Day 8 — Crampons! (6 July)

Learning is lifelong. We old guys of this tour were anticipating our first ever walk on a glacier. We arrived at Skaftafell at the base of the largest glacier in Europe, Vatnajokull. If you look at a map of Iceland, Vatnajokull is its largest white circular feature. We were in a tiny corner at the bottom left of that circle.

The morning was glorious — blue skies shining on us. We later learned that this was only the eighth such day since the beginning of May. How lucky. We were eager to tackle the glacier along with many other hikers milling around — most seemed to be under 25. But we were here even though we were latecomers. New experiences are timeless.

The process to get to the glacier seemed endless — waiting for our turn to check in followed by a lesson on putting on our safety harnesses and adjusting our helmets. Then, we were fitted with our crampons. We were told that our Limmer’s may be too wide in the heel for the available crampons. We would have to rent boots. Eh? Rental boots? But……our boots fit and we moved on to get our ice picks. We were outfitted finally. We all were good to go.

We joined our guide, Josh, who graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in geology. All guides must also qualify as paramedics and be able to rescue a person who falls 10 meters in a hole that will twist the victim’s body like a corkscrew. To pull the victim out the hole, the guide will have to untwist the person. Oi! or is it Oy (Vey)! in this case? Each guide must re-qualify every three months on these emergency tasks. We were relieved to know that no one has ever suffered the fate of being corkscrewed. However, several iPhones have been lost down such holes.

We were fortunate to have had Josh. He was excellent and made the time go by quickly from the walk up the terminal moraine to our venture into a narrow crevice. He was knowledgeable explaining what we were seeing. He gave clear directions to the pack and gently corrected our behaviors when needed. He made the entire experience fun while being serious about safety.

After trudging up the “black ice,” namely the dirt, rock, and ice mixture. We put on our crampons. We finally arrived at the magical moment of being on ice. Yes, it is magical with the glacier unfolding in all its majestic detail and nuances. The seemingly tedious delay was well worth it because we were here and felt safe because the crampons helped provide for steady and confident footing.

Our first moments were playful. We were walking on ice! After taking photos of us and our fellow hikers’ triumph, we turned our attention to Josh’s explanation of glacial formation, of its movement, and of the various shapes and forms that we were seeing. A glacier is not a monolith but rather a complex structure of layers influenced by long and short-term changes in the climate. Look at these peaks and valleys. We soon climb high enough to enter a narrow crevice whose walls were 20 feet high and the entry less than three feet wide. Walking into the crevice was the high point of our hike.

The left side of the image below shows the crevice that we entered. We made our way up about 40 meters until we fit into the crevice for the group photo below (courtesy of Dianne). You can tell that everyone was excited. I also included a photo showing how blue the ice was.

Time to exit and make our way to our bus and the bag of goodies for lunch. A well deserved break after what I would bet was for me and my fellow hikers, one of the most thrilling moments of our travels.

After lunch, we hiked up the mountain to view the Svartifoss whose walls were like the hexagonal shapes that we saw at the Reynisfjara beach. This hike was a good way to decompress from the excitement of walking the glacier.

Finally, we drove another 30 minutes east on Route 1 to Hof which is comprised of a few houses, some farm acreage, and our hotel. The rooms are comfortable; mine had a view of the mountain behind the hotel. Our dinner was soup, fillet of Arctic Char, and chocolate cake except Heather had three scoops of ice cream. How did that happen? Almost everyone seemed pleased with the cake though. Karen from our East Iceland group would have wanted the ice cream for sure. Perhaps next time, I should say that I am in need of a gluten free dessert — the bread aside.

Some of us ended the day exploring the church and graveyard next to the hotel. The church’s design seemed to pre-date some of the architectural designs currently in vogue to address heat control. The part of the structure is built into the earth. The roof is covered in plant materials. It would be interesting to ask the pastor and members of the community how well these design features have faired over time.

The graveyard also had an unusual feature. Each grave was a mound. Was the body buried above ground? Do the mounds contain a coffin?

Enough of these thoughts. Today was special. It was the day of the crampons.