Location: North 66.00638, West 018.18076 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2.
Climbed May 17, 2016.
Information:
How to get there:
From Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland, drive north on the east
side of the fjord to the small town of Grenivik. Continue a short bit
further north (along/above) the fjord in order to cross the first
creek that comes down in a small canyon. Find parking near
N65.87868, W017.97278, this is a good trailhead at elevation about 60 meter.
Route:
Head directly uphill. Skiing in mid May, we noticed a long gully (with a small
stream) that had snow coming a long way down.
This was a good way to ascend/descend
on skis. Higher up, you enter
a very large hillside that extends further up and towards
the more pronounced summit located more to your left. Ski up this hill that gradually
turns into a ridge. Finally, follow a
short summit ridge to its highest point at
the far end.
Comments:
Having already climbed the most prominent peak in the north, we drove to Grenivik
and immediately decided to attempt our second peak of the day. Kaldbakur looked
very nice, close to the village and with some snow extending almost down to the
fjord. This would be our skiing peak on the 17th. of May!
The only cafeteria in town was closed, so lunch consisted of some rolls and
cake that we could buy in the local grocery store.
We started out at 1520, sort of ignoring that we still needed to ascend more than 1000
vertical meter. However, the skiing was nice, up a long gully where the snow connected
nicely, then a huge slope that narrowed to a ridge near the end, followed by a short
summit ridge. We arrived at the summit at 1800.
A very nice view from a very good viewpoint.
The evening was fabulous, blue sky, the sun, peaks and fjords all came together to
form a complete arctic landscape. We stayed around until 1815, a small breeze reminded
us that we should start back down. Skiing was pure delight and we were
back with our car already at 1900.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in our trip to Iceland.
