Snowmobiling on Vatnajokull
Once I arrived in Hofn, I quickly headed over to the Glacier Museum. Its a small museum that explains the history and geological science behind Vatnajokull. It was quite interesting, including the brief behind the scenes making of James Bond: Die Another Day.
The next morning, I drove out to the glacier to meet up with my tour company. I signed up for this glacier jeep tour. I was picked up by a large passenger van thats been jacked up and given monster tires. Pretty sweet.
We jumped in the van and headed up the mountain side. After about 10 minutes or so we saw our first bit of glacier. The farther we went up, the colder it got. Even with a tshirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and fleece jacket on I was still freezing.
We reached the top and stopped at a nice little lodge on the mountain top.
So how do you park on a giant block of ice? Just find a nice crevase to put your tire in! (see photos) Far more effective than the parking break.
Our guide gave us some instructions for keeping safe on the glacier. He pointed out what to look for and what not to do. He also gave us some interesting facts about Vatnajokull. In some places the glacier is 10 km thick! On top, its quite a site.
We finally got to our snowmobiles and we were soon flying around the glacier. Our guide told us how in the past some people got careless on the snowmobiles, drove too fast, and crashed into a crevase. They didn't make it out alive. Nice pep-talk, eh?
Most of the crevases were about 2 yards wide and 2-3 yards deep. Others were much more narrow, but much deeper. Then again, with the recent snow, its hard to tell just where the crevase ends. People aren't allowed up here without an experienced and certifide guide. That's probably a good thing...
After over an hour of snowmobiling, we headed back down the mountain. I definately have to do snowmobiling again!
