When I visited Iceland in the Summer of 2014 I tried to cram the entire island into a 12 day trip. So when Allan, Rebecca, Willie and I spent 10 days in Iceland in the winter we tried to simplify and keep our locations to some key places. We spent the majority of the trip in the southeast portion of the country, exploring glacial ice-caves and watching the northern lights over amazing peaks. A bucket-list item would have been the aurora over Kirkjufell so we left the southeast, spent a night in the Golden Circle, and then departed for the western part of the island.
We knew a storm was coming in and hoped that we could get most of the way to Kirkjufell Mountain before it arrived. That didnt quite work out … as we found ourselves in the middle of a massive hurricane-force blizzard. The only way we stayed on the road was by finding the giant yellow sticks carefully placed along the road by the wonderful Icelandic Department of Transportation. Willie and Alan, in the car behind us, often lost site of our vehicle, despite only being a car lengths behind. The winds and weather became so horrible that we stopped in a small town to take shelter. Alan, who had recently lost his 6-pack abs, wasnt strong enough to hold the door to their vehicle, and found the wind nearly ripped it off its socket, damaging the door and eventually requiring replacement. After much (and I mean MUCH) debate, we finally decide to leave the shelter and risk the drive to Kirkjufell. Turns out it wasnt so bad of a drive
Arriving at Kirkjufell was quite wet and we spent the night listening to the rain and wind pound on our little camper vans. When we woke up, though, the clouds began to clear and we hoped they would catch a little color. While exploring the tidal pools I came across this little section of broken ice and thought it made for a perfect lead-in towards Kirkjufell. What do you think – does the cracked ice provide enough of an interest point in this photo
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8:
14mm, f/11, 1/25 sec, ISO 100
