Iceland’s highest peak is actually a point on the rim of a giant crater on the Öræfajökull volcano. It is on the Vatnajökull glacier, which is the largest ice cap in Europe and covers 8% of Iceland.
I was determined to ski in Iceland and I was watching the weather like a hawk, waiting for any weather window. I’ve skied on other islands before and they are notorious for their unpredictable weather. I saw one clear day on the radar, and as we got closer to that day, I gained more and more confidence that we’d have the right weather conditions to go up Hvannadalshnúkur. Two days before, we drove down from the Westfjords to the southeast part of the island to get into position for the summit day.
It had been a minute since we’d roped up to travel in glaciated, crevassed terrain. We watched some last minute refreshers online to prepare the night before.
We were able to keep skis and skins on all the way to the top.
The route has a 1.5 mile section before the last pitch summit that is flat as a pancake! There were some crevasses to navigate around on the final pitch to the summit. After a quick break at the top, it was time to drop in. We had a few steep turns, then the long, 1.5 mile slog that we were able to skate ski on the return.
Then, miles and miles of 20-30° skiing in a few centimeters of fresh pow. It was dreamy and delightful to ski a big mountain in a new to me mountain range!