Rótarfjallshnúkur skiing

About the tour

Rótafjallshnúkur is a magnificent place, this expedition takes you to one of many peaks on Öræfajökull. Hiking up to the peak is not a technical climb but it requires good stamina, hiking time is from 9-13 hours.

Our guide will meet you the day before the tour to make sure you know what the summit day is going to be like. Our guides will also go over how the glacier gear works. We also want to know your experience in the mountains to set the starting time right. If you are a beginner, we start earlier so we can do this at a nice pace, but if you are a good hiker and used to mountaineering, we can start later in the morning, the main purpose is to be on the summit around 13:00 a clock (1pm).

The trip starts early in the morning, our guides will meet you at Sandfell (Sand hill) which is the beginning of the hike. The first part is a steep gravel hill that takes us from 100 meters up to 700m. The good thing about this first hill is that you can refill your water bottle in a spring around 500 meters high, so you don’t need to bring a lot of water for the first 1-2 hours, this is also a nice place to grab some snacks.

We will continue gravel, rocks and snow up to 1100m. This place is called Skerið or (the reef) at this point we put on harnesses and rope up for the glacier ahead. This is another good place to eat and drink something so it’s nice to stop and take in nature and view the area.

Next part we will go from 1100m up to 1800m, that is a long snow hill and will lead us to the plateau of Öræfajökull glacier. On a clear day the view can be beautiful in this area so it’s nice to break up this hill with some stops to drink and take some photos. The main danger on this part is crevasses, that our guides will navigate through. This is also a good time to look at the hill you are going to ski down.

When we get to the plateau it’s a perfect place to have some lunch and enjoy the view and the achievements of the morning. After lunch we start to cross the plateau to the summit itself. The summit rises to the east above the plateau. We make a short break below the summit and put on crampons. On clear days the view from the top is stunning, you can see Hvannadalshnúkur, Kvíárjökull and part of Vatnajökull ice cap. Next, we’ll hike back down to the skiis and enjoy the 900-1400meters ski slope back to the car. It depends on the conditions how far we can ski down.