I haven't posted for a short while but here I go again! Going forward with the travels we had done this summer. So, back to Iceland and showing you how we managed to hike up to the Heimaklettur mountain, or more appropriate would be to say a cliff. Heimaklettur is a 283-meter-high mountain/cliff, situated in Vestmannaeyjar islands, on the island of Heimaey to be exact. All these islands belong to Iceland and are located in the south of the country. Heimaklettur is the highest hill on the island and offers some truly unique views over the town and surrounding landscapes.
If you haven't seen then you can read more about this island and an eruption that took place in 1973 which buried almost half the town here Exploring Vestmannaeyjar - Island Where Half a Town Got Buried Under Lava in 1973.
As I said, much of the trail up Heimaklettur is not an ordinary hike, parts of it are pure climbing on ladders and holding onto chains to not fall more than 100 meters down to our doom. Here you can see how the start of the trail looked like.
And here you can see the ladders we had to climb on the cliff face.
Once we were past the steepest point, by that I mean vertical walls the steepness continued but the views got prettier and prettier. You can see some stairs that we also had to climb on.
This is how close we are to the dropoff without any safety equipment. We are not afraid of heights so it does not result in panic but it's still crazy to think that one mistake, and it will be the last one you make... ever.
Steep sections continue.
I haven't shown you the views much because this is what you want to see up on the summit. First things first... There was a guestbook up there where everyone who climbed this would get to leave a sign of themselves and this is exactly what we did. It appears that we were not the only ones this day to reach up there.
Now, onto the best part. The views.
We were able to see all over this small island from up there. This view is down south over the town of this island.
Right next to the village on the left is a huge lava field and this is the one that formed in 1973 which buried half the town at the time. The crater you see is the one we climbed earlier. You can see the hike in the post I linked above.
Let's get a bit closer.
This is a view to the west.
Zooming in to the tops.
It's mandatory to get some photos of us too with these incredible views. Here is me sitting on the rock enjoying a view to the east. At the back, in the distance, you can see the mainland of Iceland.
And here is one with my girlfriend, the same view but a bit different angle. This view was just magnificent.
If birds are to be found then it's always worth it to get some photos of them too. Here are a couple of examples.
It was time to go back down. Some sheep had decided to block our path. Those sheep live there all year round on this mountain.
Going down was definitely easier but still had to be extremely careful to not slip. Overall this hike was very hard and I don't go on saying this word lightly. The hike itself was only 1.5km up and down but it was so steep that it took the breath away fast. My watch recorded a pulse of 175 bpm and that's extremely fast. I felt the pounding and had to stop to catch my breath regularly. The average pulse was around 150 at all times going up which is still very fast.
The trail is dangerous and there have been several casualties either falling down the cliff or getting a heart attack due to it being too hard for the body. This is what happened to this guy whose memory is honored there. I found the information about what happened to him on the internet.
I didn't take any more photos going down cause it was the same trail we came up from, it was the only way up and down this cliff. We sure felt the feeling of accomplishment having done that hike and I would recommend doing it if you ever visit this island. Good judgment is necessary though and if you have any fear of heights then this is a no-hike for you. Taking your bodily capabilities into account is also needed. I am overall quite fit and have done a fair share of hiking but this trail pushed me to my limits.
