Ice Climbing at Svínafellsjökull

(Here's Mike on his first climb up one of the many walls of the massive glacier.)

(The view from the ice is spectacular, once you get past the first few hundred feet which is ice covered in dirt and mud that slides down from the surrounding mountains.)

(Now a seasoned veteran, Mike is ready to move on to the big stuff.)

(For our second set of climbs, our guide lowered us into a large crevasse, and we had to climb our way back out of it.)

(Here you see Erin, our guide, checking to see if Mike is ready to begin from the bottom. Mike may have lied about his experience (or lack thereof) in order to ensure that we had a challenging set of climbs. It worked out well.)

(My view while waiting on Mike to emerge from the depths below.)

(This huge glacier is actually connected to Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe and 13% of Iceland's area.)

(An action shot of Mike about to finish his ascent. Erin used to be a professional photographer in New York, so she has one handed photography and rope holding skills...as long as Mike doesn't fall.)

(That's me in the middle of my climb. While at the bottom, we got a good look into those black holes which are actually huge caverns of clear blue ice on the inside.)

(Looks imposing with those ice picks, right? I think the crooked helmet helps balance out the mood.)

(Unforunately, our boots didn't fit well, so by this point in the day, our toes and heels were bleeding and/or throbbing at every kick into the ice, but we still loved every minute of it.)

(Mike lounges back and shows off his cramp-ons while enjoying the scenery. Surprisingly, we never tried to kick each other with those attachments on. I'll have to remember that for next time.)

(Finishing off a really great tour on the glacier. Ice climbing is highly recommended if you ever have the chance.)