TF/SL-046 Haalda

Looking over the camping area from the hut. The building with the red flag is for the SAR team. The green buses had a small store inside.

The plan was for my family and I to hike the Laugavegur trail, but we had scheduled a zero day at the start to adjust to the new time zone. After spending the night in the Landmannalauger Hut we had a lazy breakfast, then split up to hike the peaks we wanted to. Haalda had never been activated before, and as far as I could tell from the maps, was not insanely difficult.

Haalda is the only peak still in the clouds. The trail up the spur is visible on the right.

From the hut I followed the Landmannalauger Trail for a kilometer or two through the lava field. It was still early enough that there weren't too many people on the trail. At the junction I turned right and took the trail that runs along the edge of the meadow. The trail ends at a stream crossing, and I had to pick my way across the rest, aiming for a spur that I could see had a trail running up it. I was able to get to the bottom of the spur without getting my boots wet, a big plus.
The climb up the spur wasn't as hard as I feared, and on top I found a well-trod trail. There were some signed trail junctions that made the navigation easy to the base of the final climb. There were a few steep switchbacks that climbed up the face of the mountain to the ridge. They were much steeper than the ones I am used to climbing out west, obviously graded for humans and not pack animals. There were a few more steep sections as I climbed the ridge and entered the clouds.

One view of the lava field, from the next morning.

I continued hiking until I reached a large cairn. I assumed that this was the summit, and in the glimpses I got through the fog I was able to confirm my assumption. I used the cairn to hold up my pole, and got set up. I had been concerned my QRP signal would have a hard time reaching chasers, but after a few CQs I soon had a large, unruly pileup. After I had worked all the chasers I could hear, a Swiss station started calling over me. I was starting to get cold, so I packed up rather than fight with him.
I retraced my steps to get down, passing a dozen or so hikers working their way up to the summit. I was surprised to see so many people, I had assumed it was not a popular summit. Back in the meadow I got across with dry feet again, then fought my way through the lava field crowds to get back to the hut. As I was eating a snack and deciding what to do next, my family walked in having finished their hike over Blahnukur, where I decided to go in the afternoon.

Trailhead: Landmannalauger Hut. Very rough road into the hut - take the bus or have a high clearance, 4wd car.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA/P SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the Laugavegur Trail to the first junction. Go right across the meadow to the spur with the trail running up it. Follow the trails and signs up to the summit.
Red Tape: None that I know of.