Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.07.2019, Blaðsíða 48

Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.07.2019, Blaðsíða 48
It was quite pleasant inside the cre- vasse, once I realised I wasn’t going to die. The ice inside was smooth and pale green, like sea glass, and gave off an other-worldly glow. I looked down—there was quite a lot of down to look at—and figured it was prob- ably time to start trying to get out. Nice though, crevasses. Peaceful. Certainly far more relaxing than try- ing to climb a 2000 metre mountain. It began, as many misadventures begin, with a Facebook message from a colleague. The writer about to em- bark on a grand adventure had fallen and damaged her knee. Could I fill in and climb Hvannadalshnúkur—Ice- land’s tallest mountain—tomorrow? Sub The next day, we set off towards Hvannadalshnúkur, on the edge of Skaftafell National Park in south- east Iceland. In 2008, Skatafell was combined with surrounding pro- tected areas to create Vatnajökull National Park. Recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is hoped that recognising the value and importance of Vatnajökull on a national and global scale will protect the area for future generations—so that they, too, can experience falling into a crevasse. We arrived at Skaftafell at 6pm to meet our guides, Maja and Chris, who made us feel immediately like we were in safe hands. They talked us through what to wear, eat and bring, as well as providing us with equipment—ice axes, crampons, walking poles, and, in my case, stur- dier boots. By the end of the meeting, though, I was terrified. Every year, hundreds of tourists are injured or even killed whilst experiencing Iceland’s na- ture. But by going with qualified guides, we were taking the best pre- cautions we could against becoming one of these sad statistics. Breakfast rock After half-sleeping through the bright summer night, we congregat- ed at 3am. The climbing group was a seven-strong international bunch aged from mid-twenties to mid-sev- enties, of mixed ability and climbing experience. We started out down a rough and gravelly path. At 350m, we stopped to fill our water bottles, and in my case, to apply copious plasters—whilst es- sential for ankle support and cram- pon use, my borrowed boots didn’t make for pleasant walking. The trail steepened until our next stop—a 750m high point referred to as ‘breakfast rock’. We strapped on our crampons, and got roped up. Taking in the already impressive view, I bid farewell to the reassur- ing path, and we continued onto the snow. Pure slog The next 1,000 metres of the ascent were a pure slog. No matter how far we walked, the crest of the hill never seemed to get closer. I hadn’t done any serious snow hiking before and was surprised by how quickly it ex- hausted me. We also started to en- counter crevasses. Chris, leading the group, would stop us while he poked at the snow bridges, sussing out their reliability. When he found a route he would scrape a cross onto any dodgy areas with his walking pole so we could follow safely. The snow was fairly firm, so our main challenge was the unrelent- ing ascent. Although the gradient wasn’t impossibly steep, pushing my body upwards for hours on end was unbelievably tiring. Finally, we hit the edge of the plateau—essentially the crater of the snow-capped vol- cano—and started the trek towards the base of the final summit. Cleared to summit We’d been waiting for a forecast up- date to see whether we could attempt to summit—bad weather had been due in from the northeast—but at 8:30am we got the all-clear. South- eastern Iceland is well known for its good weather, but even in that area conditions can change rapidly in a moment. The fact that we were blessed with clear skies and fairly light winds for the full 12 hours is not lost on me. In fact, despite regu- larly slathering on SPF 50 sunscreen, my pale, Celtic skin still turned the colour of a nice ham by the end. The last push for the summit was tough, with the steep, wind-whipped mound covered in thick snow. The joy of reaching the top of the moun- tain was eclipsed only by the joy of being able to lie down for a moment. But the winds at the top were strong enough to not want to hang around, and after a celebratory dram we hoisted the Reykjavík Grapevine flag (an extra-large t-shirt that I’ve slept in ever since, cheers guys) and then quickly headed off. Muffled world The difficulty of climbing is that when you hit the top you’re techni- cally only halfway done. For much of the descent I was on auto-pilot, trudging through the sun-softened snow, knees buck ling ever y few steps. As clichéd as it sounds, the idea of ‘the mountain of the mind’ began to make perfect sense to me. There’s the point at which your mind thinks your body is done, and then the point at which it can actually go Distance from Reykjavík: 326 km How to get there: Route One South, meet at Skaftafell Acommodation provided by: hof1.is Tour provided by: mountainguides.is Car provided by: gocarrental.is Clothes provided by: 66north.is The Top Of Iceland Vatnajökull covers 14% of Iceland Travel At 3:00am the team are fresh-faced and ready to go The hardest part of the hike was ascending the endless snow View this QR code in your phone camera to visit our recommended tour booking site 48The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 12— 2019 “There’s the point at which your mind thinks your body is done, and then the point at which it can actu- ally go no fur- ther. Between those two points is where you climb the mountain.” Climbing Hvannadalshnúkur, Iceland’s highest peak Words: Josie Gaitens Photos: Art Bicnick
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