VATNAJÖKULL, ICELAND
We met our guide a few kilometers from the glacier, along with the rest of the party. I was ecstatic, nervous, but joyful all the same. All the rain from earlier this week forced the treks to skip the usual route and to create an alternative to get us over the top. Last evening, the storm finally destroyed the previous and safest way, a wooden bridge, and continued to gush through, taking both dirt and freshwater with it. A river raged on the usual path, so we had no choice but to carve our way through the ice. Workers with pickaxes carved staircases while we used our tools to keep us attached to the ice. By the mid-afternoon, the spikes on our boots held us in awe as we stood on top of Europe’s largest glacier. As life would have it, our celebration was stopped short when we realized there was another mountain to conquer.
