Climbing in Iceland? Worth it?

Hi all,

I have a 10ish day trip planned in June. There's somewhat limited info on MP, and mostly single pitch sport climbing. Could anyone give a bit more information on the climbing there? Interested in grades 5.0-5.12, sport or trad with a preference towards big routes. The details I'm interested in:

Is the climbing good enough to justify bringing climbing gear? Or is time better spent hiking / other adventures

Best discipline: Is it worth bringing a trad rack? Seems like the basalt sport climbing might be the way to go.

Resources: Is there a guide book or some other info? 

Here's some info

Iceland beat from UK Climbing

I think of mostly ice climbing given that's probably the scene that I've seen promoted most.

Would it be worth it?  Just depends what your priorities are given the time you have (and effort/cost).

Another reference just for fun:

Petzl Iceland climbing beta

They have an Icelandic alpine club. Their website is mostly navigable in English. We hired a guide on our visit for the knowledge and having to lug additional gear so there are some options to start (or continue) your research. 

Edit: We hired the guide for ice climbing. 

Iceland is a way cool place. There is plenty to explore without climbing gear. Lotsa incredible hiking. Great cuisine. Gotta eat horse at least once! Best meat I've ever had.
My wife and I were there in November 6-years ago when the days were short, northern lights were out at night and not many people so no crowds. Tourism might have picked up since then.
4-wheel drive will open doors for some really remote hiking.
... there are glaciers and accessibility to them is easy. If you ice climb, you can bring crampons a few tools and have some more remote adventures. If you have a short rope and tools you can lower into some fun places and climb out. We entertained ourselves for a couple days playing on the ice.
Rock looked very chossy but there is suppose to be some rock somewhere to climb. We never did!
oh yea, talk to locals and find off the beaten path hot springs/old pools!
can't believe I haven't been back there... might just book another trip!

Cheers

I just came here to pose the same question! We’ll be in Iceland in June and hope to climb as well. Information is definitely hard to come by!

We’re thinking about checking out the Hnappavellir area and may camp there for a night (renting an Rv for the trip), but was wondering how the stream crossings would be for a small RV. Anyone have any insight on this?

I looked into it and decided the skiing was more worthwhile. rock seemed chossy and very short

It's a volcanic island. The rock must certainly be crap. On the other hand it's nearly in the arctic. It probably has epic skiing and ice climbing. I'm just speculating wildly here but that'd be my bet.

With just a little online research, you can find a handful (3) formations that offer multi-pitch routes there; decent pdf miniguides can be found.  One of those is a coastal, slabby looking thing with a few routes on it.  The other 2 are nice enough looking spires (a 5.6 and a 5.9).  But the rock is volcanic so...

rpc wrote:

With just a little online research, you can find a handful (3) formations that offer multi-pitch routes there; decent pdf miniguides can be found.  One of those is a coastal, slabby looking thing with a few routes on it.  The other 2 are nice enough looking spires (a 5.6 and a 5.9).  But the rock is volcanic so...

I don't think I saw anything more than 1-2 pitches. Mind sharing a link or at least the name of the area that caught your eye?

http://www.isalp.is/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Hraundrangi.pdf

http://www.isalp.is/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Kerlingareldur.pdf

For beach-side climbs, I think I saw those on youtube (?).

• Man this thread is depressing to read. "The rock must certainly be crap." Says the admin ...

I believe Iceland to be one of the best climbing destinations in Europe. It offers more variety and novelty than anything else. There may not be altitude or the potencial for long routes like the Alps but saying there is no good climbing in Iceland is like saying the same of the British Isles. Roughly the same size, the climbing in Iceland is very similar to that of the UK in fact (Iceland is 103,000 sq km to the UKs 130,000): Many different rock types (not only volcanic), mountain peaks, glaciers, crags, slides, seacliffs. Iceland's got it all. They also have a deeply rooted climbing culture, extensive topos and online PDF guides and a bi-anual mountaineering magazine called Isalp. 

The sport climbing at Hnapo on the south coast is the tip of the iceberg, and just a small sector of the island's ever developing sport crags, the best of which is in the north and westfjords in my opinion now with routes up to 5.14. The trad climbing is unreasonably good with multipitches and columnar basalt scattered throughout the country. The ice, well obviously, is world class. Alpine climbing objectives abound, especially on the Vatnajökull glacier and more remote parts of the highlands which are very difficult to access. 

