Climbing the Ram

Having grown up at the base of the mountain in the village of Svínafell, Þorsteinn approached Siggi to explore an area he’d be dreaming of climbing for years. When you look up from the village, the mountains of Hrútfjallstindar and Hvannadalshnúkur tower over the landscape, they’re the highest peaks in the country. His family has been herding sheep across the glaciers at the base of the valley for decades, and this climb was finally an opportunity to go up to the high peaks.

Þorsteinn told us that the mountains were just an everyday thing for him as a child. It wasn’t until he moved to Reykjavik that he realised how incredible the backdrop of his home really is, and now he uses every opportunity to be out on the glacier exploring the area. The high mountains however, had still remained unexplored for him.

Siggi took us through the climb, recounting each day as the team made their way up to the summit.

‘’Earlier this year, Þorsteinn got in touch with me with an idea to climb Hrútsfjallstindar. The four peaks of Hrútsfjallstindar rise out of the Vatnajökull ice cap, standing between the glaciers Svínafellsjökull and Skaftafellsjökull, and the highest peak is about 1,875m. The glaciers are magnificent and feature one of the most beautiful mountain views in Iceland.

This new adventure sounded really exciting and I suggested we climb the south side, which is more fun and a harder climb than the traditional route. I had taken this route a few years back, so I had some idea of the magnitude of the task. In my earlier trip, the conditions were quite hard on the way up, with wet snow up to our knees, turning into waist high powder near the summit. This ended in a 22-hour trip in extreme conditions, which taught me to never underestimate the south side of Hrútsfjallstindar.

To complete such a project in three days, and do it well, you need a stable weather window and good conditions for climbing. When traveling with heavy equipment on mountain slopes, many things can affect the speed of travel. Rockfall can be a danger when the sun hits the mountains causing the frozen rocks to thaw and loosen, which along with falling ice can result in an avalanche, so there are many things that need to be considered. The snow needs to be stable, minimising avalanche risk, as well as thick enough to cover crevasses on the way. On the steepest part of the slope, the ice needs to be adequately frozen to allow for ice climbing, and the snow needs to the right density so that it is possible to travel with a lot of weight, without getting tired. The human factor is, however, always the most important. Having a well-coordinated team that can respond to situations quickly and safely, working together for a safe and fun trip, whilst taking time for photographs, is less common than you’d think, but this time, this team had it all.  

From my experience, the start of May has excellent conditions up on the glacier, and after checking the forecast, I noticed that a good weather window ahead. Such a good weather window could not be missed and with only two days' notice, we decided to go-ahead with the climb.

There were still some uncertainties about where the best conditions for climbing the slope were and what the snow would be like. The biggest uncertainty, however, was how we were going to get to Hrútsfjall as it is situated on the back side of Svínafellsjökull, meaning you need to traverse the glacier to get there. In my earlier trip, the route onto Svínafellsjökull was open near the main carpark at Hafrafell, however, that route was no longer possible due to how much the glacier has retreated in recent years. As Þorsteinn had been herding sheep in the area earlier in the year, he suggested that we go onto the glacier on the other side of the valley by his home in Svínafell. This information would have to be enough to get started, but the continuation of the trip needed to be flexible depending on what we’d find once reaching the glacier.

At 7am on Monday morning, the 27th of April, we met full of anticipation for the upcoming trip and reviewed our plan. The goal was to start walking that same day, attempt to climb to an altitude of 800m on Hrútsfjall and set up camp there for night one. That way we would have a straight line to the summit on day two and would be able to camp our second night beneath Vesturtindur - the western peak of Hrútsfjallstindar, and from there calmly make our descent on day three.

Driving into Skaftafell, we stopped by the road to catch an overview of the mountain conditions. It is one of the most beautiful roadside views in the country, and just so happened to give us the comprehensive view we needed of the snow and hiking conditions – it was the green light to get started. Then came the time to decide which route to take. After figuring out the route, the plan was to head out at 2 pm and walk for the next six hours.  

