Ice Cave, Iceland


You’ll need your winter clothes for your next adventure. You’ll also need a helmet with a light and something special for your feet. Sharp metal spikes called crampons fit to the bottom of your boots. You’ll be glad to have them. T ey dig into the ice and keep you from slipping. You’re standing on top of an enormous


glacier. T is huge ice cap covers more than 8 percent of the country of Iceland. Deep inside the glacier are a series of caves. Discovered in the 1980’s, they are some of the most famous ice caves in the world. T e mouth of the cave you’re about to


enter is 7 meters tall and easy to walk into. Yet the cave twists and turns. It changes shape throughout, becoming shorter toward the back of the cave.


T e deeper you go, the bluer the ice


looks. T is is because of the way sunlight passes through the ice. At times, it glows orange because of the angle of the sun. Glacier caves form when liquid water


enters cracks in a thick, icy glacier. T is warmer water melts and erodes the cold, solid ice. Over time, the glacier’s cracks get bigger as more and more water fl ows through. T is cave was formed by hot water from volcanic spring below the glacier. T e cave moans and creaks as you move


through it. Ice caves are unstable. As the glacier shiſt s, so does the ice cave. An ice cave can collapse at any time. T at’s why this cave can only be explored during winter when the cold temperatures harden the ice.


SEPTEMBER 2015 21


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