Cancel Day Adventures

The day started out like many of the days during February at Sólheimajökull: cloudy and rather windy. The high winds led to the cancellation of all the tours we were supposed to run on that day due to safety concerns of bringing clients on and off the hard winter ice of the glacier. So we did as we normally would on a cancel day: perform a deep clean our base as well as organise/count our gear and equipment. This, however, can only keep you busy for so long and by the time it was done most people opted to head home for the day and chillax.

Myself and two of my colleagues (Javier and Ian) decided to make the trek to the glacier around midday to check on the weather conditions but also to do a bit of scouting for new and exciting features to explore on the glacier. The walk to the glacier was still quite windy but we found shelter once we reached the terminal face. We strapped on the crampons and then made our way up onto the ice via a crevasse route that showed some promise as being a new potential shortcut. Fortunately for us, the snow that had fallen over the last few weeks had hardened and allowed us easy access up and through the crevasse waves and onto the plateau area of the glacier. Upon reaching the plateau we were greeted with a chilling blast of crisp Icelandic air, but it really wasn’t as bad as we initially thought it might be. We got the occasional strong gust of wind while on the plateau, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. Despite the semi-windy conditions, we kept on hiking around the plateau area, stopping to check out a really beautiful ice tunnel formation as well as the stunning view down the glacier towards the lagoon. It was at this point, while looking at the lagoon, that the idea came to us that we should try to walk on the lagoon and check out some of the frozen ice bergs trapped within it. We began our descent off the glacier, passing by some tour groups from other companies that decided to run tours despite the earlier windy conditions. Upon reaching the terminal face once again we set foot onto the frozen lagoon…

While a little trepidatious at first, we made our way slowly but surely further and further away from the lagoon edge and closer to one of the large icebergs sitting just offshore. Every few metres I would check the depth of the ice by drilling into it with one of my 21cm ice screws. So long as the screw went in about halfway without bringing any water to the surface I knew it was safe to continue walking on it. The general rule of thumb is that you can walk on ice that’s about 6-7cm thick, however I tend to play it safe and attempt to walk when the ice is at least 10cm thick. What I found out eventually was that the ice was so thick in most places that the screw managed to bury itself all the way up to the handle without even reaching water. This meant the ice was at least 21cm thick – which is enough to drive a car on! Just to be sure, every 50 metres or so I would check the depth and thickness of the ice by drilling the ice screw in – and sure enough – everywhere we went, the ice was greater than 21cm thick.

With the ice at an acceptable thickness, the three of us began our trek onto the lagoon and our exploration in, around and sometimes on top of the icebergs trapped within its icy grasp. The first iceberg close to the shoreline and the terminal face of the glacier was of course quite stunning. Beautifully clear, with a light dusting of volcanic ash and tiny little webs of air bubbles running throughout the compressed glacial ice. We mustered up the courage to press on further and check out the terminal face of the glacier as well as some of the larger icebergs lodged in the frozen layer at the centre of the lagoon. Having set foot on the glacier probably close to 500 times at that point, seeing the glacier from this perspective was something that had never crossed my mind. Getting the chance to do this and be able to walk right up to the massive crevasses at the front of the glacier that dive right into the (now frozen) lagoon was nothing short of awe-inspiring. It’s rather difficult to express what we saw and experienced on that day, I don’t think there are words in the English language to do so.

Weaving our way through the tangled mess of icebergs in the lagoon we eventually made our way to the largest of them all, located dead centre in the frozen landscape. Every guide that had been working on Sólheimajökull during the late autumn and into the winter had been keeping their eye on this iceberg for one particular reason – the massive hole (moulin) running through the side of it. Normally on our hike towards the glacier we could only see one side of the iceberg and peer through it, wondering what was on the other side. Today we found out. Easily the most impressive of all the icebergs in the lagoon: this one had a massive fin reaching skywards that formed the “roof” of the moulin. Truly a sight to behold. The colours of the ice were like nothing I had ever seen before, but I suspect that we were quite fortunate with the low winter sun casting its rays onto us at just the right angle. There were small seams of ash – no doubt from a past volcanic eruption – that ran the vertical length of the iceberg. Needless to say we spent A LOT of time here taking photos/videos and documenting our experience. Words really don’t do it justice.

Once we had completed our journey around this iceberg, we all decided that it was time to head back to the base, pack up and head home. Thoughts and memories of what we had just done still buzzing in our heads.

Now this wouldn’t be a typical blog post without pictures of what we did. As always, let me know if you’re interested in any of the pictures I’ve taken – I can provide you with a full resolution image upon request. I’m also looking at uploading a video of what we did/saw during this trip, which will most likely be in the next blog post – hopefully not a year from now!