About the tour
Hvannadalshnjúkur is a magnificent place, this expedition takes you to the highest peak in Iceland and on the biggest glacier in Europe. Hiking up to the peak is not a technical climb but it requires good stamina.
We’ll meet up 20minutes before the departure time to go over the summit day. Our guides will also go over how the glacier gear works, and to give you the glacier gear that you need.
The trip starts early in the morning, our guides will meet you at Sandfell (Sand hill) which is the beginning of the hike. The first part is a steep gravel hill that take us from 20 meters up to 700m. The good thing about this first hill is that you can refill your water bottle in a spring around 500 meters, so you don’t need to bring a lot of water for the first 1-2 hours, this is also a nice place to grab some snack.
We will continue on gravel, rocks and snow up to 1100m. This place is called Skerið or (the reef) at this point we put on harnesses and rope up for the hills ahead. This is another good place to eat and drink something so it’s nice to stop and take in the nature and view the area.
Next part we will go from 1100m up to 1800m that is a long snow hill and will lead us to the plateau of Öræfajökull glacier. On a clear day the view can be beautiful in this area so it’s nice to break up this hill with some stops to drink and take some photos. The main danger on this part are crevasses, that our guides will navigate through.
When we get to the plateau it’s a perfect place to have some lunch and enjoy the view and the achievements of the morning. After lunch we start to cross the plateau to the summit itself. The peak rise about 200m above the plateau. We make a short break below the summit and put on crampons this is the final push to the summit of the highest peak in Iceland. On clear days the view from the top is stunning, you can see Hrútfellstindar, Þumall and part of Vatnajökull ice cap.
Next we’ll hike back down the same way, this will not take as long as the hike up but we will move slowly due to tired muscles and we still have rope between us. After Skerið (the reef) we can move a lot faster back to the car.
It‘s nice to take 3 days to do this hike,
Day 1: Drive to Skaftafell
Day 2: Summit day 10-14 hours
Day 3: Sleep, recover and drive back. We don’t recommend to drive back to Reykjavík the same day as the hike is.
Duration / Walking: 10 – 14 hour
Ascent: 2200meters
Distance: 24 km
Level of difficulty: 4/5
Age Min: 13 years
Pax: min 2pax – max 6pax
Time of year: mai – june
Pick up: not available
Meet on location: You can meet us at Sandfell Oræfi, srarting point for the hike.
Meeting time: 06:00
We provide:
- Glacier gear
- Crampons
- Ice axe
- Ropes
- Carabiners
- Harness
- Local Glacier guide
You Bring:
- Warm cloths:
- Rain gear pants & jacket
- Down or primaloft jacke
- Good hiking shoes
- Hat & gloves
- 30-40L backpack
- Food & water for the day
- Sunglasses
- Hiking poles
You can rent some of this gear from us if you don‘t have it.
About the weather in Iceland
Weather in Iceland can change fast so if the weather is not good for this hike day we may have to cancel this trip or we can move the hike to the next day if that is better.
