Why we love exploring the glacier in the summer
Why we love exploring the glacier in the summer From April to September we take you on small group glacier hikes to Vatnajökull National Park. Our favorite glacier outlet for an adventurous but family friendly hike is Falljökull. Pack your outdoor clothes and a light backpack for some layers and sunglasses and head to the southeast of Iceland! All our tours in the summertime start at Freysnes service station. You can leave your car behind and jump into one of our super jeeps. On the short drive you can enjoy a view of Hvannadalshnjúkur, Iceland’s highest peak, rising up at 2,110m tall, right until we dip deeper into the Falljökull valley. We drive as far as we can into the valley along an old sheep track that was put in by the local farmers, before the area was made into a national park. The track is still in use today to round up all the sheep that call the valley home during the summer, during the annual réttir. Our super jeep makes light work of the rough terrain so that we arrive at the edge of the glacier in no time. We care about our environment and therefore offset all our carbon footprints – who knows maybe there will be electric super jeeps soon?! Our guides have all equipment to keep you safe and help you into harness and crampons. With a helmet on your head and an ice ax in your hand we can start our summer glacier adventure. Crossing through the rocks the glacier has left we take the hill to get up onto the ice. You will take your first steps on Vatnajökull ice that is hundreds of years old. It doesn‘t take long to get used to crampons underneath your feet but the sound of crunchy ice never gets old. The Glacier Encounter is a gentle hike on the lower, flatter section with a view of the icefall from below. This hike weaves in and out of the relaxed waves where the crevasses flatten out again and explores lots of interesting features, vertical walls, deep moulins and lots of streams to drink from! You can expect a physically easy, but action-packed hour on the ice itself. The Glacier Encounter is the perfect choice if you are looking for an easy glacier hike in Iceland or a kid friendly glacier hike. You might even get to meet the inhabitants of Falljökull – glacier mice. Some might be relieved to hear they are not real mice but they are for sure special since you can only find them in a few places on earth and Faljökull is one of them! In this lower section of the glacier we also come across something very characteristic of Icelandic glaciers – the volcanic ash. We see it collected in small, volcano-like cones and in great streaks across the surface. Falljökull sits beneath Öræfajökull, the ´wasteland´ volcano that is one of just a few local volcanoes under Vatnajökull and in Iceland. With the ash blowing on Iceland´s high winds, it spreads across the islands and glaciers quite easily. During a glacier walk in Iceland you will truly experience the land of fire and ice. The Glacier Discovery takes you on a longer expedition to make full use of your three hours on the ice, navigating up through the cracks and waves to the base of the icefall. Up here, the ice is moving faster and the ash is dropping into the crevasses and getting washed down the glacier by the streams. We emerge up on a second plateau and choose our path around the edges of crevasses and moulins, where we can look down into the deep blue interior of the ice. Heading up into the seracs gives us an overview all the over the glacier lagoon to the ocean. Even on a rainy day the moody clouds make for the perfect backdrop of the high ice pillars of the ice fall. It’s hard to do the same tour twice up here because there are endless changing features to explore, but that’s the beauty of such a unique experience in nature. Our Glacier Discovery is a small group activity off the beaten path. If you are looking for an even smaller group glacier hike in Iceland we organize private tours. A guide just for your family with smaller children, your group of friends that want to try ice climbing or a proposal on the ice. Let’s find the perfect glacier adventure for you in the southeast of Iceland. OUR RECENT POSTS
Five things you might not expect to find on a glacier
Five things you might not expect to find on a glacier When you plan to visit Iceland’s glaciers, you might have conjured images of large icy waves creeping down the mountains. A myriad of colours including blues, whites and greys and dramatic cracks in the ice. However, there are a few other things you might not expect to find up there that you might be surprised to find. Mice: Okay so not what you or I know as a mouse but a glacier mouse. These are round furry stones that have collected moss as they have travelled along the ice and are home to hundreds of tiny organisms. The internal temperature of this mini ecosystem is warmer than the temperature on the ice and makes the perfect home and breeding ground for all these microscopic bugs. You can find these scattered on the surface of the glacier so keep your eyes peeled. Ravens: Here in Iceland there are a lot of Ravens around. A large group together is called a conspiracy or unkindness and you might become suspicious if you see a lot of them all gathering in one place as this can be considered a bad omen. If you come on a tour with us to Falljökull you will very likely see some ravens who have cheekily identified that tourists often drop the odd crumb or two as they have their lunch. These ravens are curious and very clever, and you’ll probably be able to see them very close up as they browse the menu and decide who´s scraps they want for lunch that day! Volcanic Ash: You might not think that a large icy scape such as a glacier would hold so many secrets within, however beneath the surface of the ice you can find layers of ash from each volcanic eruption in Iceland. After each eruption thick layers of ash would cover the glacier, as more snow falls and compresses on top of the ice then this layer is locked inside. In certain caves and tunnels, you can be lucky enough to witness the layers running horizontally through the wall making stripes in the ice. Running water. Not just a frozen block of ice, on the glaciers you can find fresh running water. Natural melting of the ice surface and snow high up in the mountains makes channels and waterfalls on the glacier. You can often find somewhere to grab a mouthful of icy cold water or ask the guide to show you how to do the drinking challenge using your ice axe and upper body strength for that refreshing gulp. Hollywood actors. So, this one is perhaps a bit far-fetched as it will not be a daily occurrence, however many Hollywood films and series have been filmed on Icelandic glaciers such as Interstellar and Game of Thrones. The glaciers lend themselves to interpretation of large lunar landscapes or a cold icy no-man’s land meaning they are a popular filming location. You never know who you might find up there filming their next blockbuster! If you would like to experience any of these up on the glacier, why not join one of our hiking tours. Here you can see a list of summer hiking tours. OUR RECENT POSTS
