Day 7
Door: Elke
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Elke
13 Augustus 2017 | IJsland, Skaftafell
Willem and I, together with many other group members, had signed up for an optional glacier hike. When I lost the soles of my shoes the day before, I had been a bit worried that my failing gear would be insufficient to allow me on this hike, but luckily I was able to borrow shoes. After we were fitted for crampons, hoisted into a harness (only to be used just in case…), and received a helmet and ice pick, we were taken by bus to a nearby parking lot, from there we still had to walk for a bit, as the glacier is receding back at high rates.
On the ice we had to walk in a line behind our guide and we were not allowed to wander off. I pretty much mindlessly barged on in this line, but when I noticed how much the guides were paying attention and how slowly they moved very deliberately deciding on almost every single step, I realized that this place might not be as peaceful as it looked. This made sense given the many shallow streams that in time would slowly cut into the ice to form sometimes very deep and treacherous caves and trenches what would sometimes be hidden below the surface but that at other times also provided beautiful scenes, with some patches of blue ice as well. Apparently this color is caused by a lack of oxygen in the ice, which is the result of high pressure over prolonged times that squeezes the oxygen out.
During this hike we stayed on the surface and did not get into caves. The latter could have made it more adventurous, but I was good with the way it was. I would not have minded to have used that ice pick for more than a walking cane, but then again a climbing expedition could have spiraled into something daunting quickly, so I guess I was cool (pun, not great I agree, but intended) with that as well. Our guide did have a big ice pick with him that he would use to carve out steps in the ice at some places, which we were not supposed to look at directly as we could get injured by the ice shrapnel (yes, they did take safety very seriously!). I think he used it a bit more often than absolutely necessary, at one point I thought maybe it was also intended to probe the ice, but I actually think he just though it was cool and I could not blame him for that and probably would have done the same.
We were lucky that it was again quite sunny, not just because sunny is nice, but also because it makes the top layer of the ice a bit softer, providing more grip to our crampons. On our way down it even felt like walking through slush puppies at times, making you wonder how nice all this sunshine really is. We were also walking parts in deep trenches, which is apparently safest since you cannot fall or slide down from there. Slush puppy would however also collect on the bottom of these trenches, so we were informed that we could sometimes sink in surface a few centimeters, but that we did not have to worry about falling into caves or anything. At some point though one of the guys in the back started screaming like he had do just that. He was Singaporean and it turned out that while sinking into the slush some water had entered his shoe and he was fearing that his foot would freeze off. Luckily we all made it off the glacier safely. Because the crampons have quite an impact on how your weight is distributed over your feet, I actually felt like I had been wearing high heels all night, which is most likely the closest to glamor I got on this trip.
As a decent trip requires a boat, we also signed up for a boat tour on an glacier lake that would get us past floating icebergs to the terminal of a glacier. For this we were fitted with the warmest coats I’ve ever worn and taken to a dingy. On the lake we could also see icebers with blue ice, although we were told that these icebergs would turn white within hours after being exposed to the ‘warm’ air. At one point our skipper stopped and I thought that he was falling out of the dingy, but he was just picking up a large and thick piece of ice that was incredibly clear. This was the type of ice that would cause the blue color and we were told that pieces would sometimes be shipped to expensive bars in Reykjavik as this ice will cool your whiskey, but as it melts about 8 to 10 times more slowly than normal ice, it will not dilute your drink. I think this is overdoing it a bit on decadence, but just to get a taste of it we were encouraged to lick it and taste this 500-year-old ice. It mostly reminded me of the 500-year-old water that I’d been scooping up from the glacial rivers in the mountains during our hikes in the previous week.
When we were on the lake we could hear what sounded like a small explosion, which the skipper said was the sound of ice breaking off the glacier. We stuck around for a bit as this usually precedes chunks falling off and as we were about to head back, Willem actually saw a piece falling, the rest of us only heard the explosion.
