Glacier Report
Sólheimajökull is a rather grungy glacier, as it scrapes off bits of the surrounding mountains on its way to the sea. Our guides impressed upon us how much this outlet glacier of Mýrdalsjökull had receded in the past century, in the past decade, in the past year, as a result of global heating. That thought followed us up and down the glacier, as the sounds of rushing meltwater on this sunny summer day were all around us.
Equipped with crampons and ice picks, we set off to climb a bit of it.
About halfway up our ascent of 200 meters, far in the distance we espied one of the other guides on his way down.
At the top of our climb, some of us did a “Viking push-up” to get a drink from a meltwater pool.
At left, looking farther up the glacier. At right, looking back down the valley. Time was, the ridge in the left part of the photo was an island in glacial ice, with another tongue of the glacier flowing around behind it. No more.
Gravelly snow and disappearing ice aside, this hike was the high point of my trip!
Later in the day, our bus stopped for a photo op with some more picturesque ice draped over Hvannadalshnúkur.
Birds Report: A Correction
A sharp-eyed iNaturalist community member correctly identified the birds on the wing in my photos as Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). A closer reading of Sibley’s guide tells me that fulmars occur in light and dark forms, which accounts for the rather dark birds I saw at Reynisfjara. I’m still fairly certain that I also saw kittiwakes on this trip, but I don’t have the photos to go with.