Long Glacier Langjokull Iceland

Our Planet’s Landmarks Series #15

Long Glacier Langjokull Iceland

This ‘Landmarks’ post is about my brush with Long Glacier (Langjökull) Iceland – an awe-inspiring 957 sq. km body of ice.

I had visited some glaciers in Kashmir. In the mountains. Or, on the mountain ridges. But I had heard about glaciers in Iceland. And, about how those were different. I visited Iceland in November 2017 for Trablin – a travel bloggers conference. Trablin organised many tours for us – 8 in all for me. Each would have cost upwards of $200. But, these were free for us. One of them was Langjökull (the long glacier) Tour.

Naturally, I was excited when our glacier tour began.

The Langjokull Tour

Before we reached the glacier, our monster truck made a brief stop. Yes, we were in a monster truck. With 74-inch diameter tyres. The stop was at Gullfoss – a gigantic waterfall. Larger in scale than any waterfall I had ever seen. I learnt Langjökull fed this waterfall. That was impressive. And it further heightened anticipation.

A 45-minute drive followed the brief stop at Gullfoss. Soon, we were in the middle of never-ending whiteness. The glacier had begun. The flat white expanse mesmerised us. The snaking tarred road we drove on seemed to be a fine black line. Drawn by an artist on a huge blank canvas.

Langjokull – First Look

We drove further into the glacier. For almost 20 kilometers. That drive over the vast whiteness aided comprehension of its size. And, added incredulity in the mind.

We stopped near a shack in the middle of nowhere. We soon learnt the shack was a walk-in closet. Here, we were given bright red snow-suits. And gloves. And snow goggles. The snow suits were like overalls. As we struggled into those, our guide announced we will be riding snowmobiles. My mind swung into vivid flashback of a Bond thriller with snowmobiles. And my body tingled with excitement.

Soon, armed with Snowmobiling 101, we sat astride these nimble machines. I chose to ride pillion. I wanted to shoot during the ride. When the snowmobile took off, I had sudden self-doubts about my ability to shoot. The contraption was nippy!

We rode for what seemed like an eternity. But in reality, for 20 minutes or so. I did manage some interesting shots against a low sun on the horizon.

Once again, we stopped in the middle of nowhere. We followed our guide and climbed down a flight of stairs carved out of ice. It took us to an ice cave. This amoeboid cave had spectacular stalactites dangling from its ceiling. It was dark inside, yet unmistakably neon blue-green. The sight was surreal!

Into The Glacier

Soon, we snowmobiled our way back to the shack. Here, we were in for another surprise. We were to go into the glacier!

We entered a 500-metre man-made ice tunnel that led to an ice cave – also man-made. As we walked the tunnel, we also saw a chapel carved in ice. One of the guides sang there. We realised the acoustics inside were perfect (see the embedded video below).

We learnt there was 25 metres of ice above us. And another 200 metres beneath. It was a feat of engineering that took 14 months to complete. The temperature here remained a steady 0°Celsius. Regardless of the temperature outside on the glacier.

We also learnt it was the safest place in Iceland. Even during volcanic activity, snowstorm, or an earthquake. It seems the whole glacier behaves like a huge Jell-O. In the event of any seismic activity, the whole glacier would rock. And the cave within will rock along harmlessly.

For details of Into The Glacier Tour, click HERE

On our way back from Langjökull, scrolling through the images I shot, I relived the day. It amplified my understanding of our insignificance in our planet’s scheme of things. And it re-affirmed my belief – Langjökull definitely is a planet’s landmark.

To check out more posts of ‘Our Planet’s Landmarks Series’, click HERE

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