NATGEOTRAVEL.COMBEN HORTON/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (GLACIER), MATTHEW TWOMBLY (ILLUSTRATION)Iceland’s Vatnajökull
ice cap, grooved by
crevasses, draws
intrepid hikers.GLACIERS
EXPLORER’S GUIDE
2
Africa
“Yes, there are glaciers
in Africa,” the explorer
says. And those in
the Rwenzori peaks,
aka the “mountains of
the moon,” make the
ultimate icebreaker for
adventurous travelers.
This range, on the bor-
der between Uganda
and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
has long supported
equatorial glaciers, but
they are disappearing
fast, signaling profound
cultural consequences
for the Bakonzo people.“I’m all about getting
people out on the
ice,” says glaciologist
M Jackson, a National
Geographic 2017
emerging explorer and
the author of the new
book The Secret Lives
of Glaciers. Of course,
being on the ice can
have its hazards. “Walk
carefully,” she says.
“Most people should
use a local guide. And
leave the vegetation
intact—in years to
come, that might be a
thriving forest.” Here
are three of Jackson’s
favorite icy escapes for
chills and thrills.
—Katie Knorovsky1
United States
Accessible by road in
the heart of Alaska’s
rugged Kenai Fjords
National Park, Exit
Glacier acts as a real-
time metric of glacial
retreat. Interpretive
signs detail the
expanse where the
ice once extended,Nice Ice
3
Iceland
Jackson calls the
sparsely inhabited
southeastern coast
of Iceland “one of the
most magnificent
places in the world.”
Here the massive
Vatnajökull ice cap
drains through a series
of valleys into 30 epic
glaciers, such as
Skálafellsjökull. “Imag-
ine an upside-down
comb in your hand
with thick blue glacier
ice straining through
the teeth,” she says.Meet more National
Geographic–funded
explorers at national
geographic.org/
explorers.leaving layers of forest,
willow scrub, and
loose moraine soil in
its wake. The crackling
blue mass “vividly
shows what happens
as our ice melts, and it
gives the world clues
for understanding
what our future holds,”
Jackson says.NATGEOTRAVEL.COMBEN HORTON/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (GLACIER), MATTHEW TWOMBLY (ILLUSTRATION)Iceland’s Vatnajökull
ice cap, grooved by
crevasses, draws
intrepid hikers.GLACIERS
EXPLORER’S GUIDE
2
Africa
“Yes, there are glaciers
in Africa,” the explorer
says. And those in
the Rwenzori peaks,
aka the “mountains of
the moon,” make the
ultimate icebreaker for
adventurous travelers.
This range, on the bor-
der between Uganda
and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
has long supported
equatorial glaciers, but
they are disappearing
fast, signaling profound
cultural consequences
for the Bakonzo people.“I’m all about getting
people out on the
ice,” says glaciologist
M Jackson, a National
Geographic 2017
emerging explorer and
the author of the new
book The Secret Lives
of Glaciers. Of course,
being on the ice can
have its hazards. “Walk
carefully,” she says.
“Most people should
use a local guide. And
leave the vegetation
intact—in years to
come, that might be a
thriving forest.” Here
are three of Jackson’s
favorite icy escapes for
chills and thrills.
—Katie Knorovsky1
United States
Accessible by road in
the heart of Alaska’s
rugged Kenai Fjords
National Park, Exit
Glacier acts as a real-
time metric of glacial
retreat. Interpretive
signs detail the
expanse where the
ice once extended,Nice Ice
3
Iceland
Jackson calls the
sparsely inhabited
southeastern coast
of Iceland “one of the
most magnificent
places in the world.”
Here the massive
Vatnajökull ice cap
drains through a series
of valleys into 30 epic
glaciers, such as
Skálafellsjökull. “Imag-
ine an upside-down
comb in your hand
with thick blue glacier
ice straining through
the teeth,” she says.Meet more National
Geographic–funded
explorers at national
geographic.org/
explorers.leaving layers of forest,
willow scrub, and
loose moraine soil in
its wake. The crackling
blue mass “vividly
shows what happens
as our ice melts, and it
gives the world clues
for understanding
what our future holds,”
Jackson says.