Route towards Hákollur.
| Hákollur from
ski-centre Hákollur |
| Estimated net time | One hour. | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | No access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (August 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park. | ||
| Start height | 460 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 260 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 2.8 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Reykjavik centre drive east along the coast and then south, on road 41 ("Sćbraut"). Turn right onto road 1 after approximately 6 km, and then fork right on road 1s (south) after another 3.2 km. Drive approximately 15.5 km and turn right onto road 417, signed for "Bláfjöll". Drive 10.2 km towards the lower part of the ski-centre, and park at the car park after another 800 metres.
Start your hike by heading towards the right (south) end of the ridge above you towards left, and then follow the service road towards left (east) for 100 metres. Turn right and continue another 400 metres on service road, to its end. Then turn north/north-east and continue along the wide summit ridge all the way to the summit cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
We had been touring the south-west of Iceland this Monday and on our way back to the hotel we stopped for a quick hike, which I had planned quite thoroughly in order to make it as quick as possible. The family decided to skip the hike and instead hang around at the ski-centre the 40 minutes the hike lasted.
But this hike has a post hike note, with a lot of uncertainly whether Hákollur is the highest point on Bláfjöll or not. The two maps I had at the time of the hike both clearly shows that Hákollur is the highest point, and higher than the point above the other part of the ski-centre, further south-west. But a map I bought the day after the hike shows that the point south-west is 702 metres, and my other sources of information indicates a height of 685 metres for Hákollur. However, the newer map doesn't show any height for Hákollur, and my GPS showed more than 710 metres. And with fairly accurate GPS readings at the other tops I visited on Iceland I have concluded that Hákollur is the highest point on Bláfjöll, and supported by the fact that the summit had a proper cairn.