I C E L A N D | Glacier Ice Caves

One of the most popular tours in Iceland are to Ice Caves, also known as glacier ice caves, ice tunnels and sometimes Crystal Caves, in Iceland glaciers are truly spectacular.

Continuing the series of Iceland articles, Gil and I were lucky enough to be invited to join the GoEcco Ice Caves tour.

We joined the tour at the end of their first day at their accomodation which was located in a small country school, the host and guides for the tour were Gunnar Þór aka Thor who was not only a guide but a photographer and a film location scout, Arnar was also an artist/painter and funny guy and finally Halli, wow, if you have a stereotypical image of a Viking, I think he is it, he dwarfed everybody, he was however extremely spiritual and spoke to Gil and I about the history of Iceland, stories of the people, of the Northern Lights, how Icelandic people connect with each other and the land, it was a real shame we couldn’t catch up with them when we left the country, anyway i digress.

GoEcco provides everyone on the tour with a home cooked traditional Icelandic meal the night before the Ice Cave adventure, the guides brief everybody on how to use the equipment, from the ice picks to crampons, then everybody headed to bed, you can watch the vlog here.

The next morning we all woke up early, unfortunately a snow storm had developed and we were stuck, the GoEcco guys were monitoring the weather and feared that the storm was going to linger over the area where the ice caves were.

A few hours passed and it was still very bleak, unfortunately the tour couldn’t be postponed to the next day as many people had flights to catch, at one point it was looking like it was going to be cancelled, however as luck may have it the weather cleared enough for the trip to continue.

Iceland - Glacier Ice Caves

The drive to the Glacier was just as fun as the hike across the National Park.

We were traveling off road on roads that are only to be driven on by 4×4 4WD vehicles, and rightly so.

Photo by Gilbert Romane – http://girophoto.com

When we arrived the GoEcco team ran through all the safety tips, how we needed to stick close together, how to wear and use the crampons and ice picks.

We hiked for about 30min and we were greeted by a wall almost 20m high of pure Glacial Ice.

We had seen a Glacer a few days earlier near Skaftafell but this was very different, the magnitude of the Glacier was mind boggling, absolutely amazing.

After a short break we then began the harder portion of the hike, up the mountain and on to the actual Glacier.

Photo by Gilbert Romane – http://girophoto.com

We made our way up the Glacier and mountain and grabbed a quick group photo, the next portion of the hike was to be the hardest, we had to hook ourselves on to a safety line and walk along a narrow path across the mountain, unfortunately for me my vertigo got the better of me and I needed to head back on my own, Gil continued on.

Photo by Gilbert Romane – http://girophoto.com

The group crossed man made bridges and climbed ladders for the next 40minutes until they finally reached the Gold, the Gold at the end of the rainbow, or in this case, the absolutely mesmerising Ice Cave.

Photo by Gilbert Romane – http://girophoto.com

Waterfalls, rivers, bright blue clear ice is what greeted the group as they entered, from what Gil explained it was quite warm in the cave, away from the elements it was peaceful and tranquil.

Photo by Gilbert Romane – http://girophoto.com

The scale of the Ice Caves were absolutely crazy.

As mentioned I headed back on my own, along the way I encountered a number of snow storms where I had to stop and wait as I couldn’t see more than a metre in front of me.

I would personally like to thank Halli, Arnar and Gunnar Thor for not only looking after us, but showing us what Iceland is about and how much the Icelandic people are connected to their land and culture.

So if you are heading to Iceland make sure you contact GoEcco for an experience like no other, when I go back it will be at the top of my list of things to do, I just hope my Vertigo doesnt get in the way again.

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I C E L A N D | Glacier Ice Caves

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