Kirkjufell Ascent
This mountain resides on its own little peninsula on the larger Snæfellsnes Peninsula and was made famous in Game of Thrones as “the mountain shaped like an arrowhead” When I learned you can hike it, I was absolutely stoked! Unfortunately, most of the GoPro footage I took was lost with my hard drive snafu :( but at least my photos remain along with a few cellphone clips. I first checked out the Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall which is amazingly positioned to have Kirkjufell mountain in the same shot.
The hike got steeper and steeper up to the first small scramble. If you look closely you can see it is like a layer cake and the path will snake along the flat(ter) bits before leading to the next scramble or full-on rock climb. About 2/3 of the way up, I got to the first rope where two Germans were climbing down. They told me the final scramble was too sketchy for them and they quit, just right below the summit!!! They were correct, the top scrambles became more ridiculous the higher up you went and the exposure was mind-boggling. The hardest scramble / rope-climb was the final, and had two ropes dangle down slightly different routes. YOLO! I went for it. Who cares what two random Germans think.
The summit and accompanying ridge was breathtaking; surrounded on three sides by the blue ocean, glaciers in the distance, and green fields sprouting through the fresh snowmelt. I was in heaven. I wished I brought my sleeping bag and I would have just slept up top. Again, 24/7 daylight, so the temperature barely drops at night and I easily could have cowboy camped on the summit.
After running along the ridge for two hours, taking tons of photos, enjoying a summit beer, and loving life, it was time to go. The descent was even scarier because you could see how far you would tumble if you slipped. I saw some fluffy yews at the bottom who were oh-so-photogenic and then continued on my peninsula tour for a few more hours until finding camp.
Kirkjufoss - one of the shots in my 2024 Waterfalls of Iceland Calendar!