During the Iceland trip, besides trying out restaurants in Iceland and chasing Northern Lights, one of the most memorable experience was Troll Expeditions Katla Volcano Ice Cave.
Katla is one the world’s most powerful volcanoes and the most dangerous in Iceland. The last eruption in 1918 caused the southern coast of Iceland to extend by 5 kilometers due to laharic flood deposits.
Let Troll Expeditions Katla Volcano Ice Cave bring you into the magical world of Katla ice cave. This tour is available all year and the whole experience takes around 3 hours.
Gearing Up
The pickup point is outside The Soup Company in Vik, where we climbed into this monster super-jeep that will bring us to Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Each seat comes with a helmet which we will need for the ice cave hike.
Our guide is a young handsome Italian chap who entertains us with introductions to the Katla volcano during the 45-minute drive to the starting point. The road is pretty bumpy which calls for these heavy-duty super-jeeps. It’s exhilarating when the jeep plunges down steep slopes.
After alighting, we follow our young guide to the starting point where we put on ice grips on our shoes. With the helmet and ice grips in place, we are ready for the adventure to start!
Climbing The Ice Cave
Our guide walks ahead first, making sure that the road is safe before we follow his lead.
We walked across bridges, slippery steps and icy paths through the ice cave and came out the other side. We were surrounded by massive ice walls with steaks of grey running through them from volcanic ashes.
The end point of the hike was in the crater of Katla volcano. There was a small waterfall at the far end but it was too dangerous to go there.
If you look closely at the ice on the ground, you may be able to find a really nice piece that gives you a beautiful rainbow.
After taking all the photographs we wanted, we started making our way back. It’s the same way in same way out.
Our guide drove us back to the drop-off point outside The Soup Company which concluded the Katla Volcano Ice Cave expedition.
My Thoughts
I think Troll Expeditions Katla Volcano Ice Cave is a great experience to include in any itinerary. There is no requirements on experience, everyone can do this. Some of the climbs can be a little daunting which only adds to the excitement.
The Katla volcano ice cave is fast disappearing. According to our guide, the ice cave used to be much longer. Global warming caused 50% of the ice cave to melt in just 1 year. If you want to experience hiking up and exploring the Katla ice cave, join Troll Expeditions Katla Volcano Ice Cave.