Kirkjufell

Kirkjufell 463 m/ 1519′
International– Iceland
Total Time: 4:00
Distance: 4.3 km/ 2.7 miles
Elevation Gain: 540 meters/ 1770′
Crux: Class 4
Trailhead: Kirkjufoss trailhead, no services
Companions: Holly

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Flip through any guidebook, website or travel blog on Iceland, and you’re bound to find a photo of Kirkjufell. It has been called the most photographed mountain in the entire country, and for good reason. When viewed from the south the mountain is perfectly steep and pyramidal, looking a bit like the iconic Matterhorn but surrounded by ocean. In reality, the mountain is actually a long ridge, and I initially didn’t recognize it as we drove to the start of the climb. We pulled across from the parking lot for Kirkjufoss, a pair of waterfalls at the base of the mountain that make for the iconic photos. With no parking at the trailhead itself, I dropped Holly off, then swung into the lot itself, catching up to her as she started up the steep use trail. The trailhead had a sign warning of the difficulty of the climb, with 3 separate fixed ropes and extremely challenging route finding. Sounded just up my alley.

I caught up to Holly on the ever steepening grass slopes at the base, the use trail more or less making a direct line just left of the lowest set of cliff bands. We took a break here, and I checked the GPS track, indicating a way through the first major set of cliffs was to the east. Sure enough, there was a straightforward easy third class gully that brought us up to the grassy slopes about 50′ up.

The path again took a more direct line heading directly towards the more complex terrain directly above. We passed one hiker who turned back before the summit at the final fixed rope, which had me worried it would be more than Holly would be up for. The trail began to work to the west, finding the weakness for each short 10-15′ cliff band, often weaving back and forth with little elevation gain between the breaks. The entire thing reminded me of climbing through the Supai in the Grand Canyon, just trying to finding a weakness through the maddening cliff bands.

We were a bit over half way up when the trail moved back east to the main southern ridgeline and we hit the first fixed rope. It headed up a short 15′ class 4 band of rock, and I spotted Holly from below while she started up, multiple small ledges partway up for me to catch up in spotting her. The knotted rope was tied to a fairly large boulder, a decent enough anchor for the short bit of class 4.

The use trail resumed switchbacking through cliff bands to the west of the main southern ridgeline, the catwalks becoming progressively narrower as we climbed higher. As we neared the top, the use trail rounded the corner onto the east face with the second fixed line heading directly up. One could make an arguement that this section is only class 3, but the exposure warranted a rope. It was more steps in in flattened grass than rock like the other steep sections had been, but we were both still happy for the rope, this one similarly tied around a large boulder.

This led to a high notch with the final fixed rope directly above. I could see why the other hiker had turned back, this one about 20′ high but far steeper, probably low fifth class climbing. I had a locking carabiner with me, and had the idea to tie Holly into the fixed line and body belay her up, which she was more than happy to have.

We tied the newer of two ropes around her body, securing it with a clove hitch on a locking carabiner around her torso. I started up between two seperate fixed ropes, then carefully moved out left onto a larger ledge partway up before mantling onto the summit ridge. Holly then started up behind me as I gave her a body belay. She unclipped the carabiner after mantling up, both of us fairly surprised that the two fixed lines were wrapped around nothing more than clods of dirt. I was happy neither of us relied on them, but it did seem like a potential accident in the making if the dirt became too soft or wet. Perhaps there was some buried rocks we couldn’t see? On the summit ridgeline, it was an easy walk to the highpoint, with the Snæfellsnes Pennisula stretched out to the south, the small town of Grundarfjörður to the southeast and the Westfjords to the north. The weather had been the best of the entire trip, and we enjoyed the summit for quite some time. Both of us would agree, the climb had been a highlight of the entire trip.

The pizza in town below was calling our name and we started back down the way we came. I again gave Holly a body belay for the upper most rope and spotted her on the other two, relying more on the first and second ropes with the more sound boulder anchors. We spotted a foursome starting up as we descended, but they turned back somewhere before the first fixed ropes, never passing them on our descent. A second twosome seemed to be heading up with a local guide wearing helmets, not the worst idea if there were others on the mountain that day.

It took us about 1.5 hours to slowly descend the route, getting back to the trailhead and waterfall parking lot shortly before dinner time. We grabbed some celebratory beers from the car and enjoyed them at Kirkjufoss before heading into town for pizza and beer and camp for the night.