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Hvannadalshnśkur – Öręfajökull
At the eastern end of the vast Skeišarįrsandur wetlands, the southernmost extensions of the Vatnajökull glacier reach very close to the coast with the Öręfajökull. A little bit inland, the Hvannadalshnśkur, Iceland’s highest summit, is sticking out of the Öręfajökull glacier.
The narrow coastal plain consist of black sand and gravel. The steep mountain flanks bordering the glacier are covered with black pebble. Black is the dominating colour here, only sparsely contrasted by dots of lichen, some grass and bushes at the mountain flanks. The mighty glacier tongue of the Öręfajökull, which dramatically carves its way through the mountain flanks, adds some bluish white as long as it is not covered with clouds.
This is some dramatic landscape, rough and wild and due to some odd microclimate, there are almost always clouds hanging around and pouring some rain on the barren plain and mountains. A gravel road turns off the ring road and leads to a parking in front of a flat crater. From here some soon barely recognizable foot paths lead to the mountain flanks. If you keep right, you will reach a valley with the river coming from the glacier which soon gets very narrow and deeply cut into the mountain flank.
If you keep left another footpath leads you up a cirque which gets increasingly steeper the higher you get. But with good footwear and strong legs you can climb up to the ridge building the southern flank of the valley (which here is a veritable canyon). The view from here onto the massive, vertical glacier tongue and the surrounding Tolkienesque landscape is brilliant.
Keep in mind that this is not the alps with its highly developed network of footpaths. Even for this short climb, with luck you can follow sheep tracks but mostly have to find a way along patches of moss-covered ground in between a labyrinth of rocks. Don“t do this alone!
For getting to the Hvannadalshnśkur you have do more climbing through the wild – there are no signs indicating the way - and eventually hike over the glacier. This should only be done with local guides.
For more visual impressions check this gallery.
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