Cold clear conditions, sunny days, should be good ice conditions.

It was a fabulous day, on a weekend, and not something to waste lounging around indoors. I went and bought new shoes, and had plans on going hiking around Hengill. Steinar called while I was shopping and asked if I wanted to go iceclimbing instead.

Sure, let's try that again. Outdoor activities are always more fun with more than one.

A bit of rummaging and shuffling to get the gear organised but we were off! I was now kitted out with actual ice boots too, and they even fit! This was going to be much better than hiking up in normal shoes, and carrying my ski boots to climb in.

Steinar proved to me just how much fitness I'd lost over the winter (and summer before) by bounding up the hillside to the ice. I'll use the excuse that I was carrying the ropes. My ropes! First time they've seen the light of day in Iceland!

Lots more ice than my time here in November, and blue skies, and hardly a breath of wind either. Pretty sporty really. Except that hike up the hillside.

Much more fun than last time. A combination of experience (every bit counts!) and better weather probably helps. Still, given the frequency of the ice, I'm not rushing out to buy tools and boots. There's a few other toys higher on the list. (Go look at some of the other galleries and try and guess what)

We climbed one good pitch up, with some super easy sections, and a section vertical enough to force me to think about the technique a bit more, get used to climbing with crampons, and then we arrived in a beautiful ice shrouded amphitheatre. Which was running with water, and very very vertical. Beautiful, but not exactly enticing for climbing :) And besides, I had a dinner date later in the evening, so we headed off sideways and back down. I got to practise proper usage of crampons for traversing on ice, and then just down the hill and home again. Fabulous day. Getting out and physical. Delish.

Some photos are mine, and some are Steinars