This is an excellent route in the Tröllaskagi peninsula that you shouldn’t miss out if you want to do some hiking around Akureyri, north Iceland! It’s just a 45 minutes drive from Akureyri. Although the hike is only 16km long it took us nearly 8 hours to finish it. We did this hike in the summer, early August, and encountered a fair amount of snow in the second half of the route. That’s why, for the peace of mind, I’d recommend you to carry an ice pick and crampons. We didn’t have any and we didn’t struggle but I think we’d have felt safer with them in some certain sections.
At the very beginning of the route there’s not really a path. Just roughly follow my coordinates until you start ascending towards Sauðaneshnjúkar (770m). From then it’ll be clearer where you’re heading and once you reach the top the ridge is easy to follow. There will be a few slippery sections in the next few kilometres – some of the peaks, especially Jökulkollur (1045m), are formed of gazillions small stones and as you walk up they’ll make you slide down…
The real fun starts after Jökulkollur as that’s where scrambling and snow step in. The scrambling parts weren’t too hard although sometimes it took us a minute to find the right path down. And when you’re walking on the snow ridges just make sure you keep your distance from the steep edges. We felt a bit exposed especially in the section that connects Bassi (1001m) and the highest peak of the hike – Kerahnjúkur (1097m).
Kerahnjúkur is truly the highlight of this route as it rewards you with stunning views of the northern part of the Tröllaskagi peninsula! From there it’s just en easy hike back to the car. Note, if there’s enough snow the very next kilometre or so can very entertaining (and super fast) as I slid most of it down on my butt. I had snow absolutely everywhere but it was worth it! Highly recommended!
According to one of the locals I spoke to it’s one of the best hiking routes around Akureyri. Who knows if it’s true but it’s definitely worth a go if you’re visiting Akureyri and looking for a challenging hike!
I hope you’ll guys enjoy it! Hiking in Iceland is really rewarding… I look forward to hear your stories about this hike in the comments below!
Btw. if you’re interested in more hikes in Iceland check out the links below the images…
