Langjökull Glacier

The biggest one - Vatnajökull - is on the other side of the country and is eight times bigger.

Still, just to gauge the size of this glacier compared to most other glaciers in the world that reside in the cracks of mountains… it would have taken this heavy four wheel jeep 6 hours to maybe get halfway across the glacier. It’s a desert glacier, and the source of possibly the cleanest water in the world.

The timing was perfect, because, despite the rough looking skylines near the mountains behind, there were no winds and it was just around freezing—yet, it felt warmer than that. When people talk about the theoretical relative level of achieving a silent atmosphere, this was it. 0 dB. Aside from myself, the guide, and the other two fellow tourists shuffling around the ice and talking, it was purely silent. It wasn’t haunting. It felt like.. well… heaven. Storybook heaven. Perhaps real heaven, if one exists.

Most of the panorama was dominated by white fields of ice with white clouds in the background. There was one notable big block of black ice where we parked. (This is not a rock.. this was black ice.) Around it was a very small gentle stream of glacier water. It was mineral free and the purest you could get.

In brief, I can now say with a clear conscience, “we’ve landed [beep] roger“