To u r i s m , C u lt u r e
and
Business
I s s u e 43 • 2019
Deep into the Mystical Glacier
Langjökull A
couple of hours from Reykjavík is the mystical Langjökull – ‘Long Glacier’ – Iceland’s second largest glacier. It covers an area of about 950km² and rises to between 1200-1300m above sea level. It rests on a massif of Hyaloclastite Mountains formed under ice and water. The south-western part of the ice cap is called Geitlandsjökull – ‘Glacier land of goats’ – which rises to an elevation of 1400 metres. To the south of Geitlandsjökull and separated from the main ice cap, is the smaller 1350m high Þórisjökull. According to legend, it was named after Þórir, the troll who lived in a green valley in the pass between the two glaciers. Until recently, what lay beneath the surface of the Langjökull glacier had been a mystery, known only to a small group of scientists and glaciologists. The magnificent ‘Blue Ice’ In 2010, daring pioneers had a vision to take people not just around and onto the glacier, but also inside the heart of the remote and extraordinary ice cap. Their mission was to see the magnificent 'Blue Ice' which is buried deep beneath the surface. With this bold vision in mind, entrepreneurs and scientists began studying, planning, modelling
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and carefully preparing for construction. Perhaps against all odds, what started as a dream, rapidly became a reality as passion, energy, enthusiasm and drive, combined with science, engineering, finance and political support, made it possible to shape the largest man-made glacier cave, giving people the amazing opportunity to explore and see the inside of the massive glacier. To make the journey inside one of Iceland’s frozen giants is truly a oncein-a-lifetime experience. To venture down the world’s largest man-made ice tunnel is surreal. Then there is driving a snowmobile across the surface of the glacier, which is amazing – and basically where the adventure began, as the locals really started exploring Langjökull 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong was walking on the Moon; “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. To venture onto the glacier on a snowmobile on a beautiful summer or winter day – which you can do twice a day, all year around,– with such a spectacular view, is really out of this world; almost like being on the moon and looking down on the Earth. Follow that with going inside the Glacier. Can it get better than that?
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Where everything is ‘cool’ Everything is ‘cool’ about the journey into Langjökull Glacier as visitors travel in giant trucks from the days of the Cold War, when they served as NATO missile launch pads aimed at the Soviet army. It’s ‘cool’, whether you make the journey from nearby Húsafell – ‘Ridge of Houses’, the National Park, Þingvellir – ‘Parliamentary Fields’ – or the capital, Reykjavík – ‘Smokey Bay’. There are daily tours out of Reykjavík towards the glacier through the beautiful Borgarfjörður, with its extravagant waterfalls created out of the lava, and Europe’s most powerful hot spring, Deildartunguhver – (translation impossible) – which provides 180 litres/ sec of 100° hot water! World’s first monument to an ex-glacier We live in the days of global warming and just recently, it was discovered that the Ok glacier just west of Langjökull is Iceland’s first ‘ex-glacier’. This summer a monument was erected, the world’s first monument to a glacier that has fallen victim to climate change. Over the next 200 years, glaciologists expect all of Iceland’s 400 glaciers to disappear.
