Climbs Mount Esja backwards

Icelandic mountaineer Vilborg Anna Gissurardóttir will be walking backwards up Mount Esja on December 11th wearing a Christmas jumper. Vilborg, who walked to the South Pole alone a couple of years ago, says she jumped at the challenge for Save the Children without thinking and expects the climb, walking backwards, to be fairly difficult. 

The Save The Children christmas jumper challenge is undertaken by several famous Icelanders. Parliamentarian Eygló Gunnarsdóttir will be wearing a Christmas jumper at Parliament, vicar Hildur Eir Bolladóttir will wear a Christmas jumper at mass and central bank director Már Guðmundsson will be declaring a decision on interest rates in December also wearing one. 

"I hadn't really thought this through," says Vilborg in an interview with mbl.is. "I thought the idea was great. I guess my neck will hurt from looking backwards all the time and obviously one uses different muscles in walking or climbing backwards." She also expects that climbing up the cliffs on the top of Esja will be pretty challenging in this manner.