Ain´t No Mountain High Enough

Sandfell was my Everest. I climbed it to the very tip top and made if safely back down again, and was I ever proud. I started off the hike feeling pretty rough on Tuesday. I don´t know what it was, but at about 2:30 when we got going I was shaky and weak, and edged on being irrationally weepy for about the first 45 minutes. My blisters from the day before were killing me and I was convinced I couldn´t make it all the way up. Something was off and I didn´t think it was just due to being tired from having gone climbing the day before too. I sat down for a break about an hour in, after feeling miserable and only being able to concentrate on how rotten I felt. I ate a cereal bar and some peanut butter crackers and drank some water, and lo and behold, within 20 minutes more of walking I started to feel like a new woman. I think my blood sugar had crashed or something, because I perked right up after that. I was able to enjoy the amazing beauty of the valley, and look at the mountain as a challenge I could meet rather than one that was going to crush me.

"Sandfell is a cone-shaped, rhyolite mountain on the south side of the fjord, rising to a height of 743 meters. When molten rhyolite lifts older layers of lava, so-called laccolith is formed. Sandfell, about 600 m thick, is a famous example of this and is in fact one of the best visible examples of the Tertiary period in the northern hemisphere." - travelnet.is

Sandfell is not particularly tall compared to other hiking mountains in Iceland, but it is pretty steep. It is also fairly unique in the way it was formed and the kind of mountain that it is. I´ve been told there is only one other one like it in the world and that is in Japan. The hike up to the back of the mountain took maybe 2 and a half hours. On this part of the hike we weaved in and around the valley, working our way closer to the base of Sandfell, climbing ever higher and higher. The ground there in the valley is spongy and takes a lot of effort to walk through, but it is breathtakingly beautiful. We made it to the foot of the "first hill" which is really the first leg of the actual mountain. It is a steep climb up a mix of grass and rocks that I sometimes was tempted to climb on my hands and knees so I didn´t tip backwards and end up bouncing back down to the bottom. We made it to the top of this first summit and had a nice snack break before tackling the main event.
From the first summit to the top of Sandfell there is nothing but large chips of rock that are much more sturdy to stand on than you would think, if climbed with careful attention to your footing. This part took a lot of focus and I admit that I was so concerned about how I was going to get down the mountain after we were done that I didn´t even worry much about climbing up this part. Standing at the top or the bottom it looks like it is almost a completely vertical climb.
At the top we reveled in having met our goal, signed the guestbook and took a bunch of photos. Chock it up to the thin air, or my excitement or whatever, but I wrote the wrong date in the guestbook when I signed my name. I copied the entry before mine like a fool but didn´t realize it until about half way down the mountain.
Now, for getting down from this beast. Bogga kept telling me, "It isn´t dangerous. We´ll just slide right down." These two ideas did not match up in my head. Slide down a 750 meter mountain safely? I don´t think that sounds right. But it turns out it wasn´t bad at all. It was a lot of work to control the way you slide down, but it actually was sort of fun. Slide one foot ahead, balance, let the other foot drag down behind. Repeat. Switch leads occasionally so your legs don´t give out on you. Once I figured out the system it was no problem.
What I had to puzzle over though was the mechanics of the human body during the fall/startle reflex. Why in the world are we designed to toss our hands into the air like we are on a roller coaster when we start to slip, instead of moving them down behind us where they might do some good to catch us or break our fall? Seems to me that something got overlooked in that plan. As much as I tried to change my reaction when I slipped, my arms just kept popping into the air like a spastic puppet. I was glad Bogga and I were the only ones on the mountain and there was not a big audience to watch me slide down.
The whole hike from start to finish took 6 hours and 45 minutes. I was thrilled to see the car when it finally came back into view. I was filthy dirty and a little sunburned, but it had been a great experience. My feet were bruised and blistered and felt like someone had pounded at them with a hammer, but it was totally worth it. When we started out I was convince I wouldn´t make it, but by the time we were done I knew I could do it again if I needed to, though maybe not until I´d had a good night of sleep.


Indeed, the next day (yesterday) I hobbled around like an old woman for the better part of the morning. My feet were furious with me for subjecting them to Sandfell. I did my best to ignore them and by midafternoon they gave up their whining. I helped Stebbi paint some of the light poles and posts around the shop. I got to wear a snazzy uniform too, which made it that much better. You could see me from space I think, (or at least the top of Sandfell) but it kept my clothes from getting speckled with paint. I was glad that I had agreed to wear the jumpsuit because when I was done painting Stebbi looked at me and laughed, saying "You look like a blackbird (Guillemot) egg." In other words, I was speckled from top to bottom with white paint. I spent a long time using WD-40 to get paint spatters out of my hair so I didn´t spend the rest of the day looking like I was going prematurely gray. The bad news was that I looked a little greasy afterwards, but the good news is that I no longer squeak when I turn my head.

Today is my last full day here in Fáskruðsfjörður. Tomorrow I take a flight from Egilsstaðir to Reykjavik at 12:45. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone, or how much I wish I was sticking around for another couple of weeks. There is still so much that I would like to do. I want to do more baking with Lísa, Bogga and Thorhildur, I want to climb more mountains and meet more relatives. I want to see more of the landmarks and old farm sites where my ancestors once lived and worked. The more I´ve done here, the more things I have added to my Want To Do list.
I am, however wildly excited to be back with my Snorris and start our adventure tour. I cannot wait to see them all and compare notes on how we have all spent our last three weeks. We got our itinerary for the tour and it sounds like it is going to be amazing. We are going to be seeing some really wild places all along the Snæfellsnes peninsula and the West Fjords. With the Snorris it wouldn´t matter if we were just sitting together in a small room for 7 days. We would still manage to have a blast, but I think that getting to see and do all these fantastic things with them will be incredible.

I'm not sure what the internet availability will be during the tour, so I may or may not be able to keep everyone updated on what is happening. If I can´t I will be sure to give a solid summary of the adventures when I get back to civilization.
This trip has been all that I had hoped it would be and so much more. I´ve made wonderful friends, met relatives that 6 weeks ago I had no idea even existed, and experienced Iceland in a way I had only dreamed about, and the best is yet to come. Sitting here on this foggy morning in Fáskruðsfjörður my real life seems a million miles away and I am in no hurry to get back to it. I am going to enjoy every last moment that I have and know that the memories I´m making here will be with me for the rest of my life.

Addendum: There was a going away party for me and all 3 of Lísa and Stebbi´s daughters came, along with their families. There was wonderful food and everyone sat around and ate and laughed. I did Perla Sól´s hair (she is 8 years old or so, and the cutest thing you have ever seen) and we took funny pictures of everyone, and I earned some points with the little boy cousins when I brought out my Nook so they could play Angry Birds. It was a wonderful party. I got a very sweet gift from Bogga. I had mentioned to her awhile ago that I am sort of crazy about aprons. I always keep an eye out for cute ones and have a small collection started. So she gave me an awesome apron with a Puffin on it. Also, she gave me an Icelandic spoon with a woman on it to remind me of the strong women who taught me how to cook all sorts of wonderful Icelandic foods, and a really nice keychain as well. When everything was cleaned up and the house was quiet again, Stebbi and Lísa brought out another gift for me. It was 2 beautiful picture books on Iceland. It almost brought tears to my eyes to think that they were the ones who opened their home to me and have fed me and entertained me for three weeks, and yet THEY are giving ME gifts. I should be the one showering them with gifts, and I only wish I could repay their incredible kindness. An evening as wonderful as this is not going to make it any easier to leave tomorrow.