Melting Giants: Exploring and reflecting on Iceland’s disappearing glaciers

If you’re visiting or living in Iceland, you should go on a glacier hike – as long as you still can. Because within the next 20 years Vatnajökull’s outlet glaciers will all have melted. But is this entirely true? What fascinates people about glaciers and why are glacier hikes so popular?

I have always been fascinated by glaciers and their ever-changing nature. Since living in Iceland, I’ve ventured out on multiple glacier hikes, ice climbing excursions and ice cave tours. There’s no denying the awe-inspiring beauty of glaciers – but there is more to them than meets the eye.

The ever-changing glaciers

I met up with Oddur and Kateřina, a pair of glacier guides who founded Melrakki Adventures. Together they’ve been exploring glaciers and guiding tours for over five years. The ever-changing nature of glaciers still fascinates them.

Kateřina tells me the physical features of the glaciers she explores even differ between morning and afternoon tours, especially in the summer, due to the intensity of the sun causing the glacier to melt even quicker.

“Sometimes it looks like a completely different place – it’s sad but also pretty cool at the same time,” Kateřina explains.

The next day, I headed out on a glacier hike and got to witness the changing beauty of glaciers firsthand. It’s not my first time hiking on Falljökull, an outlet of the Vatnajökull ice cap, and it surprises me every time how much this particular glacier changes over the course of a year. It’s a completely different experience every time. While I prefer more ideal picture-taking conditions (meaning sunny days with blue skies), it’s the moody days that Oddur enjoys. “It makes the glacier seem more mystical. There are so many days where I’m standing on the glacier, just thinking, ‘I can’t believe this is real!’”

The Falling Glacier

The interview with Oddur and Kateřina got me excited for today’s glacier hike. I met our guide Antoine at Skaftafell Airport, which is also the basecamp of Melrakki Adventures. As Melrakki specialises in small group operations, our intrepid group of glacial explorers number just eight people, plus Antoine. We jumped into a small white jeep and after a 15-minute drive, we arrived at the foot of Falljökull. Standing in front of this majestic glacier absolutely took my breath away. Rising high into the sky, I crane my neck to try and spot the top.

Interestingly Falljökull is one of the few glaciers that is melting, but not retreating. The reason for it is kind of hidden in its name.

Interestingly Falljökull is one of the few glaciers that is melting, but not retreating. The reason for it is kind of hidden in its name: Falljökull – the falling glacier. It’s fed by the icecap of Öræfajökull, which is always growing, especially in the winter when layers of snow are added and compressed to form new glacier ice. That means fresh ice keeps continuously falling down the mountain, helping Falljökull to preserve its size.

Why is the ice blue?

We slowly started mounting the glacier from the side. The first part of Falljökull is completely black and you’re walking on a layer which looks like sand. Antoine explained to us that he calls it the “sawdust” of the glacier, another sign of how active and ever-changing glaciers are. This so-called “sawdust” gets created by the glacier carving its way down to the lowland, scraping layers of rock off the surrounding mountains. If you use your ice axe to push the black dust aside, glimpses of crystal blue ice peek through.

One of the most asked questions Oddur and Kateřina encountered is: Why is the ice blue? It turns out it’s due to the density of glacier ice and a bit of basic physics. “The colour blue has the shortest wavelength of the colour spectrum. When the light is entering the ice, the other colours are getting absorbed while the blue colour won’t,” Oddur explains.

Before we reached the area where the blue ice is fully exposed to the sunlight, we put on our crampons. It’s not exactly rocket science, but you should still pay attention, so you won’t encounter any problems later whilst hiking. Carefully, one after another, we stepped on the fresh ice, like little penguins learning to walk. It was surprisingly easy to walk on the slippery surface, the crampons giving us ample grip, but it’s an unusual feeling and takes some time to get used to.

Playground for Grownups

The fog was hanging low, creating a mystical mood for our glacier hike. I’m not surprised why Iceland is such a popular filming location for any kind of fantasy film. It was a picturesque day as we explored crevasses, ending at a small waterfall that appeared ahead of us – the perfect chance for a drink! Leaning into the waterfall, I sipped some of this fresh, cold glacier water. The taste was truly amazing! To be totally honest with you, it wasn’t as majestic as it might sound and most of the water ended up on my face and hair. And by “most water,” I mean I was soaked.

I felt the adrenaline rushing through my veins, as I went abseiling, taking one step after another, the ice cracking under my crampons.

If this wasn’t adventurous enough, Antoine asked us if we were up for something crazy. He was mum on the details, but after another 10 minutes of trekking along the ice Antoine came to a stop and started drilling a hole into the ice and pulled a rope through it. After securing the rope tightly around my hip, I was standing on the edge, looking down a huge crevasse. My legs felt shaky, as I leaned backwards hanging on a rope at a 90-degree angle to the wall of ice. I felt the adrenaline rushing through my veins, as I went abseiling, taking one step after another, the ice cracking under my crampons. The view was incredible and I got to experience the glacier from a completely different perspective.

The last Generation to walk on Glaciers

After three hours of hiking on Falljökull, we found ourselves back at the foot of the glacier. I couldn’t stop admiring the ice giant I had just explored, happy to have collected so many wonderful memories, but also saddened by the fact that my generation might be the last to walk on glaciers. Even influencers are using this slogan on social media to generate more clicks. But is it entirely true?

To get the full picture, it’s important to understand the historic background of glaciers in Iceland. When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the glaciers were significantly smaller than today and were only located on top of mountain ranges. Vatnajökull is not only Europe’s second largest glacier, it’s also one of the youngest. It formed about 2.500 years ago, during the Little Ice Age that settled over Iceland around the year 1450.

When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the glaciers were significantly smaller than today and were only located on top of mountain ranges. Vatnajökull is not only Europe’s second largest glacier, it’s also one of the youngest.

During this period, the glaciers expanded, reaching down from their mountaintops into the lowlands. Whole farms had to be relocated and some were even swallowed by the ever expanding ice. Vatnajökull has never been bigger than it is right now.

“Most tourists are surprised about how young Vatnajökull is,” Kateřina explains. Just for comparison: glaciers located in the Alps are hundreds of thousands of years old

Sadly, it’s undeniable that glaciers all over the world are melting and retreating – some more rapidly than others. The glaciers in Iceland are no longer expanding, although new ice is added on every winter. Flatter glaciers like Breiðamerkurjökull – famous for its Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon – are melting faster than thicker glaciers like Falljökull.

If you visit the same glaciers on a regular basis, you’ll see the undeniable impact of climate change. It’s been estimated that some of the glacier outlets will be gone within the next 20 to 30 years. “But this is just an estimate. Nobody really knows, but you can say for sure that some glaciers won’t be so easily accessible in the future – possibly already in a few years,” Oddur told me.

“Since the year 2000, the outlet glaciers have retreated exceptionally fast and their mass loss per unit area is among the highest recorded in the world. Individual outlet glaciers have lost 15–50% of their ice volume during this period,” according to the data published by Vatnajökull National Park. “After 200 years, only small ice caps will remain on the highest mountains.”

Nobody can accurately predict when Iceland’s glaciers will have melted entirely. They are perishable phenomena, which we should enjoy while we still can, while pressuring global administrations to enact policies that will massively reduce the carbon emissions contributing to the climate crisis and, consequently, glacier loss. Do it now. There isn’t infinite time to explore Iceland’s beautiful glaciers!