SOLHEIMAJOKULL Glacier Hike & Ice Climbing

I went on the Blue Ice trip with Arctic Adventures and it was amazing!! I wanted to end my time in Iceland on a high so why not hike up a glacier?!

We set off at about 8 am and were picked up in a minibus from different hotels and points across the city. We headed out towards Selfoss before arriving at Sólheimajökulsvegur where we met up with a few more people and got our gear on. I wore my hiking boots, thick socks, leggings, a thermal layer, fleece, and waterproof. I had a headband (a permanent feature for me in Iceland) and gloves (hardly wore them). We were given a helmet, climbing harness, an ice axe for the abseiling and climbing, and crampons so we could walk on the glacier.

There were three groups, each with a guide, our group was a little bigger so we had two guides. We started the walk up from the car park to the glacier edge, this took about 20 minutes and was pretty gentle. Approaching the glacier was so exhilarating, it’s like a geography class textbook has come to life and you are about to walk all over it. You can see traces of the highest point and where this amazing ice formation has moved and carved into the landscape, where it has sinkholes and where those sinkholes have gone and left a trace of pure mucky, jagged ridges of ice. It's oddly beautiful.

Here we stopped and put our crampons on, we were given a short lesson on how to fit them and how to use the ice axe. This all felt very adventurous and exciting but we would be using them to climb out of sinkholes later so adventurous and scary too. Walking on the glacier was cool, it sounds silly but I had never worn crampons before, and being able to walk, or stomp, around on ice was enough to keep me happy. We made our way onto the glacier and towards some of the active pieces of ice. This is where we started to spot cracks, holes, small pools, and sinkholes. This is also where I became very snap-happy and I think I managed about 200 pictures in the 4 hours of being on the glacier!

The guides we had were fantastic, they had a great sense of calm about them and were fantastic at making sure we were all enjoying the trip, seeing what we wanted but safely. They kept an eye on us when we were waiting for everyone at the sinkhole and made sure no one was too near the edge. They were very knowledgeable too but it's hard to take in all the information when you are so mesmerized by your surroundings - they have a pretty cool office!

So, I will try. A sinkhole, from what I understood, is where a small stone (or piece of lava, etc) settles on the glacier and, over time, starts to work its way into the surface of the ice with the help of its weight and exposure to the elements. Over days, weeks, and months this starts to form a dip and then a hole, and then eventually the stone has created a large enough dent in the glacier that it falls to the bottom (some 30m down) and a sinkhole is created. This will often be a place for surface water to also escape down and run under the glacier and out to a nearby river or lagoon so interesting waterfalls are created and the noise of these can be a little eerie. This is what we were up on the Sólheimajökull glacier looking to abseil into.

Before we reached the sinkhole we were shown some smaller ones. The Icelandic guide found some clay and explained its mineral use and benefits as a mud mask, and allowed us to try the fresh water running down small streams on the surface of the glacier. Looking up at the glacier’s horizon, it was hard to imagine how big it was as we were only on a small tongue of it, and it was vast.

I’ve done a bit of climbing and abseiling before, well, over 10 years ago but I thought it would be fun and, to be honest, I didn't think they would make us do anything too challenging. Well, the sinkhole we found was the largest in this section of the glacier and, in my opinion, it was huge. It looked stunning, the layers of compacted snow carved away to create beautiful structures, colours, and patterns. It was hard to focus and not just take pictures so I didn't opt to go first. After watching a few people abseil down and climb back out, making it look relatively easy, I went for it. All harnessed up with my gloves on, ice axes in hand, and helmet nice and tight I made my way forward. Edging over the ice was ok, leaning back was ok and abseiling down was ok but ok was getting a little scary. Maybe it is me getting a wee bit more chicken in my old age…but I was a little nervous halfway down. I did it though and had a quick look around before getting my ice axes and crampons well and truly kicked into the wall of ice to attempt my climb out of the sinkhole. This is where it got challenging. I didn't think it would be that hard but my wee arms were trying, lucky my legs were working it. It took me quite a lot of determination to do it without having to be pulled up but I am glad I did it. My toes felt a little bashed in afterwards so I think I've left my mark on that ice.

