Vatnajökull Glacier Expedition 2014

This blog post first appeared on the Icelandic Mountain Guides blog in 2014, after the successful completion of the expedition in that year. This is an expedition that we run every year, and the post has since been updated to reflect this. This is an incredible journey which takes you to places where very, very few people have ever set foot. A truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, one of many from Icelandic Mountain Guides!

All pictures taken by Björgvin Hilmarsson.

Another successful Icelandic Mountain Guides Vatnajökull Glacier Expedition came to a end on Friday the 30th of May 2014. A group of four started off from Jökulheimar, on the west side of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Saturday 24th of May. The group was transported to Jökulheimar, in a modified superjeep, a journey that was surely an adventure on it´s own. This is a unique expedition experience relative to the amount of time that it requires home-to-home. In 10 days, you can have a journey that rivals Antarctica as an expedition in terms of skills required and intensity.

The group slept in tents for two nights on the way up to the awesome hut at Grímsfjall, a mountain by the caldera which lies on top of the Grímsvötn volcano, where they staid for two nights. A day trip in the Grímsvötn area in good weather was absolutely great as the landscape and environment is mind-blowing around this very active volcanic area. The ice is so vast that it is possible to see the curvature of the earth! The expedition members of course used the opportunity to relax in the volcano powered steam bath, part of the Grímsfjall hut facilities. The hut at Grímsvötn sits on top of the most powerful geothermal area in Iceland, and therefore has a virtually unlimited heat supply, so you have one of the warmest huts right next to one of the coldest places!

On the fifth day, the second part of the expedition started and the group headed out in the direction of Öræfajökull (a volcano/glacier combo in south Vatnajökull). Two nights in tents on the glacier and the second one just above Hermannaskarð, with snow walls to protect form the nightly winds. On the seventh day, the group went on towards Hvannadalshnjúkur, Iceland‘s Highest peak (2110 m). After a day of approach with blue skies and sun, clouds gathered around the peak when the actual climb was about to start. In foggy conditions, the group went up the slopes and were able to use skis all the way to the top. When only few meters were left to the summit itself, the clouds went away and the skies opened up for a truly unforgettable moment! In many ways, words fail to describe the magnificence of this place.

After a week on the glacier and a very long last day, the group descended off the glacier and went straight to a feast combined of a grilled leg of lamb and other delicacies that waited them. It was well-earned: it was a great trip in mostly good weather and it was IMG mountain guide Ívar F. Finnbogason (far left) who lead the expedition.