Snow and Ash

We had planned to do the "ring road" tour in May, continuing on from Vopnafjörður to Egilsstaðir, on to Höfn and the famous Jökulsárlón (glacier lagoon) and then to Kirkubæjarklaustur to see the basalt formations.  But the weather was terrible the day we were scheduled to leave Vopnafjörður, and there was so much snow on the mountain road by the time that we were leaving that there was no way we could leave that direction.  


So, after a bit too much excitement, sliding around in the snow on a steep hillside, we turned around and returned to my cousin's house to regroup and find an alternative way.  My brother and his wife needed to rearrange their flights; we just needed to reorganize our plans.  With the help of my cousin and her husband, who kindly led the way, making tracks in the snow and ice with their four wheel drive vehicle, we managed to take the coastal road (85) north from Vopnafjörður and on west, eventually to Akureyri and, for us, home a day earlier than we had planned after making some lemonade with our changed plans, by visiting Hofsos and Holar.  And it was good that we headed out that day; the roads were closed for several days after that due to this late May snow storm.


We were scheduled to be in Kirkubæjarklaustur on Saturday, May 21, staying at a farm near the town.  But by that evening, we were hearing on the news that the Grimsvötn volcano was erupting.  By Sunday afternoon, Grimsvötn was spewing much more ash than usual, and the roads near Kirkubæjarklaustur were closed as the ash was causing a complete blackout.  Airports in Iceland were closed.  But fortunately, because of the snow in the northeast, we were not there!


The international press tends to cover stories about volcanos as they affect international audiences--especially air travel.  But of course that is not the only effect.  Both last year, with Eyjafjallajökull, and this year, with Grimsvötn, the volcanoes erupted during peak lambing season in April and May.  Most Icelandic farmers do not have space in their barns for the ewes and their lambs (most ewes have twins), and the sheep are put outside during lambing season and for the summer.  So in both cases, it was the worst time of year for the farmers who are downwind of the volcano ash.  The Iceland Review did a good story about the volcano last year and its effects on farmers; the Grapevine has a great story in its current (June 2011) issue on the Grimsvötn volcano. 

We still wanted to get to Höfn, Jökulsárlón and Kirkubæjarklaustur, and so we traveled this last week across the south.  And we encountered some blowing ash during part of the drive each day, in the area south of Grimsvötn, depending on wind speed and direction.   I should point out that most of the time the air was clear, and this is not what most of the south looks like most of the time!  My main point is that Icelanders are living with the effects of the volcano long after the rest of the world has lost interest.  There are several large fields south of the Eyjafjallajökull area with ash collected from last year's eruption, including some of the hay that was ruined by the ash.

We saw many beautiful places and enjoyed the journeying, and found the blowing ash interesting, annoying, and not something to experience outside of a house or vehicle.  But we don't have to live with blowing ash; we just had to put up with it for a few days.  Of course, Grimsvötn has stopped erupting and eventually the ash will have blown enough or been soaked by moisture enough to stop blowing.  But even the the volcano is no longer erupting, its effects are still present.

 The wonderful glacier lagoon; the ash on top
of the ice is from the most recent eruption.

Ash on the ground and on the snow, east of Skaftafell.

Driving west on June 9, early evening, east of Kirkubaejarklaustur.