If you are a fan of the Game of Thrones, perhaps there is something familiar about this image. It is where "The Wall" was filmed. Before the 2010 eruption of the nearby volcano Eyjafjallajökull it was much whiter. Today it is striated with layers of volcanic ash from the explosion, as well as from collapsing mounds of volcanic earth that slide into the glacier as the ice walls retreat.
Winter is coming.....
Armed with crampons, an axe and a delightful guide we took a two hour hike. Walking on a glacier requires that you keep your feet well separated and stamp down flat footed so all ten of the crampon spikes make contact with the ice. It is the bent knee gait of a stomping two year old mid-tantrum.
My daughter said I was "badass". Perhaps I should carry an axe and hike on glaciers more often...
A blue hole too deep to see the bottom
At the end of the retreating glacier new life takes hold.