Norway: Jostedalsbreen Glacier Hike
Today we took a boat through Styggevatnet and hiked the Nigardsbreen arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier, continental Europe's largest glacier. We were guided to and through the glacier by the amazing Mateus and Phil from Icetroll, a glacier hiking and kayaking tour company. The original itinerary included a 7km kayak trip to the glacier but the weather was awful when we arrived, so they offered to take us by boat instead. Either way, I was extremely excited to finally touch a glacier.
I've always been fascinated by glaciers, and while we got glimpses of the Vatnajöull glacier last year in Iceland, we didn't get to see it up close. This was something that I regretted not doing while we were there, but when the opportunity arose to hike a glacier in Norway, I had to do it.
The boat ride was kind of terrifying. It was a small boat, probably only 12 feet long, and we packed 14 people onto it. It was a bumpy ride through the ice cold glacial waters and rain. At the foot of the glacier, where it met the rocky shore of the lake, Mateus and Phil taught us how to put on crampons. The group split up, and we were tied together with a rope in two groups of seven. Ebenezer and I tagged along with Mateus to hike up the glacier.
Mateus navigated us across the huge ice field, in and around crevasses, which are cracks that open in the surface of a moving glacier caused by differential stresses. I learned that glaciers also have moulins, or vertical shafts through which meltwater enters the glacier. They can be very deep, even reaching the very bottom of the glacier! I asked Mateus how deep this glacier was and he estimated it was about 30m at the base where it meets the water!
He also explained how this particular glacier is not as effected by temperatures rising as some glaciers are because it is at such a high altitude. It is, however, effected by pollution and what is called cryoconite, a black substance that collects on the surface of a glacier made of a combination of small rock particles, soot and bacteria. Cryoconite causes the surface of a glacier to darken, which in turn causes the glacier to absorb more heat, creating a vicious cycle of glacial melting. The cryconite causes small holes to form on the surface and the soot makes its way through the ice, carving tiny tunnels from the surface deep into the glacier. And you could see this happening over all the surfaces we hiked.
When we reached a high point and met up with the other group, Mateus served us all some hot chocolate before we made our way back down to the base. When we geared up to get back on the boat, an iceberg had calved off of the front wall of the glacier. Mateus and Phil were very excited to get us close to the newly born iceberg.
I have to stress that while this was all very exciting to see in person, the main objective of and what I took away from this experience is an even greater sense of the effects of our everyday lives on these magnificent structures. You start to understand scale when you see just how small we are in comparison to the impact of our actions. All of these facts about the glacial melting, while interesting, are also terrifying. And seeing it in person was a real eye opener. I can't say that I am an expert in global warming, but I have been educating myself on the subject for a while now as it is something I take to heart and am very passionate about. A lot of what I choose to visit and photograph has to do with an urge to document the very things that are effected by global warming and to use my various outlets to share those experiences with people. So please, enjoy these photographs and the stories I tell, but I hope this also inspires you to learn about how our global climate is changing.
