Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Svinafellsjökull

Weather conditions change quickly without any anticipated signs. We returned under dark clouds from the Svinafellsjökull glacier. Svínafellsjökull competes with Sólheimajökull for the country’s most popular glacier for hiking but listen the weather forecast, heavy weather often can get an obstacle.

A sad obit displayed into a rock along the track. Its also a serious warning to every body not to be risky and not to do the tour without an experienced tour guide.

Most visitors concede that even by Icelandic standards it is unique. Nowhere in the country is the natural variety and contrast as abundant and evident as in Skaftafell.

The landscape is very similar to some of the Alps, but it has been formed in thousands of years by different influences of fire (volcanic eruptions of Öræfajökull) and water (the glaciers Skeiðarájökull and Skaftafellsjökull), the rivers Skeiðará, Morsá und Skaftafellsá. Volcanic eruptions under the ice-cap can give rise to glacier runs (Icelandic:jökulhlaup) which swell the Skeiðará river massively. The sandy wasteland between the glacier and the sea caused by jökulhlaups is called the Sandur. The last jökulhlaup occurred in 1996.

A walk at the glacier runout of the biggest glacier in Iceland was becomming an National Park. Its the largest protected area in Europe. Apart from the glacier, the National Park includes some highly regarded natural marvels; huge glacier rivers, stunning canyons, beautiful glacier lagoons and impressive waterfalls.