Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.03.2017, Síða 54

A Glacial Cliffhanger
Walking like a cowboy on Sólheimajökull
Words Joanna Smith Photos Art Bicnick

A LONG W I T H VOLC A NOES ,
hot springs, and bucketload
upon bucketload of black sand,
glaciers are one of Iceland’s
mu s t- s e e n at u r a l wonders .
Coming from England—a coun-
try that literally shuts down at
an inch of snowfall—the con-
cept of a massive block of impen-
etrable ice is both foreign and
magical to me. I was aching to
get to know this frozen wilder-
ness, and the best way to do that
is by buckling on your crampons
and venturing out on a glacier
walking tour. Not only that, but
Icelandic Mountain Guides offer
this popular tour with the op-
tion of ice climbing. So if you’ve
ever dreamed of scaling a wall of
ice, here’s your chance.
I was pretty excited to get my
Lara Croft on, and I waited ea-
gerly for our tour guide, Illugi,
to pick us up. Once in the van,
we headed south of Reykjavík.
One of the great things about
this tour is that you get to stop
briefly at two of Iceland’s most
famous waterfalls, Seljalands-
foss and Skógafoss. Depending
on the light and weather condi-
tions, you may stop at the falls
before or after visiting the gla-
cier. If you go before, try not to
get too wet. Trust me, wearing
damp clothes whilst stood on
what’s essentially a massive ice
cube is not a good idea.
Once at the glacier Sólheima-
jökull, we were given our har-
nesses, helmets and crampons.
After a fifteen-minute hike, we
reached the base of the glacier.
We were taught how to put on
our crampons and how to walk
properly on the ice (“like a cow-
boy,” as Illugi put it). Don’t fret if
you’ve never done anything like
this before; this tour is a total
beginner’s guide, so they talk
you through everything.

Hand, hand, foot, foot
Walking with crampons is bi-
zarre at first. You have to sort of
stomp around so that the spikes
dig into the ice and you don’t
slip over. It didn’t take me long
to get used to it, however, and
then I could properly take in my
surroundings. It almost felt like
I was on the North Pole: dazzling
white as far as the eye could see
and whistling bitter winds. Af-
ter this short hike, we began
climbing. Again, they teach you
everything, and before you know
it you’re harnessed up, ice picks
in hand, ready to ascend. You
get into a rhythm—hand, hand,
foot, foot—swinging the picks
into the ice and kicking in your
crampons. To my pleasant sur-
prise, it was actually easier than
I anticipated, and just as I was
beginning to get tired, I realised
I was at the top. We spent about
90 minutes taking it in turns to
climb this wall of ice, practicing
our technique and really get-
ting the hang of it. It was during
these 90 minutes that the heav-
ens opened and I was grateful
for my waterproofs and ther-
mals—seriously, make sure you
wrap up.
Lucki ly the clouds cleared
as we hiked around the glacier
for a further hour or so. Illugi
showed us some of the wonders
of Sólheimajökull: we peered
into huge crevasses, sipped pure
glacier water and (my favourite
part) explored ice caves.
We returned to the van feel-
ing sleepy; the sign of a good
day’s climb. Needless to say, it
was pretty quiet on the drive
back to Reyk jav í k, as we a l l
snoozed together. This expe-
rience was one of the best I’ve
had in Iceland, and now glaciers
don’t feel quite so foreign to me,
but still just as magical.
Door-to-door this trip takes be-
tween 10-12 hours, 3-4 hours ac-
tive. Groups are between 2-6 peo-
ple. Minimum age is 14 years.
SHARE & VIEW GALLERY:
gpv.is/adv03
Trip provided by
www.mountainguides.is
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“Wonderful modern Icelandic food”
“Featuring the best of Icelandic cuisine”
“A very good place to have a cozy couples night out...”
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54The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03 — 2017