Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.01.2008, Blaðsíða 45

Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.01.2008, Blaðsíða 45
Article | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 01 2008 | 29 poles, stroke after stroke, did all disbelief and in- credulity abandon me. Deceived by the distance and feeble light, what I had mistaken for rock and an absurdly shaped range of hills, eventually revealed itself to be the grim front of the Dyngju- jökull glacier: it did not glimmer white and immac- ulate with ice and snow as one would expect, but stood there threateningly, clad in a layer of silt and dirt, black and turbid like the very soil underneath my feet, black down to its very core, to its subtlest veins of crystal. I observed this imposing and dis- quieting glacial tongue of black ice for a long time, trying to embrace and comprehend its nuances. Most of the time I shivered in discomfort. Later on, I filtered clean some of the meltdown water, and made camp by the moraine. The following day I walked the remaining kilometres to Gæsavötn. Drizzle and wind broke out late in the afternoon and did not cease until nightfall. Gæsavötn The last mystery of Gæsavatnaleið awaited me at 1,200 m at the Dyngjuháls pass. Like a host of silent totems, dozens, scores, perhaps even a couple of hundred cairns dotted the slopes, vo- tive tributes of past journeymen asking for safe passage over this ominous trail. I tried to erect my own, and as I watched it stand briefly, clumsily, and then collapse to the ground, I could only feel relief for having most of Gæsavatnaleið behind and not before me. Despite looking pathetically powerless as a tiny, shiny dot in the boundless black nothingness all around, Gæsavötn does nonetheless make for an uplifting sight. It welcomed me like an ea- gerly awaited breath after a prolonged apnoea. I camped on the moss, in yellow and orange hues, rather than green, from a summer so avaricious for rain. From the very beginning, I had seen Rjúpna- brekkukvísl as the first declared challenge on the route. I had heard many frightening tales about this river – enough to spoil a few nights of sound sleep. They spoke of stones whirled around by the violence of the waters, of desperate falls into the stream, of days spent drying backpacks drenched by the splashes of the river. It is July 22nd, and I wake up and set off fairly early in the morning. It is common knowledge that wading in large gla- cial streams should be done in the early hours of the day, when the ice melt is least intense. The weather seems willing to assist me at first, but it soon turns to intermittent burst of drizzles. My own experience with the wading of Rjúpnabrek- kukvísl, however, turns out to be less dramatic than the darkest expectations had suggested – dry summers can have their advantages. The river bed is rugged and bumpy, and certainly does not facilitate the best balance. The dirty and muddy waters gush impetuous, rough and furious at the surface. Fortunately, however, they do not reach much above my knee, and I make for the other side without any excessive scares. It is only for a short while in the middle of the crossing that I get the disturbing impression that the strength of the flow is too much of a monster to tame, and that I might be overcome. As I touch the opposite bank I am cold and trembling. It is a particularly gen- erous (and painfully untimely) downpour of rain that denies me the opportunity to fully enjoy hav- ing accomplished the feat. Vonarskarð Thus, I finally enter Vonarskarð – the Pass of Hope – nestled between the glacier Tungnafellsjökull and the north-western slopes of Vatnajökull. The horizon progressively enlarges into the immensity of a flat plain, the black lava makes room for the monotonous greyness of glacial debris, perfectly oval and conic elevations peep out all around in the guise of the area’s most prominent landmarks. I leave my waterproof clothing tucked away in my backpack three times, and instead let the light drizzle wash over me, waiting for the sun to re- emerge and dry me again. I inevitably overrate my good luck and misread the weather: the fourth time, there will be no more getting dry again – only getting wetter. I camp at around 1,000 m altitude, on the slopes of Laugakúla, where the presence of gushing thermal waters has created an oasis of moss and lush vegetation. I fall asleep under pouring rain, and I wake up under pouring rain the following morning: there is no possible way to delude myself – this will be a miserable day. I see little or nothing of the glorious geother- mal area of Vonarskarð, hidden as it is in a mantle of thick and impenetrable fog. I catch only sporad- ic glimpses of the colourful and steaming muds, of the glaciers in the distance, of the vastness of the plains beneath, and think with some regret that this may be a magnificent place under different conditions. There is not much more to the day: I cross the mountains and walk my way along the river in a narrow but sufficiently comfortable ra- vine. By the time the valley widens, my boots have given in to the overwhelming wetness, which only adds to the day’s overall misery. By the time the fa- miliar and much longed-for shape of the Nýidalur hut appears within sight, it is late in the evening, and I am soaked. Since I set off, however, I have managed to cover almost 300 km, and half of the journey already lies behind me. Text by Fabrizio Frascaroli – Adventures of the Lonesome Traveller, Leg 5 glaumbar - tryggvagötu 20 - tel: 552-6868 www.glaumbar.is

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