Glacier hiking Skaftafell

Sat 5/11/22

As we were not satisfied with the Ice Caving tour, we booked for a glacier hiking tour with Troll Expeditions at Skaftafell for today. We booked and paid online just the night before and was instantly confirmed for today's 9.30am tour. The glacier hiking tour cost ISK 11500 or RM 393 per person, cheaper than the Ice Cave tour.

From our Horgsland cottage, it was a 76km (about an hour) drive to Troll Expedition's base at Skaftafell, departing at 8.15am and arriving at 9.15am. The wind was blowing quite hard this morning. Once we arrived, we were given helmets, ice axe, fitted with harnesses and sized up for the crampons to fit onto our boots. Then we drove to the starting point of the glacier hike at Fagurholsmyri by following behind the Troll Expedition van. The glacier we would be climbing today is Falljokull. Our guide for today is Frederico.

Troll Expedition's base at Skaftafell

parking for glacier hike

The walk from Fagurholsmyri parking to the starting point of the glacier hike took about 30 mins. Before we started the glacier hike, our guide showed us how to put on the crampons, how to use the ice axe and how to walk on ice (by stomping) to have more grip. The walk on the Falljokull glacier took about 1 hour. Then we took off our crampons once we were out from the glacier area, then continued back to walk to our car. We returned all the equipment back at the car park and did not have to go back to Troll's base. 

the views during the walk to Falljokull

up at Faljokull glacier

glacier wall

our guide

glacier

Glacier hiking trek

We continued on our activity today towards Vatnajokull National Park about 12km away. Parking at Skaftafell costs ISK 750 per day. First we walked from the Visitor Centre to the  Skaftafellsjökull glacier (3.7 km, 40 mins round-trip, flat path) to get a closer view of the glacier.

walking path to Skaftafellsjökull

Skaftafellsjökull view

Skaftafell lagoon

Skaftafellsjökull glacier tongue

After returning back to the Visitor Centre, we then walked towards Svartifoss waterfall (5km, 1 hour round trip). There is some climbing required (140 m ascent in 1.5 km), first arriving at Hundafoss waterfall viewpoint, then followed by Magnúsarfoss waterfall viewpoint. Then we continued onwards and down into the ravine to reach Svartifoss waterfall,  surrounded by basalt columns. We returned back to the car park the same way we came. There is an alternative route to go back to the car park via Sjónarsker and Sel but it would take a bit longer. 

walking path to Svartifoss

Magnúsarfoss

Svartifoss view from top

Svartifoss

trek to Skaftafellsjökull and Svartifoss

Then we returned back to our cottage at Horgsland, refreshed a bit and went to buy bread at the nearby town  Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Unfortunately, the groceries store was already closed at 4pm on Saturday, so we had to go to a smaller convenience store which was still open and had the last loaf of bread. We should have checked earlier that in smaller towns, shops may close earlier on weekends or even closed on Sundays. 

As for the Northern Lights tonight, it continued to be elusive. We had already left our large windows without closing the blinds to increase our alertness on catching the aurora.