Hverfjall, the hot springs mountain by Gerry van Roosmalen

About "Hverfjall, the hot springs mountain"

by Gerry van Roosmalen

About the artwork

Hverfjall, also called Hverfell is a cone volcano in northern Iceland near the mosquito lake Mývatn. The name means hot springs mountain.
The crater was formed about 2,500 years ago and is composed entirely of Tephra, ash and fine grit. At its highest point, the crater is 312 metres high and has a diameter of over a kilometre.
On the day I took this photo, I stood at the bottom of the crater watching the small sand tornadoes that kept rushing over the path. At the base of the crater, where I stood safely out of the wind I had little trouble with this. When climbing the crater, I had to regularly turn away from the wind to avoid being sandblasted. It had been more than 20 years since I had walked on the rim around the crater, but I thought it was time to do it again. I started the walk with the wind against me, because I like to have the wind at my back when I am more tired.
I had only gone a few hundred metres when I was almost blown off my feet for the first time. Still, I wanted to continue, and at least reach the highest point of 312 metres to admire the view from there. Hanging against the wind, I continued on my way. Once I reached the highest point, the wind seemed to become a little more persistent in rolling me down. I managed to take a few photos before realising that staying here was not entirely without danger. While I still had to brace myself regularly to avoid being blown over, I slowly descended to the safety of the ground floor.