A mountain of prophecies: hiking Spákonufell [journal]
Skagaströnd is home to few things. Its primary claim to fame is a powerful
prophetess from the Icelandic sagas, Þordis, and the mountain she
climbed daily, Spákonufell: the prophetess’ mountain.
With a mountain just behind the house, Nicholas and I had been itching to
take the hike up since we arrived in the village I currently call home. However, Skagaströnd cops intense gusts of
wind coming off the Arctic, so the hike had been put off. A promising forecast of still air just after
midnight meant that we no longer had an excuse and, after some artist talks and
dinner, we set off to make the summit.
We were not alone. A
sporty-looking middle-aged college professor from New Jersey, who was
captivated by the esoteric, joined us.
So did an analogue photographer from Saskatoon, who develops her film in
coffee. A father of two, and husband of
an Austrian artist, overheard our plans and tagged along. Shortly after midnight we ran into the blonde,
blue-eyed drawer (who makes beautiful, whimsical work inspired by her sleep paralysis) by the local
church, so she dropped her supplies in the studio and came with us, too.
Our eclectic little motley crew began to trudge up the mountain just
before 1am, and reached the summit by 3am.
There are two routes you can take – we took the more difficult one,
partially by accident. We don’t know
which one Þordis (pronounced Thordis) took, but it probably wasn’t the one we did.
As for Þordis, I should probably give you a bit of history (or myth,
depending on who you ask). The sagas
tell us that she was the first resident of Skagaströnd, and that she climbed
Spákonufell every day, to brush her hair with a golden comb and survey the
village. Foreseeing her own death, she
hid a chest filled with gold and riches in the mountain somewhere. She prophesised that one day a woman would
climb the mountain without looking back, and would find the chest. The woman will not have been baptised, and
will have been raised on horse milk.
Upon finding the chest, two ravens will appear to her, carrying the key
to the chest.
None of our rag-tag group matched that description (the horse milk thing
really throws a spanner in the works) so we didn’t find any treasure, but we
did find a golden glow on the horizon, which was pretty special.
About the Author
0 comments