Visiting the Land of Fire and Ice, Part 2

With Andrea on Skaftafellsvegur Glacier

Note to self: "Easy" is a relative term. When our ice cave adventure was cancelled, our private guide suggested some alternatives. The glacier "walk" jumped out at me right away, especially since the website characterized it as easy. How exciting it would be to slip on some crampons and get on the ice. Surprisingly, it wasn't quite as simple as that. 

I knew we were in trouble the moment I saw the ice axes. Somehow I had envisioned the experience as more like a walk on a frozen pond than an encounter with terrain that would require an axe. And then there were the harnesses. After the small adventure of putting them on, I made the mistake of asking about their purpose. "If you fall into a crevasse, we can grab hold of the harness to lift you out," I was told. Reassuring. When they asked if anyone had medical conditions they should know about before we set off, I was tempted to blurt out "Anxiety!!!" But I held my tongue. 

Once the group was geared up, we trundled ourselves into a van and headed to the glacier. The rocky road did not increase our confidence levels. Once onsite, we found ourselves peering up at a steep narrow path filled with lava rocks that we had to climb before getting to the glacier. On the positive side, my heart was pounding so hard by the time we got to the glacier that there was no chance of being cold. (You might notice that my jacket is actually unzipped!) 

On site with Hershey, our private guide

Finally it was time to put on our crampons. In case you haven't seen crampons up close before, they look a bit like a bear trap. You carefully insert your foot into the metal-toothed base, clamp it on and then lace it up. I felt like a toddler as one of the guides helped me tie my new shoes. 

We then were taught the mantra of how to walk in crampons: "High. Wide. Flat." You want to make sure to lift your feet up so that the jagged edges on the toes of the crampons don't get caught on the snow and ice and you do a header. (The reasons why I didn't enjoy skiing were rushing back to me.) You want to keep your feet wide to promote balance. And you want to basically stomp your feet into the ice when you step to ensure stability. One of the guides jokingly said thinking about her ex-boyfriend helps with this part. I suspected Andrea was thinking about my enthusiasm for this outing with each stomp of her own. 

We were instructed to position our feet in a v-shape and to lean a bit forward when going uphill and to walk toe first and lean back on the downhill. In the unlikely (?) chance that we lost our footing, the goal was to fall up the glacier rather than tumble down the mountain. I was on board with that objective. 

Looking down on the glacier 

While on the glacier, we took periodic breaks to take pictures. During these stops, the guides shared all sorts of information with us. Of course I don't recall much of it since I was not in a position to take notes. But I do remember the description of what happens when someone falls into a crevasse. Once in the crevasse, your body will contract due to the cold and your breathing, allowing you to slip further down. Not good. Then there are the moulins, innocent looking little potholes filled with water. Apparently if you step in a moulin, you can find yourself in a whole lot of trouble as you can plunge down to the center of the earth. Hence the importance of the harnesses and a growing appreciation that the guides clearly marked the areas in which it was safe to stand. 

At the end of the day, the outing wasn't actually quite as daunting as it may sound, although it definitely was not easy. There's no question, though, that the vistas made the effort worthwhile and that our glacier "walk" was an experience I'll always remember. 

With Andrea 

I've already gone on too long here, but it seems the appropriate place to share our earlier adventure on the water that day. Many people take a cruise ship around Iceland. We opted instead for a zodiac boat. It was a cool (pun intended) way to see some of the "ice cubes" from the glacier up close. 

We lucked out on the weather. I don't know what the actual temperature was, but there was thankfully no wind. With the number of layers we had on plus the survival jackets we were provided, the cold was not an issue. 

After gracefully getting on the boat with the other passengers, we headed out into the lagoon. We scooted around checking out the landscape from a different perspective. It was beautiful and set the stage for our visit to the incredible Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach. Stay tuned to see why Glacier Lagoon was one of my favorite stops on the trip. 

Next up: More of Iceland's natural beauty