journey to the heart of the Vatnajökull glacier, in Iceland, in an ice cave doomed to disappear

The teams of “1:15 p.m. Saturday” (X, #1:15 p.m.) went to Iceland, the land of volcanoes, and met Laurent. Glacier guide, he decided to go to the center of Iceland’s largest ice cap, the second largest in Europe.

But this expedition is not without risk. “We go to the middle of nowhere, we have no possible assistance, almost no connection“, he recalls while flying over the glacier, roughly the size of Corsica. At its deepest, there are up to 900 meters of ice. “We can cover Iceland with 30 or 40 meters of ice, just with this ice.“, shares Laurent.

“In 200 or 300 years, there may be no ice left in Iceland at all”

The main objective of this adventure is the exploration of a huge ice cave, in the heart of the glacier, but this is perilous. The ground is littered with sheets of ice, fragile and unstable. “Below Vatnajökull there are known to be seven active volcanic systems, including Grímsvötn, which is the most active in all of Iceland“, says the guide.

If there is a lot of clarity through the ice, between the shades of blue are black bands. This is volcanic material. The ash, trapped under the ice, forms black strata. The gallery continues, almost infinitely, revealing here and there narrow passages like immense spaces, veritable cathedrals of ice.

But these landscapes are ephemeral, Laurent knows that well. “We are very realistic, the glaciers are melting and will disappear. In 200 or 300 years there may be no ice left in Iceland at all. I’ve seen it since I arrived in Iceland, mountains have been discovered, large valleys have been discovered, things that were hidden under the ice before. It’s the end of an ice age, it’s historic in some way“, he explains, not without emotion.

A documentary by Thibault Pomares, Frédéric Capron and Alexandre Adam.

Excerpt from “Iceland: the Earth on the move”, a report broadcast in “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” on January 13, 2024.

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