I'm a bit behind in my weblog... Ferry's dont have the www so i can spend 4 days on a ship reading, eating and doing nothing and trying not to be sick.
Vik to Skaftafell National Park
I have calculated the number of days i have left in Iceland and the kms and have worked out i need to catch two more busses. I could actually ride the whole way but that is all i would be doing and i'm very keen to see something of large national park called Skaftafell. I have planned to spend 3 days here, walking on a glacier, doing a long walk that takes in the view and just being... i had a secret hope that i might try to climb the highest mountain in Iceland..but wasn't sure i would be fit enough.
so now bus from Vik. This bus was empty... yippy i can get my bike on easy and it has the cargo hold all to itself... but this is short lived as we take off and stop 2kms down the road to pick up one the French touring groups... 20 people and so much stuff... but the bus drivers are very skilled and it all fits including lots of room for Patience...
Now i must tell you about my encounter with the touring French from last night. There are lots of French in Iceland. I'm told there is some connection of ownership between AirFrance and AirIceland.... of course there are more Germans and loads of Dutch. Anyway... i'm in camp kitchen trying to cook my dinner... its too cold in tent and i thought company would be nice even if no one chats to me or i can't understand what is being said... the atmosphere of a room full of happy chatting people is nice...
But one of the guys from the tour group suggests i can use part of their table to cook my meal... this is so nice. Out of the 15 people at the table only 4 can speak english, but thats fine they are happy to translate and try to include me in their conversations... The best thing is the wine... they insist i must try the wine as its from Australia!.... Yep thats right folks i had dinner with 15 touring French folk, drinking Australian wine in Iceland.... What a spin... More so is that they all agreed that the wine was very nice... i think almost impressed... French wine is just too expensive in Iceland... So if you have shares in a wine company encourage them to get their wine into Iceland.
Okay back to bus trip. The trip was simple and i spend the whole time looking out the window across the Sandur plan (this is a black sand plain) thinking i should have ridden... but then after 2hours of this and realizing i would have had two days of this... i settled back a bit happy to be on bus... Then the Glacier came into view... Struth kids... this is a must see and i so wish i had a video cam to show you. Yes i know my camera can film but i haven't worked that bit out yet..
The mountains here start at 500 metres and the highest is 2119 called Hvannadalshnukur (chocolate if you can say that correctly). I arrive in the arvo... find a spot for tent, its been raining a bit but okay now and once settled i seek out the tour group called Mountain Guilds... yet i'm brand dropping but thats fine they were a good outfit and the guide was a Kiwi anyway... I wanted to do the 5-hours on the Glacier tour but it was fully booked for 3 days, the next tour i could do was in 2 days and this was the 2-hours Glacier tour... but as i appeared most dissapointed and i mentioned to the Kiwi lass that i really wanted to do the Summit tour but didn't know much about snow, ice climbing and was concerned about my fitness.
She laughed... so 14,000kr latter or $250 ish Australian i'm booked to do the climb the next day. Now its a conditional climb on weather and 3 other people who have paid turning up. By 9pm this night no one knows if the walk is on...its a 5am start so i have to get up around 4am and just hope everyone else turns up...
In the arvo of my 1st night here i walk to the Glacier ...so close you could almost touch it but too far to do so... and i'm not keen as there it quicksand at the Glacier and the water is ice cold!
Summit Climb 2119 metres
I wake very excited at 4am... i still don't know if i'm doing the climb but i'm ready to go and very scared. We have to walk with crampons, ice axe and we are roped together. I'm told to drink loads of water and keep drinking all morning. Also eat as much as you can before you start. So i do this... both increase ones need to find a loo and on top of a Glacier covered mountain its a case of everyone turn away whilst i pee...
