ijskap.climbing.nl : dutch iceland north to south crossing, march 2006

Dutch Iceland north to south crossing 2006

Summary (zie ook de Nederlandstalige inleiding)

In March 2006, we, Erick Branderhorst, Jan van den Broek, Koen Goorman and Peter Verhoeven, friends and members of the NKBV (Royal Dutch climbing and mountaineering club) and the ESAC (Student Alpine club of Eindhoven) crossed Iceland unaidedly from North to South following a nonstandard route, using cross country skis and pulks. The route crossed the Odađahraun lavafield and the Vatnaj�kull ice cap.

As far as we know, this route is hardly ever chosen in winter. We only found one report on the internet by people having followed a similar track, but a little more eastward. The most common winter crossing of Iceland leads through the valley between the Hofsj�kull and Vatnaj�kull ice caps.

Our journey started at Lake Myvatn, one of the world�s most active volcanic regions, crossing the Odađahraun, probably the world�s largest lava field, to Askja, an 18km wide explosion crater with a still smoking sulphur pit inside. The route continued southwards crossing the valley where the J�kulsa a Fj�llum, a broad shallow stream - indeed not frozen - from the northern end of Vatnaj�kull, flows to Kverkfj�ll where we got on the ice cap by ascending 800 metres on the Kverkj�kull glacier. We crossed Vatnaj�kull with a visit to Grimsfjall, a volcano under the ice cap and decended via the Skeiđararj�kull at the western edge of Skaftafell national park.

The conditions were very tough. The stretches over land, especially the lavafield, were hardly covered by snow. The route was extremely winding, following the still remaining stretches of snow and ice. A few times we were compelled to carry all gear � including sleds � on our backs over rocky surface without any snow at all for several hundred metres. During the crossing of the Askja volcano we could use the skis for the first time in 4 days. The valley between Askja and Vatnaj�kull, where the J�kulsa a Fj�llum flows, proved to be the bottleneck of the expedition. Would it be possible to cross this immense flatland and reach the glacier? Fortunately, the valley was covered by a sheet of ice with water on top, ranging from a thin layer of slush to streams of water of a hundred metres wide and several decimetres deep. After this obstacle the glacier was still hard to be reached, the last few kilometres were virtually uncovered by snow. This caused a lot of damage to the bottom of our sleds, but they held.

Having reached the ice cap, the weather changed dramatically. The wind that had been blowing from the South, giving temperatures just above zero sofar, suddenly changed to north and gained strength. The temperature dropped to an average of �15�C, which is cold in combination with such winds. The wind blew so hard that we were unable to use our powerkites often, and navigation was quite challenging with a sheet of drifting snow of a dozen metres thick. We also could not dry our sleeping bags during the day which resulted in wet and less insulating bags. The advantage of a south bound route is that you can do something with northern wind.

If you go in opposite direction you will be stuck during such weather. Finally we managed to get off the ice cap via the Skeiđararj�kull. This glacier was very wide, snowless and the last ten kilometres were a real labyrinth of crevasses.
Overall, the expedition was a great success. It took us through wonderfull landscapes and it offered a new challenge every new day again.

Realvideo

The following 25 minutes long realvideo gives a good impression of the crossing.

The journey in detail

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