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Brúnka

    Virkisjökull is a glacier tongue between the mountains Svínafell and Sandfell. Virkisjökulleið is one of the most common routes to Hvannadalshnúkur, Iceland's highest peak. It starts up Virkisjökull, (takes about 2 hours to walk up the glacier), then goes up a steep snow slope up to some rocks that are called Kaffiklettur (Coffee rock) in about 1200 m altitude. After Kaffiklettur the route continues under a sharp ridge, Hvannadalshryggur and finally leads to Hvannadalshnúkur on the east side of Dyrhamar.
    There are few but good routes around Virkisjökull. We climbed one in a warm period in January 2000. We called the route Brúnka (horse name meaning brown), both because the glacier water that formed the route made the ice kind of brownish, and there is a story of a horse (I'm sure it was called Brúnka) that came down this way from the highest mountain about 100 years ago. (The first and only horse that have climbed Öræfajökull).

Brown


Einar, Jason & Helgi.    Photo: Helgi Borg Jóhannsson
    Three happy climbers after the first ascent of the 125 m high route Brúnka. Notice how brown the ice is at the top of the route. The water forming the route comes from the glacier that is now about 30 meters from the edge. The steep snow slope on the way to Hvannadalshnúkur is just outside the picture on the left.
Route name Brúnka
Grade and length WI 4+ - 125m (95m total in ice)
Date of first ascent 23/1 2000
Climbers Helgi Borg, Einar Sigurðsson & Jason Paur
Location On Virkisjökulleið (route to Hvannadalshnúkur) in Öræfi
Location It is in the cliff that is on the right when people walk up the first steep snow slope on the way to Hvannadalshnúkur. The water came from the glacier above so it was rather brown. It is easy to see this route from the main road.
Description Fyrst koma 55 metra sem byrja alveg lóðréttir en í miðri spönn breytist brattinn í 3 gráðu. Síðan kemur 30 metra snjóbrekka og loks 40 metrar, aftur lóðrétt í byrjun, léttist síðan heldur, en toppurinn var spúkí aftur. Við köllum þessa leið Brúnku, vegna litsins á ísnum en einnig til heiðurs hesti sem kom niður Virkisjökulleiðina af Öræfajökli fyrir um hundrað árum. (Sjá bókina hans Snævarrs). Hesturinn hét áreiðanlega Brúnka.

The first pitch was 55 meters, starting totally vertical but halfway it became WI 3. Then there was about 30 meter steep snow slope and then 40 meters of steep ice.
Reported by einar@oraefaferdir.is

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Last edited: 13.01.2010