Unique, exhilarating experience we will always treasure! - Our family of 6 (4 teens aged 15-19) had a fantastic day with Maya, hiking and ice climbing on the glacier. The experience was unique and memorable, the views beautiful and awe-inspiring, and Maya was a perfect guide--safe, patient, humorous, and highly educational on both the climbing and the glacier. After getting geared up at the Arctic Adventures hut at the park headquarters, you take a short bus ride to near the glacier outlet. You walk about 20 minutes to the glacier start. After another 10-15 minutes on dirt and rock covered ice, you then stop to put crampons on and learn basic ice hiking techniques. As we hiked, Maya pointed out glacier formations and characteristics and taught us about glacier ecology, history, and more. Eventually we stopped to climb. Each of us rappelled into a beautiful crevasse while Maya expertly belayed us. We then climbed up with climbing axes as she coached and encouraged us. It was exhilarating and challenging, but not overwhelming. We later had a second smaller climb without a rappel. We then hiked higher towards the base of the ice fall portion before working our way back down. Total time from check in at the hut to return was just over 7 hours. Bring snacks or lunch--you can eat during the break while you watch others in your group rappel and climb. Layers of clothing, water, hat, thin to medium gloves are fine for summer. If you are comfortable hiking 5 miles on moderate terrain when not on ice, then you will be fine on this hike. We were never exhausted and Maya kept a steady but comfortable pace. No climbing experience is required, but if you have ever done indoor rock climbing, you'll handle the ice climbing portion well with your guide's pointers. After a 2 week trip in Iceland with several other adventures, this was rated the highlight by our family!

Thank you Indra for the glacier ride - Thank you for this day on the glacier..in the rain. With the weather, we're not really in the mood. Thanks especially to Indra (king of the gods) for his French his Spanish and English. Very pedagogue in his explanations and taking care of everyone. I recommend. An SVT teacher.

two thumbs up! - Ice climbing was the best experience I had in Iceland. Steve was a phenomenal guide. I can't say enough good things about him!

Great climb and higher on the glacier than most. - Arctic Adventures provided an amazing experience with incredible guides and a special day on the ice. We went higher on the glacier than any other group out their. This was ideal considering it was a 6.5 hour tour. However, it was marked as an ice climbing tour which caused me to worry a little that we would not venture up the glacier as high since we would be learning ice climbing. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that we ended up touring quite high on the glacier in addition to learning climbing techniques. The higher you go, the bluer the ice and the more waterfalls are created by the glacier. The higher we went, the more beautiful. If healthy and adventurous, I would recommend a 5-6 hour tour....I can not imagine only doing 1-2 hours on the glacier, you would miss so much. On the climbing tour, we learned 5-6 different techniques for climbing the ice and were allowed to practice each. As we went up the glacier, the climbs got more difficult and more demanding but were were prepared well and each climb was a success. The group was small at 6 people so we were rarely standing around and never got bored. We would do it again in a heartbeat. The only reason I rated a 4 was because the transportation to and from the glacier left a little to be desired. The Arctic Adventures Busses parked about 800 meters further away from the glacier than the Local Guides company. I am not sure why Local Guides tours can park that close but nobody else. It was not a terribly huge deal but certainly after 5-6 hours on the glacier in climbing boots, the extra difference was quite noticeable. In addition, 3-4 climbing groups typiucally pack onto one bus. In our case, 1 of the groups was delayed on the glacier for over an hour. Instead of driving the other three groups back 20-30 minutes to the office, they made the bus wait. This turned a 6.5 hour tour into a 7.5 hour tour. The only thing I would suggest is communicating with the group about what was happening or making arrangements to keep the tour in time. It caused itineraries for the remainder of the day to be compromised. Overall, the tour was exceptional and we had a ton of fun and smiles. If you love blue ice, adventure, and nature, be sure to do a longer glacier tour. Be sure to try ice climbing as well. The guides are so good and have so much safety equipment that anyone can do it.

Would recommend this - We would definitely recommend this tour, but pick your level and book well in advance. We unfortunately could only do the easy level hike (that’s all that was available) and we are quite advanced hikers and we had some VERY inexperienced people in our group. So we found the stroll amongst the glacier a bit boring as we kept having to stop. We felt like our time on the ice was perhaps cut short because of this. Nothing could be done about it, and our guide quietly apologised to us. But it was just a shame because we were excited for this tour. I would also suggest that the bus park closer to the actual glacier as there were other buses parking closer. The walk to and from dragged out the whole trip and seeing as we had to stay as a group it sometimes felt like the glacier was moving faster than our group.