Why choose Glacier and Volcano Expeditions?

There are many reasons why you can trust Glacier and Volcano Expeditions to provide you with the highlight of your trip to Iceland. The following is an information guide that explains how Glacier and Volcano Expeditions consistently provides incredible glacier experiences to all of their guests and why Vatnajökull National Park is Iceland’s most fascinating natural location.

• The highest possible standard of experience

• Visit the incredible Vatnajökull National Park

• Environmental sustainability

• A personal experience

• Passion for adventure and nature

The highest possible
standard of experience

As company owners and guides, we set very high standards for ourselves as we believe that we achieve fulfilment and success when we provide incredible experiences to our guests.

In order to explain how we maintain consistency in providing the highest possible standard of experience on all of our tours, the following is a list of core fundamental values and attributes that we hold as our benchmark standards and our highest priorities in all aspects of our operations.

Safety

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions place safety as the highest priority at all times. Regardless of the situation, a prudent approach to the prevention of incidents is placed at the forefront of all operations on a constant basis. As a customer on a tour you will be provided with qualified guides that have been guiding since 2014 who are active members of the Icelandic search and rescue team and are part of an ongoing training programme. You will be provided with quality equipment that is necessary for the tour activities and you will be shown how to correctly use it. The weather and natural conditions will be monitored before and during the tour and all known hazards will be considered and mitigated in order to ensure a safe, comfortable and happy experience.

Comfort

We understand that our guests must be kept within their physical and mental comfort limits and that we do not exceed our guests’ individual comfort limits. We will only set off into the wilderness once we have concluded that all of the guides and guests are as prepared for the conditions and for the tour activities as they possibly can be.

Having fun!

Smiles, laughter and memorable experiences are all part of holiday adventures which is why we always strive to keep everyone happy on their visit with us into Vatnajökull National Park! Aside from fulfilling our obligations to the other core values listed here, we believe that it is important that we enjoy ourselves and ensure our guests are enjoying themselves. As we are a small company with a simple structure we have the knowledge, experience and ability to fulfil a wide variety of expectations and enjoy ourselves in the wilderness.

Environmental sustainability

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions is owned and operated by passionate outdoor and environmental enthusiasts who have a deep connection to the natural world that surrounds them. The operations that Glacier and Volcano Expeditions undertake have been intentionally constructed to pose an absolute minimal effect to the natural environment . You can read more about this in our environmental policy.

Customer satisfaction and information

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions prioritise customer satisfaction and providing clear information as part of their fundamental core values within their operations. We understand the importance of providing clear information to our guests right from the initial consultation, through the reservation process, pre-tour departure communication and throughout the duration of the tour itself. This ensures that our guests are well aware of every aspect of the tour situation and that they come prepared.

Quality

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions take pride in offering tours that are the highest possible standard of experience and in turn the standard of service quality is unrivalled in the glacier guiding industry.

By making a reservation with Glacier and Volcano Expeditions you are guaranteed a quality service that is led by an enthusiastic guide with a decade of professional guiding experience. Another advantage of choosing Glacier and Volcano Expeditions is that they have a broad range of flexibility within their own decision making. The environmental conditions that are constantly changing are monitored constantly and Glacier and Volcano Expeditions will make the decision to lead their guests onto the glacier that has the best conditions and features for each specific tour. In turn this offers a high level of quality as you will be guided in the most suitable location in the area.

Personalised experiences

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions is a small family run company, owned and operated by the very guides that will lead you into the wilderness when you join them here in Iceland. The safety and quality control of the tours is directly in the hands of the company owners and you are guaranteed a personalised experience when you join a tour in Vatnajökull National Park.

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions provides personalised guiding services by limiting the client to guide ratio down to a maximum of 6:1 on all tours which allows us to cater to our guests personal style of adventure and provide them with a guiding service to suit them individually.

 Vatnajökull National Park

Iceland’s highest volcano, Öræfajökull, will tower above you when you experience the waterfalls, icebergs and glaciers on your visit to Vatnajökull National Park.

Iceland is the only place on Earth where a mantle plume, a divergent tectonic plate boundary and a large glacial ice cap are currently interacting. Together they create a dynamically evolving natural environment that is exceptionally diverse, globally unique and scientifically fascinating. 

 Environmental
Sustainability

We love to live beside and work within Vatnajökull National Park and we have taken it upon ourselves to provide the most environmentally-friendly glacier and volcano experiences possible.

Human power

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions are proud to be a human-powered only operation. Once the tour has begun at the roadside meeting location we completely exclude motorised transportation from all of our operations. Walking, hiking, climbing, kayaking and ski touring are the only means of transport that we operate within the Vatnajökull National Park boundary. This eliminates the risk of oil or chemical spill, no plants are squashed beneath tyres, no birds are disturbed by vehicles, no obnoxious noise pollution is created and no greenhouse gasses are produced.

Leave no trace

We lead our tours with a leave no trace policy which means that we do not adapt the landscape or leave any equipment or structures within Vatnajökull National Park. We believe that it is extremely important that the remaining wilderness areas that we have on this earth are taken care of and that modification of these areas is kept to an absolute minimum.

Tree planting

Glacier and Volcano Expeditions have implemented an active tree planting programme on our property to offset greenhouse gas emissions that are created from driving the equipment vehicle between home and the public glacier parking lot. As of June 2023 the Glacier and Volcano Expeditions team has planted approximately 6000 trees at our Southern Iceland property and we intend to plant approximately 10,000 in total over the next five years.

A passion for adventure
and nature

The owners of Glacier and Volcano Expeditions are Guðný and Rowan. When they are not guiding tours they love to spend their time exploring the world’s natural wildernesses on foot, crampons, skis, packraft, snowboard or on horseback.

Guðný and Rowan have both been guiding glaciers and their surrounding areas since 2014. An endless love of the outdoors, nature, photography, alpinism and sharing their experiences with others eventually led them to form their own guiding company, Glacier and Volcano Expeditions, in 2019.

Guðný and Rowan both grew up spending the majority of their free time in the outdoors and they are both highly experienced in water sports, mountain travel and rescue. They are both active members of the Öræfi ICESAR, Icelandic Search and Rescue.

Glacier and kayaking tour options

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