Klifatindur

Klifatindur 886 m/ 2907′
International– Iceland
Total Time: 2:15
Distance: 5.0 km/ 3.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 762 meters/ 2500′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Road 981, no services

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In southern Iceland just east of the town of Höfn is a series of dramatic craggy summits over Stokksnes Beach. The most famous of these summits is Vestrahorn, one of the most photographed mountains in all of Iceland (likely behind Kirkjufell).

The highest mountain in this grouping is Klifatindur, and with well over 2,000’/ 600 m of prominence, it was a worthy mountaineering objective. And after multiple straight days of bad weather spoiling my opportunity for a summit bid of Hvannadalshnjúkur- the Iceland highpoint, I needed to find some objectives to make up for it. A little online digging revealed a class 3 route to the summit, although it was unclear the conditions I would find on my attempt with fresh snow on many of the mountains not high above. Holly had no interest in scrambling up snowy and icy class 3, so she dropped me off on the dirt road 981 at a saddle between Kilfatindur and Haitindur to the north.

She drove down to Stokksnes Beach while I started up the ridgeline, the actual summit obscured by clouds above. The route was initially stable talus but this both steepened as loosened the higher I climbed.

I seemed to find more solid rock closer to the ridgeline, trying to utilize larger half buried boulders along with the patches of thick moss for more traction where I could. There were bands of snow in the couloirs above, and I did not have any additional traction with me. From below it looked like I could stay on rock and avoid the steep snow up high, but with the high point in clouds, it was unclear how well this plan would work.

I reached the start of the snow and moved on to the steep talus to the left, finding it to be absolute garbage and the equivalent of climbing up kitty litter. There was an ill defined boot track in the loose rocks that I tried to utilize as it traversed across the slopes to the first snowy couloir. When I reached it, I was pleased to find the snow actually provided outstanding traction, being soft and deep enough to kick steps but firm enough to hold my weight. My plan quickly shifted from avoiding the snow to seeking it out, and I kicked stepped straight up the first line of snow to the cliff bands above. The snow ran out, and I pulled myself up and over two short class 3 bands. Although the rock quality was poor, there was nothing exposed with the larger rocks holding just fine. I hit a use trail on the ridgeline proper and topped out on what I hoped was the summit, now completely in cloud. But when I checked my GPS, it was clear that the highpoint was higher along the ridge to the east.

I dropped off the false summit and started scrambling along the ridgeline, snowy couloirs dropping off to either side. Following the ridgeline was fairly straightforward with a few crumbly gendarmes easily bypassed on one side or the other when needed.

From the initial top out on the ridgeline, it took about 15 minutes to reach the actual highpoint, confirmed by my GPS and a summit benchmark. Unfortunately I was still in clouds with minimal views, and with Holly waiting for me at the beach I reversed course, sending an inReach message that I was on my way.

Although I likely could have taken a more direct line down, it was difficult to tell through the clouds if I would hit any potential cliffs lower down. So to play it safe I reversed the route following the ridgeline back down to the first false summit and climbing down through the same two cliff bands.

Back in the couloirs, I tried sticking to the soft snow where possible, plunge stepping back down to the saddle and trailhead down below.

I beat Holly to the starting point by only a few minutes and hopped in the car to head to Höfn for lunch before driving northeast to watch puffins later on that day.