Jökull - 31.12.2001, Síða 71

Across Vatnajökull in 1956
Figure 4. Near Bárðarbunga heading for Kistufell. Note the cloud bank following the northern edge of the
glacier and the poor attachment of the load onto the sledge. - Nálægt Bárðarbungu, með stefnu á Kistufell.
Geirvörtur (see Figure 2) and set off in mid afternoon
of day five. Davies’ diary says “Going steeply up-
hill in soft snow, B.A”. I do not remember that first
campsite but it must have been a few kilometers north
of the ice edge. On day six (3 August) we continu-
ed northward in intense sunlight on soft wet snow. At
Geirvörtur the rock protrudes at least 200 m from the
ice. It resisted the flow of ice from the north so that to
the south there was a depression in the surface, sim-
ilar to the lowered water level seen downstream of a
boulder in a river. I think this depression channell-
ed katabatic winds falling outwards from the center of
the ice cap. As we entered the area, the sky became
overcast, the snow harder and a very strong wind,
with gusts sufficient to push us off balance, started to
blow in our face. Were we and our equipment good
enough to cope with these conditions? I remember
this uncertainty coupled with the thought that I might
be leading us into disaster and decided to go back. We
turned and as we moved back the wind lessened. We
pitched camp. There was no snow to build a wall (see
Figure 3), but at least the tent was excellent and stood
firmly with its main guys onto our ice axes. Towards
night the wind dropped and, gaining confidence, we
decided to go on after all. By late afternoon of the
next day we were exhausted by heat and the inten-
se work of dragging the sledge. We had made about
1.6km/hour and reached a point somewhat south of
the low snow summit of Háabunga (see Figure 2). Our
intention to get up early next morning (day eight) was
defeated by our tiredness and once again we got flog-
ged by heat and soft snow. At last we learned sense,
JÖKULL No. 51 69