Eyjafjallajökull Glacier, one of Iceland's mightiest volcanoes, began erupting soon after midnight on March the 20th. This is the first time the volcano erupts since 1821-1823. This eruption has many of the same characteristics as the last eruption, it is a stable eruption with a small lava flow. Whether or not the eruption goes on for nearly two years as the past eruption did only time will tell. Luckily the eruption is not underneath the glacier itself, but just off to the side of the ice field. This avoids the glacial meltwater floods that otherwise might cause trouble in the farmlands below the glacier as happened in the eighteen hundreds.
The Eyjafjallajökull eruption caused some havoc in the first 24 hours when people were unsure of exact location and genre of the eruption. Around 500 hundred inhabitants of the nearby farms were evacuated and placed in emergency shelters or with friends and relatives outside of the danger zone. However once scientists had flown over the volcano and the eruption seemed stable people were allowed to return back home. Many popular day tours are in the area such as our Walk Through Ice and Fire hot spring bath and glacier walk tour and Take a Walk on The Ice Side glacier walk The area that these tours run in has now been pronounced safe again and the tours are on schedule.
A group of guides from Icelandic Mountain Guides tried to hike to the eruption but after several hours of fighting the elements they turned back merely 2 kilometers from the eruption. They encountered winds of up to 50 m/s (180 km/h or 112 m/h) and near zero visibility. In these conditions reaching the lava flow would be very difficult and almost impossible to see anything anyways. A group of scientists on snowmobiles and super jeeps had already turned back at this point. With improved weather conditions in the next few days seeing the eruption may prove easier.
The fissure that has opened is literally on top of the path on the popular hiking route Þórsmörk to Skógar via Fimmvörðuháls and The Laugavegur trek from Landmannalaugar to Skógar, two of Icelandic Mountain Guides most popular treks. This will most likely only cause us to have to divert the route a little to the north either to see the eruption from a safe to distance or the explore the brand new mountain that is being created. Iceland Rovers super jeep tours, part of Icelandic Mountain Guides is offering various eruption tours for those keen on viewing the glacier. A complete overview of the current tours can be viewed on the eruption tours overview.