Iceland 2018

ICELAND 2018

Tommaso Santagata, Paolo Testa

The glaciers of Iceland have always attracted the attention of speleologists, drawn there by numerous phenomena associated with glacial karstification. Although La Venta has never organised a proper expedition to Iceland, on several occasions various members have taken part in projects and trips orchestrated by speleologists from Italy and further afield. In 2018, a new expedition planned out by speleologists from various regions of Italy enabled La Venta to take part in the “Iceland 2018” exploration project. Our main destination was Breiðamerkurjökull, a glacier tongue that is an outlet of the Vatnajökull glacier, situated in the south-east portion of the island. The tongue is 12 km wide and around 23 km long. The main objectives of the expedition were as follows: to understand how glacial karstification develops, collecting as much information and data as possible (by placing GPS devices at the entrances and by surveying and photographically documenting the mills explored); and to evaluate the morphological and topographical variations of what is the most extensive glacier tongue in Europe. With help from Niccolò, an Italian guide who has lived for many years in Greenland and Iceland and who is an

old friend of some of our members, we worked on the logistics and organised transport on the glacier, which involved the use of off-road vehicles made available by local guides. To our great surprise, we would later discover that these vehicles are even capable of going well beyond the glacier front (where we were left with the material to be transported on foot), which is something to bear in mind for any more substantial expeditions we may sign up for in the future. As soon as we set foot – or rather, crampon – on the ice we realise that its consistency is very different from that of its Alpine counterpart. Here it is much harder and more compact; the slope is minimal and the ice is almost polished – something that is not common on our glaciers. All of this greatly facilitates progress, particularly with our heavy backpacks. We set up camp above a moraine, in a strategic location just a few kilometres from the glacier front, and relatively close to the target areas for our explorations. Unfortunately, though, over the coming days we soon learn that it is no easy task to deal with Iceland’s wind and rain, which after just four nights spent at the camp force us to withdraw, due to the breaking of a number of tents and the impossibility of achieving anything. In the limited time available, we do, however, manage to split into various teams and carry out survey missions that immediately give good results. The area is undoubtedly interesting, and worthy of in-depth study in the future. After this first part of the expedition, the group splits up, with some members heading back to Italy and others moving on to other ice tongues. In the second phase of the expedition, research is also conducted on Sólheimajökull (a tongue of the Mýrdalsjökull, the island’s fourth largest glacier) and it becomes immediately clear to us that here, too, karstification is highly developed. On the whole, we can say that the research carried out in various areas of the Vatnajökull glacier has produced remarkable results, despite the problems caused by the weather. In total, 28 glacier mills were explored and documented. The largest of these extends in the form of galleries and meanders, and we succeeded in descending down into it to a depth of -130 metres. Unfortunately, it was not possible to conclude the exploration due to the quantity of nebulised water being released by the impressive waterfall.

This expedition was sponsored by: Club Alpino Italiano, La Venta Esplorazioni Geografiche and Progetto Speleologia Glaciale. Special thanks to Tiberino for serving us hot food during the stormy days we spent in the tents; to Enervit and Grivel for the supply of high-energy food and a number of pieces of equipment; and last of all to Niccolò Segreto and the local Icelandic guides for their priceless logistical support.