Solheimajökull

Me in action! Taking a rock sample for geochemical and cosmogenic analysis!



Huge boulder deposited by a glacial outburst flood in 1996



little ice age moraine



what does one do if one does not possess gaiters... rely on wellies!!! Bjarki was using them for one crossing and then through them back to me so that I could cross and vis versa... happend to be that at one such through the welly slipped out of my hand... i don't think I have ever sprinted after something that fast... my feet hurt like shit but we needed them to survive... or did we!!!



the typical dirt-man... that't what children make when the snow has thawed in Iceland...

Icelandic Vegetation

Glaciology Field Trip

Our glaciology field trip was more of a sight seeing tour to some of the most wonderful corners of southern Iceland. Our first stop was Gigjoekull a northern outlet from the Eyafallajoekull ice cap. You guys wont get around a bit of education, so: you can see that the snout is somewhat of an icefall which leads to the heavy crevassing (ie. big, deep incisions in the ice). The lake in front is referred to as a glacial lagoon so comprises mainly meltwater from the glacier.



Because we had done sooo much hard work, we went on to have a lunch break at Seljalandsfoss. One can walk behind the waterfall... advisable if you are wearing waterproof or want a cool down from the warm weather.



A couple of bus hours later we were heading for the trolls. Vik with its black tephra beach and the basalt columns are beautiful whether in the mist or in the wonderful sunshine. Close by we experience the vast emptiness of Myrdalssandur with a massive boulder within the generally fine material... Deposited by the 1996 Joekullhlaup (volcanically induced outburst flood). Can you find the red hat?!?



After some more stops at glaciers we reached our most north eastern part of the trip: Joekullsarlon in other words a glacier lagoon... depending on the tide ocean water enters the lagoon increasing the melting process of the glacier snout...

Wonderful Pictures

These are just some pictures I have taken over the last 5 moths that I love but don't really have a story to.
Enjoy!

When I took my first walk at the beach I encountered this interesting little muddle up of basically fishing nets... but obviously my first thought was: some kinda weird Icelandic dead algae... close though ;P



During the same evening a beautiful sunset in direction of the reykjanes peninsula...ie. active volcanoes!



Lets get icy! My first steps on a wonderful glacier snout, south Iceland, Solheimajoekull.



and back to hot again... Blue Lagoon... Geothermal Activity Rocks!



even hotter



the hottest - gysir!?!

Solheimar

Solheimar is an eco-village established in 1930 by Sesselja Sigmundsdottir on farmland in the south of Iceland. Her vision was to build a sustainable community and give children a safe home. It later expanded into the first eco-community establishing an equal partnership between mental and/or physical disabled and abled individuals.
The common goal is to achieve: Self-Fulfillment
The close knit community establishes an intrinsic sense of belonging and provides opportunities for everyone to develop and grow to the best of their abilities.
I visited Solheimar with Jen, Harald, Julia, Iris, Libby and Camilla as part of a poster project for my sustainable futures course. Some of them have been in contact with various eco-villages whilst others, including me, had never been to one.
As we arrived we received a very interesting and highly detailed presentation on the history of Solheimar and their current projects. The manager was very open and tried to answer all the questions we had. We then went to the different workshops currently operating at Solheimar. This includes pottery, weaving, candle-production, carpentry, herbal and a bakery.





It is clear that all members of the community are a valuable resource and contribute to the wider functioning of Solheimar. Equal respect is practiced within the community and the way in which the disabled persons needs are catered for from within shows that it is possible to integrate the"other" into society if we start caring again. They should not be excluded from ordinary life just because it is easier for us. Disabled persons have the same rights as the abled and should therefore inhabit the same geographical space.
Everyone will gain from this experience!

Snæfellsjökull

Saturday @ 10:50pm, just before I wanted to go out for a good nights dance... Hulda calls: we are driving to Snæfellsjökull for a good hike and a snowboard descent tomorrow, are you in? It took me the wink of an eye to throw the "night out" over board...
Obviously I had nothing reasonable in my fridge for a good day's hike so I grabbed my keys, forgot my jacket and ran to the 10 11 store to get some chocolate-crunch-energy-bars, nuts and some toast...
Very excited I hardly could fall asleep... give me a snowboard and a glacier and I've got everything I need!!!
Alarm set on 6am I jumped out of bed grabbed my stuff and sprinted out to the car... It was Sunday and the usually packed roads of Reykjavik at 6am were even more packed than ever... I think I counted 5 cars! As I had not been anywhere close to the Snæfellsness Penninsual I could not wait to see the u-shaped valleys and all the other lovely geology around...




On our way we obviously drove past Reykjavik's patron: Mt. Esja
It took us about 2.5 hours on the northern ring road to get to Snæfellsjökull. The most fantastic scenery, given that it was easter no-one was to be found...
We had anticipated for the hike to take about 4 hours, that is with sunshine... But the higher we went the windier it got which means wind from every possible angle. Given our snowboards on our back we were the perfect obstruction which made it even more challenging to hike up slops of 30-45 degress.



We decided to get going with our snowboards at an altitude of about 1100 meters as the snowstorm was getting very intense... And then... The most amazing part started. Going snowboarding on an unprepared glacier is exquisite. First of all you are the only one there. This leads to extremely unprepared snow. So a range of snow types is encountered on the way down. From amazing powder snow that reached my knees to icey-bumpy tracks... Due to the persistent snowstorm I reached very high speeds... kinda scary at times... but never the less absolutely mind blowing. The group of us (4 icelandic, 1 german) were prity much enthralled by this experience and as we reached our cars the sun was shining again and more ppl were just starting to hike the glacier... lucky us we had Snæfellsjökull all for ourselves! We then decided to go to Arnarstapi for a weee apre-snowboarding. It was beautiful but still very windy...