Ice Climb

Flashback: Saturday, July 17, 2004

Our ride today is the trusty Volvo Laplander - the Swedish Jeep.

Laplander

It's a dangerous path up to Svinafellsjökull. The weather is also miserably rainy, for the first time since we got here.

Dangerous Path

I have many rucksacks with loops for an ice axe, and now I have the axe. With the crampons attached to the boots, and some instruction and practice on how to stop a fall, it's up the glacier we go.

Climbing

While we're not actually tackling vertical walls, it's a pretty dangerous path on the ice as well. One of our party was from Israel, where he's presumably done some military training. Yet he almost took a tumble, saved only by an older lady.

Crevasse

On the one side is a sharp drop into oblivion. On the other, is a gentle rolling slope for about 15 metres, and then a sharp drop into oblivion. To add insult to injury, the large super-glacial ice crystals would probably shred your waterproof trousers on the way down.

Icy Waves

Like a sea of ice, the glacier ripples out, all the way to the mountains.