Bike Touring Iceland: Day 8

Lysahúll to Mt. Snaefell

The snowy slopes of Snaefellsjokull (photo by Postyn)

We got an earlyish start as we knew we had a big day ahead. We continued along the coast, stopping mid-morning at a beach where we had heard we could see seals. Indeed there were about a dozen seals on the rocks and in the water. On land they are ungainly oafs, in water, completely transformed.

The seals are the not-quite-rock-color lumps among the rock-colored lumps

We continued on to the little town of Arnastapi, known for its lava sea cliffs. We didn't know what to expect, but it was wild.

Organ Pipes and crashing waves at Arnastapi

There were numerous rock arches

Including this one. Photo taken by a nice English couple touring Iceland in their camper van

Arnastapi sits at the foot of Mt. Snaefell, a 1500m volcano that forms the Westernmost part of the eponymous peninsula, along which we had been cycling for the last few days. We knew we probably wouldn't be able to summit it, as it is heavily glaciated, but wanted to hike at least part way up. We headed up the dirt road leading to the shoulder of the peak, planning on hiking from the summit of the pass, then descending down the north side of the pass to get to a town, food, and a bus back to Reykjavik. We began climbing the dirt road, and it was immediately hard. Parts too steep to ride. But views gradually improving to spectacular levels. 

Nice view

Nicer view

 As we reached the shoulder, the winds increased and the temps dropped. Snaefellsjokull was shrouded in cloud -- we couldn't see the summit. However, looking up we got occasional views of a spur of rock a good ways up, visible in the center of the photo below.

The summit is on the right of the photo, hidden in cloud. Our goal was the rocky outcrop in the center.

At the summit of the pass, we stopped for a late lunch. Then we ditched the bikes and packed layers, food and water into our backpacks, and headed up. We initially stayed on the lines of exposed rock which run upwards. When these ran out, we walked on the snow. On the way up, the views got even better. We could see the route we had cycled over previous days, giving an excellent new perspective at the end of the trip. Lucy and I did something similar last summer in Norway, with a hike on our penultimate day.

Boom. This is why we like mountains.

Higher. The clouds were whipping along the side of the mountain, alternately revealing and exposing the view over the course several seconds. Photo by Postyn.

After an hour and a half or so, we came to the base of the rocky outcrop which had been our target. Climbing this was tricky as the loose volcanic scree slid with every step.

The summit was very windy, and cold enough to be partly covered in rime ice, in August. On the way up we knew we were walking on glacial ice because beneath the snow it was bright blue, and there were occasional cracks -- the beginnings of crevasses. These can be seen in the photo above, as thin lines in the snow.

Buffeted by wind on our "summit," I had to keep one hand on my head to stop my hat blowing off! Excuse my finger in the image; mittens and wide-angle-lens-selfies don't go well together.

Looking upwards, the ridge was exposed and began to look more crevassed. We decided to turn back. After working our way slowly down the volcanic scree of our summit outcrop, we regained the snow. In a stroke of absolute genius, Postyn suggested we glissade (French for "slide on your a$$") back down. This was brilliant fun, and we descended in 15 minutes what took us almost two hours to climb.

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 After our outrageously fun descent -- a highlight of the trip -- we repacked our bikes and continued along the road. It was about 4:30 pm by this point. We had thought we were at the summit of the pass and thus were looking forward to a long descent. However, around the bend, the road continued upwards. Soon we came to a patch of snow covering the road, and had to dismount. This happened several times before we arrived, relieved, at the actual pass. Unfortunately, when we looked down the other side, all we could see was snow, disappearing into the clouds.

While there had been little snow on the way up, we now realized we were looking at the north-facing slope --considerably snowier. And we had been told earlier that this had been a record snow year for Iceland. 8m in some places. But still, a pass of this altitude closed in August? There were faint car tracks through the snow, so we set off on foot to see if we could follow them to the other side of the snow patch.However, the visibility was extremely poor. Without our own footprints to follow back, it would have been very easy to get lost.  In all, we spent an hour following various tracks across the snow, including a faint set of bicycle tires. We still hadn't found the other edge of the snow, and it was 6:30pm. We didn't fancy a night on the snow, so returned to the bikes, and headed back the way we came.

Faint tire tracks visible during a brief break in the cloud cover. The spike on the skyline at the right of the image is where we climbed. Photo is Postyn's

We were disappointed to have to turn back, but also concerned that we were almost out of food, and would have quite a way to go the next day before reaching the next town with food. However, the descent was stunning. The views were the same as on the way up, but we were facing the right direction this time. It ranks as one of the best descents of my life, but I was certainly thankful for my fat mountain bike tires and disc brakes. Postyn enjoyed the descent less than I did, particularly as he had a small crash on the way down.

 Once down, I noticed a sign at the base of the road saying "impassable." Whoops. But it was a grand adventure in any case!

Concerned to make some distance before camping, we kept riding. Postyn led at a tough pace. I struggled to keep up, and by 9:00, after probably 12 hours on the move, was ready to camp anywhere. Unfortunately, we were passing through Snaefell National Park, where camping is forbidden, and in any case the land on both sides was nearly bare lava. Around 9:30 we found a spot to camp, with the summit of Snaefellsjokull cloud free and still in the sun above us.

Campsite at the foot of Snaefellsjokull. Photo by Postyn.

For better or worse, our adventurous day was not yet over. We were almost out of food. We still had breakfast food. But for dinner, all we had was several packets of quick-cook rice, a sprinkling of couscous, bouillon cubes, butter and a whole onion. Also, our trusty fuel canister finally sounded just about empty when shook. Whoops. We decided to cook everything at the same time to minimize the chance that the fuel would run out part way through. Unfortunately, after 5 minutes, it did run out. Our onions were basically raw, and the rice was very crunchy. We were very hungry, so started eating. As it turns out, Postyn and I both hate raw onion, so after a few bites forced down, we started picking out the onion. On the plus side, the couscous was cooked, but on the minus side, the raw rice and overpowering onion flavor were disgusting.

How fitting of Iceland that one of the best day's adventure of my life ended with the worst meal of my life.