Episode #3 of my Iceland Experience
Hello Steemians! It's Peter here to share the next part of my Iceland experience, which involves a journey into a centre of the largest glacier in Iceland!
Part 5: Hunting for some Ice Caves
What are ice caves?
The ice caves we visited were ones that formed inside glaciers and they form from water running underneath or through the glacier or due to geothermal heat from volcanoes underneath the ice. The glacier we went to was formed from geothermal heat.
When did people start exploring ice caves?
According to our guide, people have only been exploring ice caves for not even a decade. It was only a recent activity that has spiked in interest, attracting people from all around the world (including us).
About the glacier we visited and the guides who led us
The glacier we visited was Vatnajökull which is the largest glacier in Iceland covering 8,100 square km (more than 8% of Iceland). It was within this glacier we went in search of ice caves. The guides we went with were the Local Guides of Vatnajökull and they were great in providing information about not just the glacier and ice caves, but also the rest of Iceland and even the politics. I would recommend it to anyone exploring the ice caves.
How we got to the glacier
To get to the ice caves required a monster truck that had been modified from top to bottom. The suspension on that car was ridiculous, I bounced from left to right as we went up and down the hills. It really was no easy feat to get to the glacier and a normal car definitely would not have cut it.
Walking along the glacier
We walked alongside the glacier after putting on helmets with headlights and a harness. It was all rock and sand with so sign of greenery because it was only recently that the glacier had melted in this area to reveal what was underneath. The guide mentioned that this area was of great interest to scientists as it emulated the beginning of life on earth.
At the base of the glacier we fitted clamps onto our shoes. It was basically a metal skeleton with spikes that would help us grip to the ice as we walked along. To walk with the clamps actually didn’t feel uncomfortable, other than having to use extra force to dig my spikes into the ice.
Being on the glacier felt like I was on a different continent. The ice stretched as far as I could see and there was no sign of life at all, just ice everywhere. We had to be careful while walking as there were cracks in the glacier that would mean almost certain death if were to slip into one.
The ice caves!
The hike to the ice cave took around 3 hrs with no breaks in the middle. We had to walk to where the glacier ended and entered through a hole at the base of it. Being inside the glacier was surreal, other than it being a lot colder, there was a beautiful blue hue which gave the inside a very calming atmosphere. Apparently, this blue hue in the ice was due to the ice being so compact that all air is squeezed out allowing only the reflection of the blue end of the light spectrum. We spent around 1.5hrs inside the cave as there was a lot to see and I enjoyed every second of it.
Nice share Peter! I really enjoyed reading your ice cave adventure. Haha. Nice relaxation pic too. Thanks for sharing XD
Thanks! Hope you come back for more :D
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What an amazing unusual experience, that cave is super big @peterkkim96 can imagine the creaking and groaning of the ice when inside there.
I definitely did hear strange noises when I was in there
LOOKs really awesome that it really makes me hoping to be able to go to the amazing land soon. NICE POST!
Thank you! Hope you can visit soon :)
Great post @peterkkim96. Iceland always looks so awesome. Good to see you using the TA tag too.
Here's something else you might like (not sure if I told you already). I would love to see this post pop up on http://steemitworldmap.com. If you're interested, simply go to the website, search for your location, click on code (down the bottom) and add a short description. It will then generate the code you need to copy and paste into your post (not the comments) to have it show up on steemit worldmap. There’s also a FAQ section if you get a bit lost.
You can find out about the project here:
https://steemit.com/travel/@steemitworldmap/steemit-worldmap
I would love to curate this post in today's #traveldigest!
Thanks @choogirl! I just added it to the map (I hope I did it properly). It'd be awesome if you could curate it in the #traveldigest!
You're good. I see you got the auto response.
I will be authoring today's travel digest so unless a bunch of people have submitted equally amazing, high-quality posts I'd say you're good for a promotion from our post.
Thanks a lot!
Beautiful photos! Iceland is an amazing country. I went there a few years ago, just for three days. I hope to return sometime for a longer visit.
Thanks @natubat! I would definitely recommend going again. I went for a week and since we were very thorough we could only explore the southern and western sides of Iceland. I will go back sometime in the future to explore the rest of it!
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