After the boat tour we were taken to the lake at the terminal of an adjacent glacier. This lake was connected to the ocean through the shortest river in Iceland and we walked along the entire few hundred meters of it. Since the tide was low, most icebergs had collected near the river and some pieces were making their way to the ocean washing up on the beach there. Except for sheep and the odd bird, we had not seen many animals during our trip, but here we could see some seals playing between the ice and some ducks with ducklings.
On the ice we had to walk in a line behind our guide and we were not allowed to wander off. I pretty much mindlessly barged on in this line, but when I noticed how much the guides were paying attention and how slowly they moved very deliberately deciding on almost every single step, I realized that this place might not be as peaceful as it looked. This made sense given the many shallow streams that in time would slowly cut into the ice to form sometimes very deep and treacherous caves and trenches what would sometimes be hidden below the surface but that at other times also provided beautiful scenes, with some patches of blue ice as well. Apparently this color is caused by a lack of oxygen in the ice, which is the result of high pressure over prolonged times that squeezes the oxygen out.
During this hike we stayed on the surface and did not get into caves. The latter could have made it more adventurous, but I was good with the way it was. I would not have minded to have used that ice pick for more than a walking cane, but then again a climbing expedition could have spiraled into something daunting quickly, so I guess I was cool (pun, not great I agree, but intended) with that as well. Our guide did have a big ice pick with him that he would use to carve out steps in the ice at some places, which we were not supposed to look at directly as we could get injured by the ice shrapnel (yes, they did take safety very seriously!). I think he used it a bit more often than absolutely necessary, at one point I thought maybe it was also intended to probe the ice, but I actually think he just though it was cool and I could not blame him for that and probably would have done the same.
We were lucky that it was again quite sunny, not just because sunny is nice, but also because it makes the top layer of the ice a bit softer, providing more grip to our crampons. On our way down it even felt like walking through slush puppies at times, making you wonder how nice all this sunshine really is. We were also walking parts in deep trenches, which is apparently safest since you cannot fall or slide down from there. Slush puppy would however also collect on the bottom of these trenches, so we were informed that we could sometimes sink in surface a few centimeters, but that we did not have to worry about falling into caves or anything. At some point though one of the guys in the back started screaming like he had do just that. He was Singaporean and it turned out that while sinking into the slush some water had entered his shoe and he was fearing that his foot would freeze off. Luckily we all made it off the glacier safely. Because the crampons have quite an impact on how your weight is distributed over your feet, I actually felt like I had been wearing high heels all night, which is most likely the closest to glamor I got on this trip.
As a decent trip requires a boat, we also signed up for a boat tour on an glacier lake that would get us past floating icebergs to the terminal of a glacier. For this we were fitted with the warmest coats I’ve ever worn and taken to a dingy. On the lake we could also see icebers with blue ice, although we were told that these icebergs would turn white within hours after being exposed to the ‘warm’ air. At one point our skipper stopped and I thought that he was falling out of the dingy, but he was just picking up a large and thick piece of ice that was incredibly clear. This was the type of ice that would cause the blue color and we were told that pieces would sometimes be shipped to expensive bars in Reykjavik as this ice will cool your whiskey, but as it melts about 8 to 10 times more slowly than normal ice, it will not dilute your drink. I think this is overdoing it a bit on decadence, but just to get a taste of it we were encouraged to lick it and taste this 500-year-old ice. It mostly reminded me of the 500-year-old water that I’d been scooping up from the glacial rivers in the mountains during our hikes in the previous week.
When we were on the lake we could hear what sounded like a small explosion, which the skipper said was the sound of ice breaking off the glacier. We stuck around for a bit as this usually precedes chunks falling off and as we were about to head back, Willem actually saw a piece falling, the rest of us only heard the explosion.
After the boat tour we were taken to the lake at the terminal of an adjacent glacier. This lake was connected to the ocean through the shortest river in Iceland and we walked along the entire few hundred meters of it. Since the tide was low, most icebergs had collected near the river and some pieces were making their way to the ocean washing up on the beach there. Except for sheep and the odd bird, we had not seen many animals during our trip, but here we could see some seals playing between the ice and some ducks with ducklings.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