If you just spend a little more time and dont mind running a translation or two on the sites information is pretty easy to find. Or just hire a guide. You'll find most Icelandic guides to have great english skills and very personable with wide knowledge of the country as a whole.

There is great Gabbro (think granite) bouldering on the south coast near Eystrahorn. That and Hnapvellir and Fallastakaof on the south coast are great destinations. If youre staying southwest there are several good trad crags and a handfull of sport crags between Reykjavík and the westfjords. Akureyri in the north has Munkaþverá, a must do sport crag as well as several other developed areas and many unique technical routes on nearby peaks. The Diamond circle near Húsavík is one of the most majestic places to visit on the planet, and the northern sector of Vatnajökull national park has more remote adventures on rock than you could complete in ten lifetimes. Don't even get me started on the eastfjords. A good offroad vehicle with high clearance is a must if your itinerary takes you anywhere near the highlands or the climbing in the east or westfjords. 

There are certain peaks and canyons which are closed to climbing due to cultural significance, like Ásbyrgi,  so do your research and don't offend the hidden people. 

The Icelandic SAR organizations are some of the best in the world unfortunately because they have had to be. There is a long tedious history of rescues by the local SAR teams, often of Americans who get in over their head and become a financial and medical burden on small Icelandic communities. Be prepared and self rescue. If you do get rescued, be prepared to financially reimburse the volunteers who left the comfort of their homes to drag your sorry ass out of your predicament. Lastly be wary of the fact that the locals, who are stoic and subtle in their attitudes toward climbing, have likely been there, named it, climbed it and forgotten it long before you were thought of. 

Dang, almost exactly a year has passed since I planned the trip (and went in June '23). I also received a PM today with some general beta similar to Cass's above. Great timing!  Memory is a little fuzzy but per the various pdf's etc. I found there was bouldering (without easy places to rent pads), ~40' sport crags, some low traffic single pitch trad crags and some difficult to access alpine. Basically, nothing appeared to be destination worthy. Curious to what online resources are available to indicate Iceland is one of the best climbing destinations in Europe? Had the trip been longer than 10 days I'm certain I would've felt otherwise and would have felt more comfortable using a few days going to the wrong places (crags/conditions etc.) We didn't end up climbing and I haven't seen any online information that makes me regret that, though it sounds like I don't know what I missed. That being said, I'm most exited about 5 to 14 pitch >=5.10 trad routes and there's great basalt near me locally-ish.

For the next traveler, a few things I learned:

-If you go in June (particularly early June), much of the interior will be inaccessible with a standard rental. Upshot is somewhat reduced crowds

-Driving all the way around the ring road on a short trip (<2 weeks) is only worthwhile if you actually like driving. We stayed in the West to SW quadrant over 10 days and it still felt like a lot of driving. Roads are slow and everything is spread out.

-Gas station hotdogs were awesome there

-the country doesn't do bathroom fans.

We did end up traveling to Iceland last June as I mentioned above. We booked an RV with a loose 10-day itinerary to give us some flexibility to climb if weather did not cooperate.

Our family of 4 packed a minimal sport climbing rack and planned to climb when we could along the trip. Our first three days on the southern coast were non-stop rain, wind and cold, so we didn't get a chance to check out Hnappavellir. After turning away from the southern coast, the weather turned glorious by the time we made it to Akureyri. We ended up climbing at Munkaþverá which had some great routes, amazing rock, and a really beautiful gorge setting. In the gorge away from the wind, it was like summer with the rock reflecting heat back on us. It was one of my more memorable days of climbing. 

The RV made it possible to change our timing and optimize our chances to climb. Highly recommend to anyone looking to climb in Iceland!

If you're going to Iceland anyway, it's worth packing gear for, but I agree it's not a climbing "destination." This is mostly due to the weather variability than the quality of the climbing.

Munkaþverá:

Coldest place I have been in my entire life!! (comment left by someone I know who travelled there in April 2017). Didn't bother to climb as would have grown icicles in my fingers. Hiking was fun.

One of the best climbing destinations in Europe? You got to be freaking joking.