After everyone who wanted to had tried abseiling, we headed back. We were all confidently walking on the ice and snapping the last few pictures. It was quite surreal and I kept having a look back as we walked back down to the car park. On the way back to Reykjavik we stopped off at the beautiful waterfall of Skógafoss which is huge and sprays you as you approach - a chance to reflect on the day before the journey back.

An amazing day trip, and if you have the time and budget then I would say go for it, it's not often that you get to climb a glacier. For more information, check out the tours on offer with Arctic Adventures.

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Glacier Walk and Ice Climbing on Solheimajokull (from Basecamp)

I am just back from a short but amazing visit to Reykjavik, Iceland. This was another academic visit where I met with our agent and some local college and university faculty, visited some schools of design, spoke at a recruitment event, gave a lecture on design portfolios, and attended the opening of a Photography exhibition. Even though this was officially a work trip, I arrived a day early so I could have a little look around.

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My first impressions of Reykjavik were "Wow", it's amazing. The airport is very modern and early to get around. I flew Icelandair from London Heathrow, and they were very welcoming and attentive, which helped as I still had a presentation to put together. My colleague had visited Iceland before so she advised buying transfer bus tickets on the flight as they are slightly cheaper. The bus journey takes about 40 minutes from Keflavik Airport to Reykjavik, the capital city, and will drop you at the bus station where you can get a smaller bus connection to your hotel. I stayed at Hotel Odinsve which was ideal, the room was adequate with a very comfortable bed, TV, wardrobe, and ensuite shower room. Breakfast was served downstairs in the cute restaurant - check out the bar made of reclaimed doors.

*The tourist version: picture with a polar bear, the northern lights (not seen or photographed by me) and the winters light of an average day.*

The landscape on the approach to the city is just so different from anything I have ever seen. The drive through the lava landscape (something which might be similar to Mars) from the airport into the city is just incredible. The buildings stand out, exposed to all elements, and the weather can change almost every five minutes, at least in winter, which gives way to a stark blank canvas. It's inspiring and has to be said, very Christmassy with fairy lights everywhere.

This trip was slightly more relaxed than most of the academic visits I get to make and since I had arrived a day early, I used my day to go exploring. I met up with a friend and we drove around looking at the architecture and general neighbourhoods. I love getting out of the tourist areas and getting to see how people live.

We drove out of Reykjavik and headed to the Blue Lagoon, a natural geothermal hot spring set amongst some incredible landscapes. It is pretty pricey, worth booking online beforehand, but oh so worth it and I will never forget this experience. We sat chatting in the lagoon as it changed from rain to sleet, sleet to snow, and then the sun came back out. It's pretty damn cold outside though so I tried not to get my hair wet. We took shelter from the sleet in the cave where you can listen to some information on the lagoon. There are wooden boxes around the lagoon with the famous silica mud mask for you to try. It's a fantastic experience but one which will dehydrate you so slap on that conditioner and leave it in your hair whilst you soak, and drink plenty of water afterwards. We didn't realise at the time but you can use the swim-up bar for a refreshing drink and pay with your bands so no money needs to be carried, and you can stay warm in the lagoon.

Other than Harpa (the concert hall) and some rather statement churches, the buildings in Reykjavik are not hugely decorative or iconic but Iceland seriously does interiors. I visited KOL, a very trendy restaurant for a delicious meal and some cocktails featuring local ingredients. The Laundromat is a very cool laundrette downstairs/cafe upstairs with a bar of colour-coded bookshelves. It's a great place for a filling breakfast and an opportunity to try the local Skyr (delicious yoghurt). I spotted some great design shops as I walked around the city centre, especially ceramics, and picked up a few interesting gift cards.

I still can't believe how lucky I was to get to visit Iceland, even for a few days, and the Blue Lagoon was a highlight. I loved the crazy and changeable weather, the landscape, the inspiring sculptures and graffiti, the delicious food, the good company, and of course the design schools.

We visited the Reykjavik School of Photography whose exhibition I attended at the Harpa, and the Iceland Academy of the Arts where I took a tour of the different departments - the perfect place to take a ceramics class or just sit at a window in the inspiring studio and draw all day long.

Even though I only had a few days in Reykjavik it made such an impression on me - I can't wait to go back and discover more.