Esja
It's not every day that you can say you've climbed a mountain. But yesterday I did just that. And I have proof:
The mountain in question is Mount Esja, the one across the bay from Reykjavik. My friend, who is considerably more experienced in the hiking department than me, decided it would be too boring and crowded to take the main path. So we studied a map, and picked out a couple of likely-looking trails. I'm not sure if we ever found those trails. Our route up followed the ravine of a small stream. Which was fine, until we came up against a very inconvenient waterfall. To avoid actual rock-climbing we scrambled up a very steep slope on our left. I have never done this kind of thing before, and nearly gave up several times (newspaper headlines running through my head - Stupid Foreigner Plunges to her Death ...) But with a few helpful suggestions of promising foot and hand-holds I made it, overcoming my slightly bizarre fear of having a steep drop behind me (bizarre because I don't feel so bad if it's in front of me - only if I know there's one behind.) It was all worth it for the breath-taking views from the top. And on the way down I invented a new method of rock-climbing, which consisted mainly of finding a firm foothold, and sliding on my bum towards it. From the number of bruises on my bottom this morning, this is not a technique I would recommend to anyone. In total it took us over eight hours to go up and down - last night I slept like a baby!
The mountain in question is Mount Esja, the one across the bay from Reykjavik. My friend, who is considerably more experienced in the hiking department than me, decided it would be too boring and crowded to take the main path. So we studied a map, and picked out a couple of likely-looking trails. I'm not sure if we ever found those trails. Our route up followed the ravine of a small stream. Which was fine, until we came up against a very inconvenient waterfall. To avoid actual rock-climbing we scrambled up a very steep slope on our left. I have never done this kind of thing before, and nearly gave up several times (newspaper headlines running through my head - Stupid Foreigner Plunges to her Death ...) But with a few helpful suggestions of promising foot and hand-holds I made it, overcoming my slightly bizarre fear of having a steep drop behind me (bizarre because I don't feel so bad if it's in front of me - only if I know there's one behind.) It was all worth it for the breath-taking views from the top. And on the way down I invented a new method of rock-climbing, which consisted mainly of finding a firm foothold, and sliding on my bum towards it. From the number of bruises on my bottom this morning, this is not a technique I would recommend to anyone. In total it took us over eight hours to go up and down - last night I slept like a baby!
posted by jess at 10:24 AM
2 Comments:
Congratulations! :D
Strangely enough, I have the exact opposite bizarre fear - of climbing down very steep slopes.. this can be quite problematic as I'm quite happy climbing *up* them ;)
Yes, I can see how that would be awkward :)
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