ICELAND | mountain dawn1 | August 2010 | 47219A

I usually avoid using the word 'unique'. Welcome then to the unique landscapes of Iceland. The very first rays of dawn illuminate the tops of the rhyolite mountains in Landmannalaugar, in geological time virtually brand new and (ahem) unique on our recycled and eroded planet. The sun is actually rising over the massive Vatnajökull ice cap and I'm standing on top of a sub-1000m peak, climbed in the dark. Brennisteinsalda from Bláhnúkur.