What to do with young kids in and around Skaftafell in the summer
What to do with young kids in and around Skaftafell in the summer If you are coming to visit our little corner of Iceland in the South East and you are traveling with young kids you might wonder if there will be enough for them to do, and activities you can enjoy as a family but here is a guide to some of the adventures you can take in this area. A glacier hike at Local Guide We are proud to offer private glacier tours suitable for children as young as 5 years old. Not only do we have a lot of experience as many of our guides have been taking their own children up on the ice, but we also have all of the necessary safety equipment in the smallest of sizes to allow your little ones to experience the glacier. Private tours are bookable on request and we encourage you to get in touch if you would like to have more information about these tours. Walk in Skaftafell National Park There are a number of hiking trails in the National Park and some of them are on flatter ground and accessible for all. A visit up to Sél is also very interesting, it is a small uphill hike to get there but rated easy/moderate. Sél was an old working farm, and there is still a traditional turf house in this location that you can visit and see how people lived in the past in these traditional Icelandic houses. If your children don’t fancy a hike, you can also just pack up a picnic or buy an ice cream from the café and explore the grassland around the campsite where you might even find sheep hiding in the bushes and friendly birds hoping you will drop a crumb or two. The playground in Hof In Iceland it is possible to use the playgrounds of schools and kindergartens on evenings and weekends. This means that after 4.30 on a weekday and all day during the weekend you are able to enjoy the playground in Hof that has some swings, slides, climbing wall etc as well as some football goals and grass area for running around and burning off some energy. Puffin tour with From Coast to Mountains This puffin tour is sure to appeal to all ages, you head out onto the black sands in a tractor and trailer before arriving at the cape where you will explore, learn about the history and geography, encounter birdlife and see puffins too. The minimum age online is 5 years old however it is possible to take younger children if the weather conditions are suited so make sure to get in touch with the office and check the weather forecast before booking a tour with children as it can get blustery down by the sea. OUR RECENT POSTS
WHAT SHOUD I BRING?
WHAT SHOULD I BRING? You’ve booked a tour with us but you want to know what’s included and what you should bring with you. Safety Equipment: With all of our tours the safety equipment is included. We have helmets, harnesses, ice axes and crampons that we give to you for the tour. We also have larger harnesses and crampons and smaller harnesses and crampons for those that need them. Shoes. We suggest that you wear good hiking boots, ideally with ankle support for these tours. We have boots to rent should you need them for 1000isk. These can be booked in advance or on location. Clothing. We always recommend warm and waterproof clothing no matter which season you are traveling with us. Weather in Iceland can be unpredictable and can change quickly. We recommend hats, gloves, and scarves to cover the extremities. We do have some waterproof clothing that can be rented on location however there is a limited number. Food and drink. If you are taking a half day tour with us, we recommend bringing water and snacks. If you are taking a full day tour with us we recommend bringing water too. Both of our meeting locations are in the vicinity of food outlets, however they sometimes open after the tour would have departed so we suggest getting something the night before. OUR RECENT POSTS
VISIT VATNAJÖKULL
VISIT VATNAJÖKULL Of all the beautiful glaciers in the Skaftafell region of Vatnajökull, Falljökull is the one many locals in the area are privileged to call their workplace. Falljökull is famous for its steep, flowing ice fall and dramatic mountains. You´ll find many photos of the icefall and the undulating waves of ice in travellers’ holiday albums, because who could come to Iceland without checking out its namesake? Falljökull or the ‘falling glacier’ stems from the main ice cap Vatnajökull, which itself is around 8% of Iceland´s total landmass. Falljökull is what we call a ´glacier tongue´ in that it´s a smaller glacier that comes off the larger ice cap, like a stream coming from a lake. The glacier was first formed high up above the mountains in the ice cap, where the yearly snowfall compressed down over time to become the special glacier ice, which melts much more slowly than regular ice that develops at freezing point. The ice that we hike on in the Vatnajökull national park ranges anywhere from 400 to 1,000 years old since it was last snow! A glacier hiking or ice climbing tour onto Falljökull begins from Freysnes gas station, located just a 5 minute drive from the glacier carpark. You catch your first glimpse of the glacier after heading past the Svínafell settlement, and can watch the tallest peak of Iceland, Hvannadalshnjúkur rising up at 2,110m tall, right until we dip deeper into the Falljökull valley.We drive as far as we can into the valley along an old sheep track that was put in by the local farmers, before the area was made into a national park. The track is still in use today to round up all the sheep that call the valley home during the summer, during the annual réttir. Our super jeep makes light work of the rough terrain, and within just 15 short minutes we´ve made it from the meeting point to the terminal face of the glacier. Before putting on our crampons and stepping onto the hard glacier ice, we need to ascend one of the many hills of ´dead ice´at the end of the glacier. These hills are made of hard glacier ice, and due to being covered by a thick layer of ash and rocky debris, they are protected from melting away in the sun. We reach the edge of the ice, have a quick lesson in walking in crampons, a small safety briefing, and then we´re off. Taking your first, crunching steps on a glacier is a vivid sensory memory to store away for decades to come. The crunch, crunch, crunch of crampons biting into crusty white ice, the trickle of the refreshingly cold glacier melt water flowing over the surface and the feeling of the cool wind coming off the ice cap. OUR RECENT POSTS