Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.08.2014, Blaðsíða 37

Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.08.2014, Blaðsíða 37
37The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2014 TRAVEL the arctic breeze, plunging immediately down a slope of verdant greenery. Ed- ible berries, bluebells and wild thyme grow amongst trickling streams and low hanging branches laden with late-sum- mer leaves. After an hour of zig-zagging through these glorious woods, we're back at the base camp, and, with weary limbs, decide to call in a day. The nearest town, Kirkjubæjarklaus- tur, is 40 kilometres away, so many travel- lers decide to camp, but we're booked in at the conveniently located Skaftafell Ho- tel. It's a choice we're immediately happy about, especially after a hot shower, and substituting our trail mix and protein bars for a delicious meal of smoked arctic char and T-bone lamb steaks in the restau- rant. We sink into comfortable beds and a deep sleep, waking up refreshed and ready for our second day of glacier explo- ration. The falling glacier At the Skaftafell visitor's centre, a little village of cabins has sprung up around the car park in recent years, housing vari- ous competing tour companies that offer climbing and hiking activities on the near- by glacier tongues. Our trip is run by Gla- cier Guides, who operate on Falljökull. Our guide for the day will be Fannar, a helpful and cheerful young Mossfells- bær chap with a bright disposition and a wealth of interesting and relevant knowl- edge at his fingertips. After borrowing some well-used (and slightly tattered) Cintamani waterproofs and hiking boots (hired at 1,000 ISK per pair), the climb begins. We're a group of eight that includes Polish, German and English couples, myself, and my compan- ion for the hike—she's an Icelander, and apparently only the second native to take this tour this summer. Fannar explains the geography as we go, stopping every ten minutes or so to point out features and identify types of terrain. At our first stop, he tells us we've already entered the glacier without even realising it—we're al- ready standing on ice that's been covered by a layer of thick dirt and grit. When we get to the naked ice, we're given climb- ing harnesses and crampons, and a short lesson in how to walk in them—feet splayed when going uphill, straight and parallel when going down, and kept apart at all times so as to avoid skewering one- self with the spikes, and so forth. Before long, we're crunching across dazzling white ice in the sunshine. We soon reach a glacial feature known as a moulin—a hole of about one metre in di- ameter, through which a stream of melt- water trickles deep into the sheet below. Fannar drops some screws into the ice, attaching a line to each of our harnesses in turn so we can lean out over the open- ing and see the water tumbling into the darkness and vanishing from sight. It's beautiful, and chilling to imagine what might happen were one to slip. "Be care- ful," smiles Fannar, as he demonstrates the best way to stand, "because if you were to fall in, well... that would be the end of your tour." Frozen dreamscape Falljökull is an interesting glacier to hike, because its icefall—the area where the near-vertical cascade of ice hits the ground and begins a more gentle descent to sea level—is reachable on foot in about an hour. We're quickly immersed in this almost fantastical landscape, traversing dappled plains and jagged spikes, banks and steep canyons. The shapes in the ice are chaotic and ever-changing, alternat- ing between geometric and organic, with arterial blue depths visible in the larger cracks. Fannar spends time scoping out the immediate area for interesting fea- tures—we end up drinking water straight from the glacier's surface, clambering through a short ice tunnel, and happily exploring Falljökull's surface for a couple of wonderful hours. His curious and sun- ny disposition adds insight and charm to the trip, and we feel like we've seen an impressive range of features before be- ginning the slow and careful descent. A short drive away, we stop at Fjall- sárlón, the last stop on the tour, donning bright red body suits for a dinghy trip amongst the floating icebergs. These huge chunks of glacier have become detached from Vatnajökull, and will melt away slowly into the steely grey water, or perhaps find their way out to sea. Even here, the glacier is dangerous—as they shrink, icebergs can flip over dramati- cally, causing a mini-tsunami in the lake. From its faraway peak to this watery terminus, the Vatnajökull region offers an escape from the everyday through an amazingly varied natural landscape. As night falls on the long homeward bus ride, I fall into deep, well-earned slumber, already dreaming of a quick re- turn. Distance from Reykjavík 325 km We're quickly im- mersed in this almost fantastical landscape, traversing dappled plains and jagged spikes, banks and steep canyons. The shapes in the ice are chaotic and ever- changing, alternating between geometric and organic, with arte- rial blue depths visible in the larger cracks. FOR THE BEST PRICE BOOK ONLINE AT: AIRICELAND.IS Check it out!
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