A little crass promotionalism. Hey, some one's got to pay the bills. Our high point on Day 2.

Iceland garnered its’ name from Floki “Raven” Vilgeroarson. This unlucky Viking explorer had the “luck” to land on Icelands’ frozen north not it’s more temperate southern part hence the name Iceland. Unlike Floki, the purpose of my trip was to explore the cornucopia of frozen land that gave Iceland its’ surname. What I found wasn’t entirely what I expected but then again when is it ever.

Upon first landing in Iceland, the first thing noticed was the lack of snow, ice, or anything else of a white or off white substance, excluding the white leggings which Icelandic women have an affinity for. This lack of white stuff was due to the same El “insert expletive delete here” system that has bedeviled the Pacific Northwest. Due to these conditions, it was considered a “bad” ice season by the locals and the ice festival which I’d planned on attending was postponed. Heavy drinking ensued, not hard in Iceland , and visions of vertical sod climbing just to grind the rust off of my tools and crampons danced through my head. Luckily my local contact, Skabbi, had other plans, other than the heavy drinking we still did a ton of that.

The plan was a weekend trip into the western fjords of Iceland to look for ice. Skabbi was very pessimistic about our chances to find ice, but I figured I might as well do my heavy drinking and be hung over some place other then Reykjavik. What I came to find out was that a “bad” ice season in Iceland is better than any good ice season in Washington, Idaho, Oregon or any other state in the union not named Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, or New Hampshire. There was a ton of ice with easy access, 20min or less, and most of it unclimbed.

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• Climbs might be wetter then they appear. A little wet and wild fun outside of Reykjavik.

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• Due to lack of time or testicular fortitude, we were unable to climb the line in the center. I'd like to think it was due to the former rather than the latter.

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• Frozen sod and hollow ice be damned. The scary and run out WI3 on day 2.

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• Rappelling off a two pitch WI3. I am still hung over.

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• A little hung over our first morning of climbing. I felt like this picture looks.

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• Move along, move along, no ice to be found here. 1st pitch of day 2.

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• A little crass promotionalism. Hey, some one's got to pay the bills. Our high point on Day 2.

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Our first climb was a mellow 2 pitch WI3 that looked a lot steeper from the road but at this point I was just happy to be ice climbing. Since we only had a half of day we only did two pitches then retired to our quaint little abode. The next day Skabbi and I proceeded to engage an impressive ice amphitheater we’d spotted the day before. Guarding access was a beautiful WI4 that I tackled with a vengeance. This pitch led to a long ice slog of rambling WI2 that we simu-climbed. About two hours later then planned, we reached the amphitheater and were reward for our persistence with a view of some amazing and steep ice. Rather than tackle the headwall straight on, we decide to climb a flow on the left side of the amphitheater. A solid WI4 entry with ice that can only be described as climbing a snow cone on a hot summers day led to a full pitch of tenuous (read: scary and run out) WI3. Due to a lack of time, we weren’t able to finish the last two pitches, insert tear here and headed back to Reykjavik.

Skabbi’s plans also included a short day trip outside of Reykjavik before I headed back to Washington. A short drive to look at the “dearth” of ice climbing brought us to a sort of frozen waterfall. Again considering how “bad” an ice season this was, I was surprised by the quality and abundance of ice climbing within 45mins of the capital. Our day started out right with a short WI3 to gain access to a spectacular frozen water fall with numerous route options. I took on the wettest pitch which I named “I should have brought my rain gear”. A WI4 pillar with hollow ice but more hook shots then a NBA game was the apple of Skabbi’s eye. After playing around on the waterfall and some frozen seeps in the area, we made our way back to Reykjavik and beer.

In closing four eternal lessons I’ll take away from my trip to Iceland:
1) Always take your rain gear no matter the conditions
2) If you are persistent enough (read: annoying and nagging) you can make trips work by yourself, no need for a partner
3) The general “hotness” of Icelandic women is overstated. That isn’t to say there aren’t attractive women, the leggings they all wear helps, but no more than you’d expect from any metropolitan US city, here’s looking at you Seattle.
4) Iceland’s’ national drink, Brennivin, tastes like cough syrup, i.e. it tastes like shit.
5) Adventure is always just around the corner. No need to wait or put it off…Go get some!!!