Philosoraptor: Yo From Reykjavik

Friday, September 14, 2012

It's cool. No chance to see any crazy Iceland stuff yet, but built in a day after the conference.

Dark Avenger said...: You try to catch this:

Seriously, though, this is the Crystal Cave of Svinafellsjokull, a 150-foot-long ice cave in Iceland (which, to be fair, is where one would expect ice caves to be found).

The cave is located on the border between a glacier and the Icelandic coast, which accounts for the unusual color of the ice walls -- snow that falls onto the glacier has all of the oxygen forced out of it when the glacier moves, causing the snow to turn an otherworldly dark blue when it freezes into ice. However, like a flaming bald eagle decal plastered over the hood of an impractically fast sports car, the ice cave's beauty masks the fact that it's actually a death trap. The cave's structural integrity is entirely dependent on a moving glacier, which it happily reminds tourists of by emitting massive cracking sounds whenever the glacier shifts a single millimeter.

Still, getting crushed to death by that thing would be an awesome way to die.; 12:07 PM