30th – Going high

I was picked up at 0900 by my new guide for the day and we immediately drove north to where the trail for the summit of Slættaratindur started. 

For the day I had gotten rid of all the heavy parts of my camera equipment as I didn’t plan on doing nay birding during the climb. Instead it was filled with snacks and an extra layer of clothing. A lighter bag also seemed like the right way to go as I had heard the path up to the top could get steep at times and footing wouldn’t always be completely stable. 

The weather looked promising; there were quite a lot of clouds and low-hanging at that, but with constant winds I expected that if we ended up in clouds on the summit we wouldn’t have to wait for long before the clouds would be spread and we’d be able to see the surrounding landscape again. 

We started walking around 1000 at around 400m and the beginning was easy zig-zagging up meadow and rocky/mossy ground which was easy through relatively steep. We got to the halfway point like this and with the wind in our backs the entire time. At this point the conditions got steeper and it changed to exposed rock. There were some narrow bits and places to scramble and parts that were covered in dirt and gravel making grip hard at times. But the worst part was me scrambling and supporting with my hands at multiple points, whereas my guide did the entire climb with his hands in his pockets. 

51 minutes after leaving the car we turned a sharp corner and ascended 5 rock steps and we found ourselves on the top at 880m. The summit itself was much bigger than it looked from below – a plateau almost square of at least 20m on each size. 

The summit. For a sense of size my guide is sitting down in the small stone alcove in the middle of the photo.

The views were as expected: beautiful. As long as the clouds weren’t in the way, that is. As expected at the beginning of the day that it might have been clouded, but waiting a few minutes you would have the winds moving the clouds out of the way revealing the stunning views. And looking away a few seconds you could be sure the clouds would sneak back. Apparently, during clear weather you would be able to see the entirety of the Faroes Islands, but obviously that wasn’t happening today. 

Eiðisvatn to the right.

Eiðisvatn and Eiði to the right of the lake.

After enjoying the views for half an hour we started descending. Instead of going the same way down we followed a non-existing path out along a ridge giving us a clearer view of Gjógv and Funningur before heading straight down to the car. The guide did take his hands out of his pockets at times going down for balance and support which was a clear hint to me to take extra care. It was significantly steeper going down on mostly grassy and mossy surface so you had to be careful where you put your feet so you wouldn’t slip. Coming down took around 1½ hours and the timing seemed pretty spot on as the clouds started at that point to dense up and getting lower, covering the summit completely. 

We got back into the car and returned to Torshavn where we ended the day early and I decided to take the rest of the day off and just lean back and relax. Even after 8+ hours of sleep last night waking up was not without issues so being lazy felt like the right thing to do. 

I went for dinner at Etika (again) as it was the last chance I had to take advantage of all that delicious salmon. The thing I don’t like about the place is that I can never eat as much as I want to.