Jón Gauti Jónsson, one of Icelandic Mountain Guides finest, was climbing the Öræfajökull glacier the day Grímsvötn Volcano erupted. The following is his story, as he and his group witnessed the volcano come to life.
How to climb an active volcano
Ever wondered while climbing a volcano ...that it might erupt right under your feet?
Well, in Iceland the question is understandable since many of the most spectacular mountains are volcanoes. The fear however of something like that to happen while climbing a mountain is easily suppressed considering geological history. On the 21st of May our plan was not only to climb the highest summit in Iceland, Hvannadalshnúkur (2110 m), but all its neighbouring peaks nesting on the rim of a caldera of a great volcano called Öræfajökull. Öræfajökull is a stratovolcano like e.g. the recently erupting and now world famous Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland and Etna in Sicily. And since the island was settled in the ninth century it has erupted twice and will probably erupt again.
The planed climb was one of the longer day tours Icelandic Mountain Guides offer and expected to last more than 20 hours! Seven summits, 33 km hike with a total elevation of 2 660 m. The group consisted of 17 experienced clients and three guides.
A bold plan for a day's hike and even though it had already been done twice before, everything, at least the weather, the visibility and … the volcano's had to be in our favor!
It was an Alpine start at four o'clock in the morning but contrary to early starts in the Alps it was daylight already! The first “hill” had some 2 000 m (6 000 feet) steep hike to the highest peak in Iceland, and the group saluted in zero visibility after 7 hours 30 minutes climb. Instead of heading down again after a successful hike the group had six more summits to climb on the craters rim of this respectful volcano.
Just north of the main summit it was time to look for a shelter, dig a hole and light up the stoves to melt snow to rehydrate before keeping on. After more than an our stop we headed for the second summit Snæbreið and then the third Sveinstindur, all in zero visibility. Then all of a sudden on the fourth summit a shadow appeared, … and then another one, and a spot of blue sky ... and then the most spectacular view over the south eastern cost line with the famous Jökulsárlón (Glacier lagoon / Bond lagoon) nesting some 2 000 meters below us. Flabbergasted by the incredible view we took countless photos of tired but happy people on the sunlit summit with magnificent background. A little later visibility deteriorated in clouds again. Three more peaks before we could head down the mountain. We had to keep on. We took a direct bearing to the Hnappur and progress was good on the hard packed snow. Then all of a sudden it cleared up again and we were once again forced to stop to enjoy. Across the caldera (which, by the way, is covered with 550 m thick ice making it almost flat) clouds where vanishing and the contour’s (outlines) of Hvannadalshnúkur, the highest summit, came into light. Surely breathtaking view all by it self and everyone wanted a picture of themselves with the highest summit in the background. Adding to this spectacular moment was the evening sun on the western sky with bright sun dogs (reflection of sun by ice crystals in the air) on both sides. Definitely a moment to remember even though we would be engulfed with clouds for the rest of the trip.
Then something changed? Something lurking behind was threatening the majestic summit of Iceland. How could it be that such a violent cloud was rising up behind the summit, from the middle of Vatnajökul’s ice cap? More photo shoots and people questioning this strange phenomena, but when the fast rising “cloud” took the shape of a nuclear mushroom people went silent for a moment. Someone in the group mentioned Harold Camping´s predictions of this day being the judgement day! Was this the beginning of the end? Then, with their silence we all got rational again … this had to be Grímsvötn, the most active volcano in Iceland, erupting!
A simple compass bearing convinced us. This had to be an eruption in Grímsvötn situated in the middle of the Vatnajökull glacier. A good majority of the group had experienced one or more eruptions in Grímsvötn before, but surely not one of that magnitude and most probably from a different angle / perspective … i.e. on TV! The overwhelming ash cloud rose higher and higher followed by powerful explosions and thundering sounds that I felt where coming from underneath. Some rational thinking and few convincing faces with big smiles got us back on track and we headed for the final two summits. We had witnessed the beginning of an eruption, and probably taken some of the first pictures of it from the highest mountain in Iceland. But then what? We where standing on the plateau of a nearby volcano in 1840 meters altitude tired after nearly 15 hours hike with still some 5-6 hours left before getting down. Having admired this spectacular yet catastrophic events in its early phase from what we thought was a safe distance, the violent dark cloud now threatened to engulf the sun and its two colorful sun dogs. Few moments later the sun disappeared behind the ever growing ash cloud followed by creeping cold. There was no time to light the stoves to melt snow as planed … just dress in all the clothes plus the down/synthetic jackets and keep the pace up to stay warm while chewing on a frozen Snickers bar or some squeezed sandwich.
After shooting the final summit photo on Rótarfjallshnúkur we rushed down the mountain. Only thirty minutes into our decent, still on the glacier, we where engulfed by the dark brown ash cloud and more darkness. This was tolerable facing downhill but when I had to turn my head to look out for the group I instantly had ash in my mouth and eyes. In 1050 m altitude we only stopped to untie from the glacier rope and hurried down.
At one o’clock after midnight, after some 20 hours and 30 minutes, the group landed safely at the roots of the mountain. Our cars were covered in a fine dark brown ash and visibility deteriorated rapidly as we drove westwards to our base camp in Skaftafell. Roads were being closed because of zero visibility and campsites in the area being evacuated.
The following morning we woke up at seven in a total darkness. The air was filled with ash so everything outside was covered in a thick layer of this black sand like material. Prior to the eruption all the Birch trees and various plants, that Skaftafell is so famous for, had just made it up through the soil to capture sun’s energy, where now densely packed under thick layer of ash. Migrating birds that had looked forward to nesting in Skaftafell this spring, repeatedly crashed on the windows trying to flee the completely dark and miserable reality outside. We could do nothing but close the base and leave this black world. With parts of the ring road closed we had to drive the other way around the island. In the northern part of Iceland however everything was white, covered with snow, and temperatures around zero.
This is Iceland … its a nice land, black, white, warm and cold and everything in between.
Text and photos: Jón Gauti Jónsson Alpine Trekking Guide at Icelandic Mountain Guides