continued… The entrance was small and had a carpeted path to a large room with benches.

The guide said that they’d used the same equipment and crew to make these tunnels as they’d used to make the tunnel under the ocean that they’d driven through on the way to the base of the glacier. These were the longest man-made ice tunnels in the world, and they were created by farmers working to make a tourist attraction. The temperature was just below freezing inside, and apparently stayed relatively consistent year round.

There they put on metal crampons on everyone’s shoes, which gripped the ice.

They walked down the tunnel. The guide assured everyone that it made a loop, so no one could get lost. For the majority of the time, the tunnel was about this size, but there were some narrower spots.

They showed the layers in the ice pack, which were akin to rings in a tree. The dark lines were volcanic ash and marked when there was volcanic activity. In a typical season, the glacier built up about 1/3 of a meter.

They had a nice light up sign in the middle of the tunnel. Just below freezing is cold for everyone, but since Eric’s body was acclimated to tropical weather, it was especially cold for Eric.

Towards the back of the tunnel’s loop was a natural crevasse that they’d run into while digging the tunnel. The end of the crack wasn’t visible; it just faded to black higher up.

During tunnel construction, one of the drills got caught in the crevasse.

As they completed the loop and returned to the entry area, the guide took the group into a room off to the side that was used for gatherings and weddings. It was about the same size and the entry room. And that concluded the hour long tour. Eric was surprised that the time inside the glacier was so short.

They headed back to the off-road buses and began the trek back to Reykjavík. Eric’s reflection: overall it was pretty amazing to be inside a glacier and he was glad he’d gone. However, it had been a long drive there and would be a long drive back. He would go again in a heartbeat if he was doing other sightseeing in the area and would be there for at least one night, but he wouldn’t do it again as a day trip. It was just too long of a drive relative to the time spent inside the tunnels.