Photos

Day 7 : Hólaskjól - Landmannahellir

Today I show you one of the most incredible places we saw during our 10 days trip in Iceland : Ljótipollur crater. This crater sits north of Landmannalaugar mountains, close to the crossing of F208 and F225 track roads. It is known for the incredible red colours of its slopes. Moreover it sits in a outsanding beauty scenery, with a panorama on Landmannalaugar mountains and on a endless desert of volcanic ashes and rocks, volcanos and lakes. What you feel facing such a grandiose landscape is hard to communicate with images but I will try to share some magic instants in my coming posts !

The story of the Ljótipollur crater is a perfect illustration of how Iceland is a living place (geologically speaking). In geological times this crater is a baby : it was born around 1480, just a few centuries ago. It was created by a phreatomagmatic eruption : magma going up to the surface meets a groundwater and the heat shock triggers a violent explosion that gives birth to a 1.5 km diamater crater. It is better not to be there where such a phenomena occurs !

About this picture ... We went to the crater at the end of the day via a small track road starting from F208 track road. The conditions were very hard on the summit : there was a permanent cold and strong wind that made it hard to keep standing and that blew ashes and gravels, perfect for our eyes and our camera ... But the spectacle really worthed it ! Unfortunately the sky was cloudy at that moment. We were luckier earlier, with a few holes in the clouds and magic lights. But this was not the case when we were top of the crater. I think the place must be more beautiful again with better light conditions. Hope it will be the case when I will be back there in next june !