Jökull - 01.11.1998, Page 33

several resins, which is the idea that I introduced in the
previous section.
On the top of the glacier the ice consisted of small
thin “sheets”, but farther down, where the heat has a
greater effect, it is coarse and granular '4. In the [mer-
cury] glass thermometer the bulb of which was stuck
down into the snow, the quicksilver fell to 0.5°R
[0.6°C], which shows that some thawing takes place,
even on these high alpine glaciers. Regardless of the
temperature measured, we were nonetheless unable to
protect ourselves against the penetrating cold but had
to tum back at 12 noon and retum the same way we
had come. The snow-covered glacier, however, had in
this short space of time become quite soft only a little
way below the summit, because it was on the leeward
side of the mountain and exposed to the midday sun.
Even where the glacier had appeared to be solidly
frozen, and where we had only a half-hour earlier left
hardly a trace of our footprints on its hard surface, we
now sank into the snow up to our knees. This ren-
dered our descent nearly as tiring as our ascent had
been. We soon came upon our companion who we
had left behind, and who was refreshed after a sweet
but brief and intermpted nap, and we all made it down
the glacier to the previously mentioned hill, happy
and in good condition, at 1400 hr.
To avoid the bothersome thirst on these glacier ex-
cursions, where one has no other way to quench it ex-
cept by means of ice fragments and snow, this time
we found ourselves quite comfortable by chewing
Fig. 1. Öræfajökull viewed from the east. The most likely route of Sveinn Pálsson, who ascended to the west from Kvísker, be-
tween Hrútárjökull (smaller outlet glacier on the right that flows around Ærfjall and merges whith Fjallsjökull) and Kvíárjökuli
(only upper part showing in upper left of photograph), is indicated on the photograph. Photo: Oddur Sigurðsson, 10 Sept. 1986.
- Orœfajökull séðurfrá austri. Sennileg leið Sveins Pálssonar er merkt á myndina.
JÖKULL, No. 46, 1998
31