Royal Winter Hiking in Iceland – Go on this Reykjavik Hiking Trail

From time to time I join the trips organized by the hiking guide Einar Skulason. The crowd is kind of cool, you are always able to find somebody fun to chat to while you hike. Einar tells fun stories and those trips usually go smoothly. This winter hiking in Iceland had a royal aspect to it since one of the hills we were hiking up to to is called ´Drottning´- or Queen.

This winter hiking in Iceland trip takes you to three hills

In the beginning of January day I joined Einar et al on a popular hiking trail which takes you across three hills close to Reykjavik. These hills are close to Bláfjöll skiing area and are called Eldborg (´Fire City´ – a large crater), Drottning (Queen) and Stóra-Kóngsfell (Large Kings´s Hill).

Starting out early

As usual we started the day really early. We joined together to minimize the number of cars going to Blafjöll. It was a cold day and everything was covered in ice and snow but fortunately we were all dressed for it. As usual I had stocked up on high octane provisions, I look at winter hiking trips as an excellent excuse for eating a lot of chocolate bars. If you have to know, Snickers is my favorite. Anyway, we started out walking past Eldborg, an impressive crater. Then we came to Drottning Hill and that´s where things started to get a bit interesting. We all had our crampons on and the ascent to Drottning was easy.

Vertigo comes knocking

However, the descent was challenging. The slope was steep and at times there was slippery ice underneath the hard-packed snow. I found myself supporting a lady who almost froze up there and I have to say that vertigo was ´knocking on the door´ for me as well. Fortunately, I got it under control and we had help from an experienced member of the legendary SAR rescue teams who had joined the hike and he made a path for us with an an ice-ax. This is a lesson in not going on a winter hike in Iceland alone. Always go with experienced guides and study the advice on Safetravel.is website.

Always be careful

The last part down the slope was easy but there were some people that needed further help so we waited for them for a while. This underscores that you should never underestimate winter hiking in Iceland. The ascent to Stóra-Kóngsfell was slightly doubtful but Einar and company found a safe way up and down.

The view up there is pretty great but boy was it cold! Although there was a bit of ice and a lot of snow on the rocky hill the descent was easy. The crampons made it safe and easy and yet another great winter hiking Iceland trip was at its conclusion.

Here is a GPS map of the trip. Hope that helps you to find your way 🙂