Kristinartindar (Kristínartindar) Peaks
Kristinartindar (Kristínartindar) Peaks
Duration: 6-7 hours (longer if you climb the peak). Difficulty: a steady but long 700m climb and descent. The optional ascent of the peak is more demanding and involves a scramble to 1126m. Interest: mountain and glacier views, waterfalls. Start:/End the trail starts left of the toilets at the Visitor Centre at Skaftafell.
Walk through the campsite until you reach an information board at the foot of the wooded slope. Take the main trail, which climbs through woodland. Past two waterfalls, bear right to Svartifoss and cross open moorland. Descend to a lovely waterfall, framed by basalt columns. Continue past the falls and climb to a trail junction.
Bear right and continue to a viewpoint, Sjonasker, where the trail splits. Now take the right-hand fork and cross a plateau with views of Kristinartindar peaks ahead. The trail climbs around the rounded summit to your left to reach a saddle where it bears right up to a steep slope.
You are now on a flat-topped grassy ridge which drops off sheer to the left into the Mora Valley. Near the end of the ridge, the path splits. Bear left and continue to the end of the ridge and a stunning viewpoint over the valley, glacier and colorful mountains to your left, the exposed plugs of an ancient volcanic system. Backtrack a short way and follow the path to the left to skirt around the base of Kristinartindar. Detour: if you want to climb the peak (don’t attempt it if there is a cloud around) just before the second stream, take the indistinct trail up the left-hand flank of this side valley to a saddle.
From there it is a 30-minute scramble to the summit. Back down from the summit you can return by the same route, or look carefully for another trail which descends left off the saddle to Glama and joins up with the main trail you left further back. If you chose not to take the detour, continue on the path contouring around the base of the peaks until you reach Glama, the viewpoint overlooking Skaftafellsjokull.
From here there is a fine view of Iceland’s highest mountain, 2110m Oraefajokull. Now follow the path down the ridge overlooking the glacier until you reach another viewpoint, Sjonarnipa, marked by a cairn. The path then heads away from the glacier over Austurheidi moorland until it reaches a stream, where it bears left.
Follow the stream past several small waterfalls until you reach the trail you started out on earlier. Turn left here back to the campsite. Note: take food and plenty of water. Don’t attempt the peak if it is, or is likely to be, cloud-covered as this part of the path is not waymarked and it is easy to lose your way.