Iceland. Laki - Nupstadaskogar - Skaftafell
near Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Suðurland (Lýðveldið Ísland)
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Itinerary description
One of the "old" backpacking tours. Set up by a Frenchman, who lives in Iceland, several years back. Paths/trails only visible for a total of a few km. One does not need crampons crossing Sidujokull but crossing Skeidararjokull means full gear: crampons, ice axe, ropes, carabiners and other necessary equipment for cravasse-rescue operations. And the knowledge to use the gear. This way across Skeidararjokull is the "old" one and much more complicated / boring / hard than the one I have used the last years. River Djupa was a bitch (as well as the river flowing into (the former/now vanished) Graenalon ) - one would have to get up early to cross it (get across no later than 6 o´clock in the morning, as its volume decreases during the cold hours of the night) but after the eruption in Vatnajokull glacier in 2011 it went from flowing in one lane to spreading out into 4 - 5 lanes - which are very easily crossed. So - the first part, Laki - Nupstadaskogar is easy but because of the tricky Skeidararjokull, the second part calls for expertise knowledge of crossing glaciers. There could also be problems in the mountains between Skeidararjokull and Skaftafell and the ridge / saddle might be impassible, as happened in 2016 (overhanging snow / risk of avalanches) - so people should know what they are dealing with. And one thing: check map.is. google maps are showing old landscape. Compare the Graenalon lagoon for example.
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