We began with a hike along the side of Svínafell. Our backpacks were a bit heavy, but we managed to traverse the slopes and found our way onto the glacier with spent some time to check the route across. This was the big uncertainty for us, as we did not have precise information on whether the route was still possible, due to the land subsidence that had taken place after years of glacial retreat.

Arriving at Svínafellsjökull glacier, we found that it was still covered in snow. As it was impossible to detect the dangers of the glacier, we had no choice but to use a safety line for the traverse. We were starting to fall behind schedule and the backpacks were growing heavy after only four hours of hiking.

Getting to the foot of Hrútsfjall was a victory in itself. We decided to continue up the slope and try to position ourselves well, so that we would have the opportunity to climb a narrow and steep ravine on the southern side. There, there is a risk of rock fall if the sun is shining, making the climb unsafe. We started our climb late on Monday and the sun had made the snow quite heavy for walking. We marched up the ridge and were knee-deep in snow. We were only able to travel very slowly with the heavy bags, but we set a goal to reach an altitude of 700m in order to be able to set up our tents on the ridge. It was safer to camp there due to the possibility of ice- and rockfall. There we could also check the route for the next day before dusk and make a plan accordingly.  

When we arrived at our rest place, we were quite tired as it had been a long day. The campsite was magnificent and we started melting snow, setting up our tents and making ourselves comfortable. When we started to melt snow, we found out that the gasoline burner didn’t work. It looked like the pump had suffered some damage on the way up. We tried what we could to get it to work, as we had to melt 10 litres of water and the gas worked very slowly in the night cold. In the end, we did not succeed, no matter what we tried. Fortunately, we had brought extra equipment, without which we would have had to cancel the trip and head back. It took us three hours to melt the snow and the time was 1 am when we were finally able to rest.  

The difficult conditions earlier that morning and our extra hours of sleep meant that we were now powering ahead.  

We had to get up the steep side of Hrútsfjall fast to avoid rockfall. Small rocks and pieces of ice started to fall, so we had to push hard to clear the section. This was exhausting for our team and our backpacks weren’t getting any lighter. We avoided the rockfall, but our hike was slow.

We then looked into plan B. It was clear that if we couldn’t be ahead of the sun any longer, we would have to turn back. Doing any different posed a risk not worth taking. We found a safe place where we could see the route that we had originally planned. Gigantic icicles loomed over our planned route and it was too risky to attempt it because if the sun hit the ice, we would be entirely exposed.

It was at this point that Benjamin spotted an ice waterfall up on the ridge. It was about 50m high, but the ice looked very good and in good shelter from any possible ice and rock fall. We decided to go for it.

We placed ourselves under the ice waterfall where it was safe and changed our safety line to accommodate for multi-pitch climbing. I took the lead position and started climbing the waterfall first. Once I was up, I set up a belay system and the guys climbed behind me while I safeguarded from the top. The climb was incredibly fun, the ice was ideal, and we made it to the ridge without any issues. Sitting on the ridge, we ate well and enjoyed a great view. Þorsteinn told us of his thoughts before beginning to ice climb – what the heck am I doing here on this vertical wall, what have I got myself into! By the top of the climb, he was thrilled with what he’d accomplished.

Waking up to another clear and still day on the glacier, it quickly became apparent how rare this weather window was. Three days of perfect calm conditions in a row, the climb was simply just meant to happen.

We decided on a rather simple way down the mountain, descending the regular climbing route via the peak of Hátindur. This allowed for some extra sleep in the morning and with such an incredible view, we were in no hurry to pack down our tent and gear. We made our descent with perfect weather, skies were clear, winds were still, the snow was nice for walking and the snow bridges safe. It took us around 7 hours with our backpacks still stuffed full and heavy despite having finished most of our food. After finally reaching the end, returning to sea level at the base of Hafrafell around 4pm, a feast was waiting for us in Svínafell, courtesy of Þorsteinn’s wonderfully accommodating family. We discussed the trip back and forth and everybody agreed that this had been a well-executed trip, smart decisions had been made with safety as the guiding principle. That feeling is extremely important after making big plans. We reached our goal, successfully climbing to the summit whilst Þorsteinn and Benjamin documented the entire journey to share with our fellow outdoor enthusiasts.