The world’s largest man-made ice tunnel was in recently times dug out on the western slopes of Iceland Langjokull. This is one of the biggest glaciers in Iceland, and the tunnel and cave system spreads mover than 550 meters into solid glacier ice at around 30 meters below the surface making it the largest man-made ice structure in the world. This distinctive project, supported by the Icelandair Group and leading pension funds, will allow tourists to have a unique opportunity to see how snow is slowly compressed to become glacier ice.
Well, Aptly named “Into the Glacier”, the experience is the brainchild of two Icelandic adventure tour operators – “Baldvin Einarsson” and “Hallgrímur Örn Arngrímsson”, who wanted to take tourists into the heart of the amazing glacier ice cap, to grasp the magnificent “blue ice” which is buried deep beneath the surface.
Work on the cave started in 2010 and was completed early in the year of 2015. However, it was officially opened for visitors on 1st June 2015. Though it’s meant mainly to be a tourist attraction, the tunnel will also be used by researchers and students at the University of Iceland to measure ice movements over time.
Therefore, the journey to the ice tunnel starts off with an impressive trip in 8-wheel monster trucks to the entrance of the cave, which is placed 1,200 meters above sea level. From their tourists are taken on foot on an hour-long tour exploring the tunnel where they’ll see crevasses, moulins, running water, ice layers and space between them, diverse types of snow and ice, and how the glacier evolves.
Moreover, the led-lighted walls inside the tunnels are sheer-carved and hollowed out at numerous intervals along the tunnel to house educational exhibitions and deliver information on the science of glaciers and the effects of global warming. They be even a small chapel where couples can get married. The tourist attraction is expected to stay open all throughout the year.
Read out another interesting story of Incredible Man-Made Tunnels Formed with Wires & Repurposed Wood and HomeTravel 4 Mendenhall Ice Cave Alaska United States.
