p.m., roughly fifteen hours after we started out.

Beautiful Evening Light

Hiace in sight

Minor stream crossing

Brian completes Hvannadalshnjúkur

Sandfell Trailhead

Roland and Chris complete Hvannadalshnjúkur

We really couldn't have asked for a much better day. No injuries, no equipment failures, no saftey incidents, good snow conditions, and good weather conditions. I could have gone with perhaps a few less clouds at times, I suppose, but that was nit-picking. Everybody did exceptionally well, and.... well, congratulations to all!

Here's a video sequence covering our climb of Hvannadalshnjúkur. Click directly on the image below to start it.

Climb of Hvannadalshnjúkur - Click on video above to start

One thing that a 15-hour, 24+ kilometre, 6500-foot climb will do for you is generate a nice big appetite. We estimated that we'd burned probably around 7000 calories this day, and we were feeling it in our stomachs. For some reason, there seemed to be a shared desire for french fries, and we seemed to recall that the visitor center had a small restaurant. However, it was only open until 9pm, and here we were, sitting in a parking lot 20 kilometres away, and it was 8:45pm. Time to motor!

Back at Skaftafell

We arrived back at the Skaftafell Visitor center with minutes to spare, but we quickly discovered that the restaurant (more like a cafe, really) didn't serve fries. Or anything else that interested us at that point, for that matter. So, it was boring camp food for us tonight. Perhaps the next morning we could find ourselves a nice place for breakfast.

After dinner and a much-needed visit to the campground's shower facilities, we hit the sack. No problem falling asleep quickly this night!

Interactive Trackmap, Hvannadalshnjukur climb, click to expand

Interactive Trackmap, Hvannadalshnjukur climb, click map to expand

Hvannadalshnjúkur via Sandfellsheiði route - Climb Data

Start Time: 5:24a.m.

End Time: 8:39p.m.

Duration: 15h15m

Distance: 24.07 km (14.96 mi)

Average Speed: 1.6 km/hr (1.0 mph)

Start Elevation: 350ft (107m) *

Max Elevation: 7010ft (2137m) *

Min Elevation: 325ft (99m) *

End Elevation: 328ft (100m) *