Icy Shivers!

Hello from Reykjavik!  Today we had a big adventure -- driving in an enormous 4x4 super-truck up onto the  Langjökull Glacier, which is the second largest ice cap in Iceland.  Once we reached the summit, we clambered down from our behemoth and then had to crawl through a very narrow, snowy opening into an ice cave.  (Not something I would recommend to any claustrophobics out there!)

Once we had slithered down a fairly steep, slippery slope inside the opening, we were able to stand up, and we were issued crampons to help us not to slip and slide on the ice.  The cave was a series of tunnels where our guide was able to point out various features of a glacier -- crevasses, and some terrifying dangers I never knew existed until today:  moulins.  These are well-like shafts that form on the surface of the glacier, and can reach the bottom, hundreds of meters deep.  We were told that if you had the misfortune of falling into one of these moulins, you were basically doomed to an awful death.

It was very interesting to see the different layers of ice that have formed over the years -- almost like looking at tree rings.  We could clearly see a line of dark ice which contained ash from the 2010 volcanic eruption that occurred in Iceland.

A very interesting, very informative experience, but now that I've done it, I don't think I'd go down again!

Extra:  Mr. W with the behemoth.