Golden Ice
Early March, and our hotel manager stopped us as we were going for breakfast. "You should stay safe in the hotel this morning, there's a big storm coming."
So we did, and after we'd watched it rage past on its way north, we followed it cautiously.
Fitted with crampons, carrying ice poles and linking arms against the wind, we visited Gullfoss (Golden Falls) and had the place almost entirely to ourselves.
A close-up of a collection of huge icicles, capped with snow, at the edge of the waterfall. The turquoise spikes are layered one upon another and have formed a massive ice chunk which has then had a heavy dusting of snow. In the foreground, the water is surging past.
A side view of the drop into the canyon. The gorge is deep and quite straight-sided but with clumps of ice near the waterline. The opposite banks of the crest are sheer but slightly shelved, with ice and snow gathered on every horizontal surface. Part of a natural rock platform is visible at the lower left and, incredibly, there are footprints in it even though the top of the path to it is blocked.
A close-up of the crest of the falls, at the point where it drops to the canyon floor. The foreground is a dangerous-looking ice cornice overhanging the near bank of the ravine. It's covered in snow. At the point where the falls crest there's a large clot of ice and snow, and the turbulent waters behind it are turquoise.
A colour photo of a large waterfall, with blue water cascading over the lip of a canyon. The landscape around it is completely covered in snow and ice but dark rock shows through in a few places. A fenced path snakes down a steep hill towards the lower part of the falls. The sky above is grey and full of snow cloud.