Back in 2018, the Montanus duo crossed Iceland from north to south through the most remote part of the Highlands, creating the Iceland Divide, one of the most popular bikepacking routes in Iceland. They decided to go back again in the land of fire and ice when they learned about the 1953 Cambridge Langjökull Expedition, a scientific expedition consisting of geographers, geologists, and biologists aiming to study and map the glaciers of central-western Iceland. The British scientists mapped the Okjökull glacier, a small icecap in the southwest of the Highlands, which, in August 2019, was declared the first glacier to have retreated until it no longer existed.
Langjökull, the second largest glacier in Iceland, is going to go the same way due to warm winters with little snowfall followed by even warmer summers. Over the course of the past 150 years, the ice volume of Langjökull decreased from 248 kilometers cubed to under 170 kilometers cubed, and its area shrunk from 1,100 square kilometers to 800 square kilometers. Within a hundred years, the ice cap is very likely to melt away completely.
Upon learning this news, the Montanus duo decided to circumnavigate the Langjökull, creating a route to pay tribute to Iceland’s second-largest and filming its spectacular views before it disappears completely. They named the route Odin’s Eye in honor of the All-father of the Norse Pantheon, who sacrificed one of his eyes for his relentless quest for wisdom. The tale tells that the eye is buried deep with the glacier, in the heart of the icy landscapes of Iceland.
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