Our Vatnajökull Glacier Expedition in April 2015 was a great succes. Conditions were good and we got many days with very good weather. On this eight days expedition we crossed Vatnajökull, Europes‘s largest glacier, starting from Tungnárjökull outlet glacier in the west and ended down on Breiðarmerkurjökull outlet glacier in the south-east. On the way we stopped at the hut in Grímsfjall and then again in Esjufjöll. Three nights in the huts and four nights in tents on the ice cap. We started out on the 14th of April and came down on the 21st.
Here below are few photos from the expedition.
The first two camps. On the left is how the camp looked after the first night and on the right how it was after the second nigh.
Getting closer to Grímsvötn caldera. There we see Öræfajökull in the background, some 50km away.
The hut on Grímsfjall (Grímsvötn area) is great. It´s heated up by the volcano it self and there we also have a volcano powered steam bath.
We spent two nights in the hut. The plan was to ski in ther area during the day but the weather was too bad for going out. Enjoying good food in the warm hut for a day wasn´t that bad 🙂
The weather was bad all day until about eight or nine. After that the skies cleared and this is what we got. A beautiful night and great views.
Here we see down to the Grímsvötn caldera from the hut. Snowless areas around where the ground is warm and steam rising up.
We kept on going, now towards Öæfajökull. Going down from Grímsfjall mountain is fun. The slope is steeper than before so you can simply sit on your pulka and slide down. The weather this day was awesome and we did 23km, our longest day.
The tents are roomy and comfortable.
We continued down to Breiðamerkurjökull glacier instead of going up to Öræfajökull. We decided to follow the good weather.
There we see Mávabyggðir mountain range. We are on our way to Esjufjöll further east.
The hut at Esjufjöll is small but very nice and has all you need.
Inside the hut at Esjufjöll mountains.
We did some skiing without the pulkas in the great Esjufjöll area before heading down towards the endpoint of our expedition
In the Esjufjöll area you have mountains, broken up ice fields and splendid views over Breiðamerkurjökull and down to the ocean even.Stopping for snacks on the way and enjoying the sun.