So i meet the rest of the team. 6 in total including our tour guild, Ben from NZ. So off we go. I have all the gear, waterproof pants, snow gloves, softshell windstopper, raincoat, german walking boots and NZ wool clothes. Several of the others are less prepared but we all manage. Ben has us walking very slowly, he says he want us to think the pace is too slow.. its is too slow but for a very good reason.... Whilst the mountain is only 2kms up we have to walk 12kms to get to the top. Now this is 12kms up and 2/3 are snow covered glacier....
Ben checks our progress by telling us our height. We rest several times. At around 1000mtrs we have now entered the snow line and must rope up and put on the crampons. The view is staggering and we are not at the top. We can't see the summit due to whiteout.. We have to walk through the whiteout and Ben has us doing a wide arc around the cravaces... Struth they are just like what you can see in films about ice climbing. I feel a lot like one of the Drwafs roped together... Its hard work on the snow, but little do we know how hard its going to be when it melts for the decent...
WE climb, we climb some more then we met some others on the mountain that have turned backed as the summit was in cloud and they couldnt see a path up but could hear an ice slide and decided no t to risk it. I understand their concern, but Ben is confident and we keep walking until we are very near the summit... we stop to rest....we are all very tired and thinking whats the point cant see the summit... but then something magic happens... it clears, we can see the summit, can see the valley below or some of it and see some of the mountains behind.. What a motivation boost!... we all stand up and ready to strike out when Ben tells us its a bit steep and he'll have to kick some steps in and stay close keep the tention on the rope as there will be cravaces on the way up....
Is he kidding? its not steep its vertical! I had too major feelings at this point... one of overwhelming excitment followed by sheer terror!.... I also now understand why someone climbs a mountain, and not just any mountain a glacier covered mountain the thrill you get from a perfect summit accent is out of this world... you feel so happy its so rewarding.
The vertical climb is something i'll never forget... i was second last so i go to see the other assend... Just magic. We have to cross two cravices (yep i know its not spelt right but you get the point). Crossing is a bit strange they are not very wide nor deep but the sensation of falling is the great. You just sort of jump across and hope that the other side is firm... it was but i was concerned about going back down...
We still have to climb once we have done the vertical bit but we can see the summit its clear, its a warm day. I'm just wearing wool leggons and a wool top. WE make it take lots of photos, drink loads of water, eat more chocolate and just sit in the sunny quiet. We stay on the summit for around 30minutes then its time to decend... great :(
Ben is at the back for the decent and i have the lead. WE walk very slowly and take our time. I find the vertical decent a hoot... mostly i'm just falling in the snow as i slide down. I have my ice axe in my left hand trying to stop my slid but eventurally i fall into the first creaves. I can get out, its not deep, but you can see that it widens and its a feeling of knowing that they are endless. We keep going and soon we are off the vertical bit... Ben takes over the lead and we then keep walking down.
WE get more whiteout, more rain, less sun and we are getting very tired. The snow has melted a lot and we are no longer walking as sinking knee deep into the snow. its much harder to keep the pace and being at the back you get pulled a long a bit by the others in fround. I have to aske them to slow twice as i'm actually running to keep up... Down we go, further and further. So we are out of snow line and can unrope, remove crampons and just walk at our pace, Ben still has us walking in line as he doesn't want to loose anyone in the whiteout conditions...
We keep walking down... we eventually make out of the cloud and its time to cross the cold fast flowing river again... on the way up we all when to a lot of effort to keep our feet dry, by using a log and balacing across it... but now we are tired and the shoes are wet so we all link arms and walkin... its at this point i realise that what i though was wet shoes was infact just a bit of snow and sweat... They are now very very wet.... and yes Des i have to used the platic bag trick for the next two days!
We are stuffed, excited and ready to get in the bus. its raining again... I do have great photos but no way of getting them up loaded yet... but i'll try soon.
I spend the next day drinking loads of hot water, reading the Lonely Planet book (nothing else to read), playing cards and trying to keep out of the endless rain. Yep the next day was not stop rain and the summit climb was cancelled due to lack of visibility.... i was so lucky to do the walk and to have clear sky when i got to the top!
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