Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2016, Qupperneq 64

Super jeeps are a common sight
in Iceland. These monstruous
souped-up all-terrain vehicles sit
dotted around the parking spaces
of downtown, sticking out above
the normal road cars and jutting
across the kerbs. They’re a heavy-
duty breed of 4x4s that have been
customised by raising the chassis
and adapting the wheel arches to
take larger tyres, enabling them
to handle terrains such as deep
tracts of snow, steep scree slopes,
and fast-flowing rivers.
Modified specifically for the
extreme conditions of the Icelan-
dic wilderness, they’re generally
quite slow as road cars, but they
also tend to be pretty comfortable.
The more up-to-date models have
heated seats, comfortable uphol-
stery, and speakers for the driver
to talk to their passengers over the
throaty growl of the engine.
Let’s off-road
It’s in one such vehicle that we,
a mixed group of six raincoat-
clad sightseers, set out towards
Þórsmörk for a day of exploration.
It quickly becomes apparent why
the car is necessary. Gígjökull is a
famous glacier tongue at the back
of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier on
the south coast, blocked in by un-
predictable and fast-flowing melt-
water rivers. We power through
them easily, and pull over for a
closer look.
Gígjökull was severely dam-
aged by the famous Eyjafjalla-
jökull eruption of 2010. It’s a par-
ticularly majestic icefall, with the
jagged blue-white tongue tum-
bling down almost vertically from
the glacier’s peak to ground level.
Once upon a time, it terminated in
an iceberg-strewn glacier lake—
not unlike a quieter, off-the-
beaten-track Jökulsárlón. Today,
the lagoon is gone completely, but
Gígjökull remains, sitting across
a sea of gleaming stones. It’s
stained with black ash, and some-
what diminished from its former
glory, but much glory remains; it’s
a place that feels all the wilder for
the lighter foot traffic, and still a
sight to behold.
The back of beyond
Another boon of being in such
a massive car is that traditional
obstacles simply don’t count. Ice-
land’s southern wilderness of
Þórsmörk has so much to see that
you could spend weeks exploring
it on foot, but most visitors sim-
ply don’t have that kind of time at
their disposal—so it’s both conve-
nient and oddly satisfying to blast
over deep, meandering glacier riv-
ers to reach Stakkholtsgjá.
This long, dramatic, winding
mountain canyon has a meltwater
river pouring from its mouth. We
find a crossing place and tiptoe
over some stepping stones, lean-
ing on the cliff face for support.
The canyon is strewn with boul-
ders and debris, and we hike deeper
into its maw, following the river
towards its source—a high, nar-
row waterfall. The green and umber
cliffs rear up around us dramati-
cally, and wispy clouds form and
disperse as they hit the vast moun-
tainside of the Þósmörk ridge.
During the return journey, our
guide and driver relates all kinds
of fascinating facts, legends and
local stories that help bring the
landscape of south Iceland to life
even more. Þórsmörk really is like
another world—as I doze happily
in the back seat, I sleepily wonder
if I’ll wake up at home to find I
dreamed the whole thing.
SHARE & LINKS: gpv.is/brm10
Of Ice And Men
Powering through the
Icelandic wilderness
Words JOHN ROGERS Photos ART BICNICK
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2016
64