Iceland: Dragged Out of an Ice Cave

Rose had fun posting about Hungary. Her spunk made me proud :)  She was all smiles because everyone liked her. 

I went to Iceland for a long weekend from Boston.  The Icelandic Air flight was about 4 1/2 hours.  Reykjavik is a great stopover if you're heading to other parts of Europe.  I stayed at Hilton Reykjavik Nordica.  Iceland uses the Iceland Krona, not the Euro.

Iceland is forms of cold and heat - ice, snow, waterfalls, geysers, volcanoes, Icelandic horses (think cute heat), and geothermal heat. 

I'll just chat ice caves today.  One scared the crap out of me, another bewitched me.  Here's part of my Iceland travel journal, with the photos below:

February 15, 2004, Iceland from Below day tour

o   This tour was supposed to be spelunking into a cave.  Because it is winter, it was more find a cave that is possible to get in to because of ice and snow.

o   Our first stop freaked us out to the point that we all agreed we could take the guide if necessary.  He walked to a big patch of snow and began stomping on it.  He announced that this would be our way out of the cave - we could dig our way out.  I nearly ran back to the hotel. 

o   The supposed entrance was nearby.  The cave was ice and snow, as expected.  It was also dangerous.  We left within ten minutes.  I was the last out. I could not get my footing to boost myself out.  The snow kept falling away at my feet. The guide dragged me up and out.  Someone else had the same issue, so not 100% embarrassing. 

o   Drove about 20 minutes to another cave.  Saw lava fields and mountains. 

o   This cave was fantastic!  Had three open skylights at its roof.  The cave was made by lava flow.  The snow outside the cave was 15 feet deep.  We walked as far as we could in the cave.  The stopping point was phenomenal - Icicles coming down from the ceiling and shooting up from the cave floor.  To get out of the cave, we climbed up a snow mound and out through a skylight.

Entering the Ice Trap..."Danger Will Robinson"*

The Ice Trap, out of which I had to be dragged

Skylight cave

Skylight cave  - so many ice formations - look at how the flash reflected

Outside the skylight cave - skylight behind me

 












* Danger Will Robinson is a saying from the American TV show Lost In Space. The 7 second youtube clip is worth the look
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058824/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REvmhBO99I4