Atlantica - 01.05.2007, Page 73

72 a t l a n t i c a
The consequence of not having listened
to Benni’s safety instructions more carefully
seems to drag on far too long and I feel com-
pletely out of control. As I begin to accept
the fact that I’m about to crash, just at the last
moment Benni’s instruction “the brake is on
the left” dawns on me. I halt mere centime-
ters behind the snowmobile in front. Yes, the
brakes were a good idea.
It is then that I spot the operation instruc-
tion sticker plastered on the left side of this
strange vehicle with its tanklike revolving
tread in the rear and steerable skis in the
front. “Avoid surprise – be on the lookout for
the unexpected,” it reads. Despite just hav-
ing narrowly escaped an accident I begin to
understand the addiction to this form of rec-
reation, which has proven so popular among
Icelanders.
We stop further along the glacier with the
view of Sólheimajökull below. Benni points
to a bare, rocky crest sticking up from the ice,
explaining that these are the effects of global
warming. “We’ve only started to see these
changes in the last three years,” he says. “In
the summer the landscape changes dramati-
cally; where the ice is now there is running
water and a 70 meter drop.”
On our way back to the mountain hut, vis-
ibility closes in. The tiny pieces of hail that
begin to fall, plus the icy wind, make for an
unbearably cold combination. The driver of
the snowmobile in front loses sight of the
track. At this stage the visibility is so poor that
not even Jeppe can be sure of the direction
the rest of the group has headed. We turn off
our engines and wait in silence for Benni to
return to find us.
We sit surrounded by the mountain land-
scape of endless white, which brings with it
an indescribable beauty. Despite the cold up
here on Katla’s icy cap the rare escape from
the beautiful and ever-changing colors of the
Icelandic countryside is somewhat calming.
And it’s good to know that if the ground
starts rumbling beneath us we can just rev
our engines and go. It seems I’m better at ac-
celerating than braking anyway.
Arcanum Adventure Tours run year-round
tours of Mýrdalsjökull. snow.is
Taking off. Below right: owner and guide Benni Bragason.
icelanda