Iceland: Snowmobile Adventure On Langjokull Glacier

Langjökull Glacier, July 2014

snowmobile

Probably snowmobile is the coolest vehicle I've ever driven so far. Well, riding an ostrich in South Africa was pretty cool too but of course it would sound odd if I said I've driven an ostrich, right? :p

Langjokull (Icelandic for "long glacier") is Iceland's second largest glacier and only about 30 minutes drive from Gullfoss waterfall, part of Golden Circle. Though last 15 minutes was rather a 'painful on the bum' ride since we had to pass the narrow gravel road. 

a long very bumpy ride in the middle of nowhere

the super jeep

rocky road before reaching the glacier

winter overall 

Upon arrival at the base camp, 2 helpful crew hand me a thick overall to keep me warm during the ride, including a pair of overshoes which I wore over my winter boots. Then the crew put on a balaclava - a headgear designed to expose only part of face (what occurred in my mind was: a head condom! well it's kinda look like that, lol) and last were helmet and gloves. Walking like an astronaut, I was all set and ready to go!

super truck!

I was supposed to ride a super jeep to reach the glacier but then a large group of Chinese tourist came so the crew decided to transport all the people using their super truck in one go. The BovMan, monster truck fleet! That's how the crew named it. A custom made hybrid of three cars; a MAN cargo truck, a tourist coach and the chassis of an 8×8 military truck. It has a unique ability to drive through rough terrain and in all sorts of road conditions. To me it looks quite similar to Ice Explorer in Canada.

snowmobile parking lot

From base camp to snowmobile parking lot, the super truck was passing through some very steep and rocky terrain. In some occasions, I held my breath because the road swooped down sharply surrounded by large rocks. It reminds me of moon landscape.

After a bumpy and shaky ride, I could not wait to jump out the truck and drive my snowmobile. But certainly not before got a briefing from the crew about safety and how to operate the machine. By the way, you will need to be at least 18 years old and have a valid driving license. Always drive in one line and keep a safety distance between other snowmobiles. It is totally prohibited to drive side by side, overtake other machines, or make unnecessary curving or speeding up. Or taking pictures while driving (I broke this rule. I did take one or three pictures sneakily. Sorry, I couldn't resist it :p)

and the adventure begin. woohoo!

Accelerator/gas on my right thumb and brake on my left hand. Okay, it's easy! or so I thought.
It was actually quite hard to steer specially because the surface was uneven with many holes on it. Some parts of the glacier were melting too, so it's a bit tricky to drive through the streams. I basically had to move my whole upper body for steering to the right or left. It took a while to get used to it and my face started smiling and grinning like weirdos with excitement. The scenery along the route was simply so sooo breathtaking.

it's photo time :D

a very happy face of mine :D

what an incredible view

We drove until reaching one point where all I could see in any directions was the glacier with volcanoes in a far distance. The volume of Langjokull glacier is 195 km³ and the ice is up to 580 m thick. So spectacular, it almost made me cry. Everyone were asked to park their snowmobile in a row and given plenty time for taking pictures. It would have been perfect during winter with some snow to play a snowball fight though.

complete gear including winter overall, balaclava, helmet, boots and gloves

some helpful crews starting the engine

heading back to the base camp

snowmobile in Langjokull glacier

Obviously time flies when you're having fun. I was feeling gutted when the crew told me it was already time to drive back to the base camp. I had a tremendous time and I would not mind to spend another € 200 in order to experience this again. While it may sound expensive, I still think it's worth every single penny. To me an unforgettable experience is priceless thus I think it's okay to splurge once in a while. I don't want to travel half the globe and regret it later for not doing anything I would love to :)


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