You can go by it, go on it or go into the glacier!
So there are a few reasons why I write about this glacier instead of some of the other that we have. Here are a little stats about it. Its name would translate as Long Glacier and it is the second largest ice cap in Iceland. But that only tells have the story so it is 953 km2 in size, but how big is that really. Well, the best way is to give it scale!
The entire land area of new york is 789km2! That means you could fit all of New York on it with room to spare. But I am still only telling you the half the story, cause we have not gone into how deep the ice is. It´s up to 580m (1,900 ft) thick! Let´s again make the comparison. One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere by architectural height yet it is smaller than the ice on top of Langjökull! The One World Trade Center is 541m (1,776 ft) high, so it´s missing 39 meters to be as thick as the ice. Langjökull is located on top of a mountain as well so the last thing we are going to look at is how much above sea level both are. So Langjökull is around 1450m (4,760 ft) above sea level while New York is 10m above it.
So to sum this up, Langjökull is 20% larger than the entire New York area and 7% thicker than the highest building, not only in New York but in the Western Hemisphere!
So that gives you a little sense of how big it is! Even if it´s just the second largest its still huge!
What makes this glacier a bit unique is that there are not many rivers that go from it, most of them are underground. One of those underground rivers goes some 50 km all the way to Þingvellir and goes into Þingvallavatn. That means that the water you see at the national park comes (partly) from this glacier. The same goes for many hot springs in Borgarfjörður region and even wonders like Deilartunguhver which is the most powerful hot spring in Europe. It provides 180 liters per second of 100°c water!
Well, now you know a lot about the glacier itself but not how you can enjoy it.
Langjökull is located close to Húsafell which is a farm and church-state with beautiful scenery and view, it´s located close to Reykholt that is again another amazing location to look into. The Hotel at húsafell was picked by National Geographic as one of the unique lodges of the world.
If you like hiking, snowmobiling or super jeeps then you would love to get to do it on top of Langjökull! There are quite a few different tours that you could do there (and yes we can arrange it). Icelanders have become one of the best in the world to modify our jeeps and turn them into super jeeps that will drive you just about anywhere. It is a good example of how good we are is that when Top Gear was going to drive onto the north pole they contacted an Icelandic company to do the modification to the cars.
Last but far from least is Into the Glacier, and yes you are going to do exactly what that sounds like. There is a huge man-made ice tunnel into the glacier. It is a once in a lifetime experience. You are taken to the opening of the ice cave by a specialized super truck and from there you get a guide that will lead you through the tunnel and into the heart of the glacier. The guide usually sings an Icelandic song and if you are lucky enough to have Icelanders with you, you get a choir to sing for you. The echo in the tunnels is perfect for I know this tour by experience I thought it was so good that I have done it twice, and proposed inside of a small church they have made in the ice (yes the picture is of me and my fiancee).
This glacier is melting away as a cause of global warming.
Yupp that is the truth of the matter, so if you want to be able to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience you need to react and go there. They are estimating that it will disappear in about 150 years.
