Have you chosen Iceland as the destination for your next adventure? We may be biased, but you’ve made an excellent choice. This is the Land of Fire and Ice, after all! Mighty ancient glaciers, breathtaking canyons, active volcanoes, beautiful fjords, majestic mountains — our country is a dream come true for adventurers.
You will almost certainly travel a long distance to visit Iceland, so you understandably want complete confidence when choosing your adventure tour operator. With this in mind, let us introduce ourselves! We’re Ice Guardians, a leading provider of Iceland adventure activities based in the southeast of our country, near the enormous Vatnajökull Glacier.
We help adventurous folk from around the world experience unforgettable Iceland glacier tours, Vatnajökull ice cave tours, Iceland canyoning, and more! And while we could talk about our experiences for hours, in this blog, we’re focusing on ourselves. Why should you pick us for your Iceland adventures? We’re glad you asked!
Scroll down to find our answers! And if any questions come to mind while reading, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the friendly Ice Guardians team.
Our Iceland Adventure Tours Have One of the Lowest Guest-to-Guide Ratios
Southeast Iceland is home to some of our country’s most famous natural wonders, so many people head here along the Ring Road looking for bucket-list experiences. Our blog Iceland South Coast Itinerary: Best Places to Visit offers an insight into the incredible places you can find in this part of our island.
But if you’re now picturing large group tours shuffling around the most easy-to-access parts of glaciers, think again! Ice Guardians offers a maximum guest-to-guide ratio of 4:1! With only four guests to every guide, our experiences are known for their friendly, personal nature. We can also alter this ratio for our private custom Vatnajökull tours.
Many other glacier trips on Vatnajökull operate open groups with a higher guest-to-guide ratio. In some cases, this can be upwards of 12:1. We believe our approach significantly increases what you can take away from your glacier experience, including skills learned, new-found knowledge of Icelandic nature, and seeing otherworldly formations.
Our Vatnajökull Tours Spend More Time on the Ice
It goes without saying that if you book a glacier tour, you want to spend as much time as possible exploring the ancient ice all around you. At Ice Guardians, we have put this basic concept at the heart of our Iceland glacier tours. Put simply, we maximise the amount of time spent on the ice during our day trips.
But how do we do this? Well, the small groups mentioned above are key. Fewer guests means less time spent getting ready for the adventure. This faster gearing-up process means we’re on our way quickly. Compare this to a group of 12+ people! For the same reason, it also takes less time to deliver the all-important safety briefings throughout the tour.
Our excursions are designed for fit and active adventurers, so we also have longer day trips all round. Our seven- to eight-hour day tours involve five or more hours dedicated to exploring the ice. In some cases, this is more than double the time some of our competitors allocate for the same experience.
Our Iceland Outdoor Activities Cover More Ground and See More Sights
With our small groups and long day trips, we can move further and faster during our adventures. And as you learn, practice, and master the use of crampons, your rapidly improving ice-walking skills will have you moving quickly in no time! On an average hike, we cover between 10 and 12 kilometres! Some other five-hour-and-up tours from competitors tend to hit anywhere between four and nine kilometres.
All this adds up to a simple equation: by covering more ground, we take our groups to more places. In the captivating reality of a tour, this means seeing even more unique, mesmerising ice formations, some of which other groups may never get to see.
Naturally, all this activity and time moving on your feet over a longer day requires a decent fitness level. This means someone who can hike at a comfortable pace for extended periods on uneven trails with uphill sections and who has a good range of motion and can use it with ease. If you tick these boxes, the trip of a lifetime is waiting for you!
If we’ve already stirred your sense of adventure, be sure to read our Adventurer’s Guide to Vatnajökull National Park when you have finished here.
Our Iceland Glacier Tours Escape the Tourist Crowds
Our ability to take small groups further has the benefit of escaping the tourist crowds. Shorter tours provided by other operators can only go so far. And with multiple larger groups sticking to the same areas, things can soon feel crowded despite being in the great outdoors. We’re sure this isn’t the kind of Iceland glacier experience you had in mind!
Moving at a faster pace and with more time to enjoy experiences fully, we head to the further reaches of the glacier, far from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. We truly feel like we have the glacier to ourselves, allowing us to revel in the isolation and beauty of the spectacular scenery around us.
In some cases, we may be the first group to encounter these glacier formations in their current form. And given their ever-changing nature, no one may ever see them in quite the same way again!
For even more insights about what you can expect with Ice Guardians, check out our blog Your Complete Guide to a Skaftafell Glacier Hike.
Putting the “Adventure” into Iceland Adventure Activities
Another benefit of Ice Guardians’ longer trips and smaller groups is that our guides can lead tours into otherwise inaccessible glacier terrain. Put simply, larger groups can’t access smaller spaces. It’s either physically impossible, not time-efficient, or both. Because we head out into less-explored terrain that larger groups simply can’t reach, our tours are infused with a genuine sense of adventure.
Given that most people start researching Iceland adventure activities in the hope of capturing this feeling, we’re confident in saying that we deliver exactly what adventurers are looking for.
More On-Ice Benefits with Our Vatnajökull Tours
Our incredible day trips aren’t “all adventure, all the time”. With the allocated time we have, our groups can take multiple small breaks along the way. This could be at a particularly jaw-dropping photo spot, so our guide can share some fascinating information, or to enjoy lunch or snacks. When our guides find a suitable point during a trip, the group takes a hot drink break. There’s nothing like smelling coffee or tea brewing, or sipping on a hot chocolate, surrounded by a glacier.
For even more peace of mind, the guides at Ice Guardians are fully certified by the Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides to Hard Ice Level 3 standards and have years of experience in the industry. You can rest assured that our experiences are never led by new trainee guides who may provide a tour that doesn’t meet expectations.
When you join one of our adventures, we also provide pre-tour communications about glacier conditions, the weather, appropriate clothing, and the itinerary you have chosen. Our team is also happy to answer any questions you may have before the fun begins. Why not start preparing by heading over to our FAQs page?
