Ice Guardians is your ticket to the glacier trip of a lifetime - This hike with Ice Guardians was the highlight of our trip to Iceland. Kish was an exemplary guide, had great equipment for us to use, and most impressively had an encyclopedic knowledge about all things glacier. If you are visiting Iceland and enjoy venturing into amazing landscapes you MUST make this glacier hike a priority. 10/10

great adventure - A++. our family spent 2 days with Rich and Kish these 2 days were the highlight of our trip. did some glacier hiking, ice climbing and canyoning. would definitely look these guys us. we took a bunch of tours in iceland. these guys were BY FAR the best

Texans on a Hike - It was an incredible experience. We certainly could not have done it without our amazing guide Kish! He was able to expertly assess the pace needed for everyone in our group of 4 and was very accommodating. We also appreciated his focus on safety at al times! We loved that he was very enthusiastic about his job, and very knowledgeable about geological facts. He is a walking Wikipedia of information. We took away some lovely memories.

Once in a lifetime experience - This review is a year in the making because I forgot to leave it. This was a once in a lifetime experience for us, not only was our guide professional, knowledgeable, and skilled. He was fun, energetic, and personable. He took us up and down the glacier, he showed us some of the ice caves that were forming and even found one in the middle of the glacier that we crawled through. When I come back to Iceland I will definitely be going with them again. They had all the necessary equipment and not once did I feel like anything was out of control or unnecessarily risky. It was fun, breathtaking, and rewarding. During the day we saw several pieces of ice fall and felt the reverberation of the impact in our bones and it was awe inspiring.

Adventurous Vatnajökull Glacier Hike - Kish took us onto the Vatnajökull Glacier on a bit of a cloady day. He fitted us crampons and gave us an ice axe. He showed us a multiple techniques on navigating / walking on the ice. We took the less touristy longer route onto the left side of the glacier. When we got closer to the ice falls he showed us how to ice climb, abseil, shuffle, etc. He is very knowledgable and was able to answer all our questions and even gave us tips for the rest of our Iceland journey.

Kish was amazing - Kish was a wonderful and highly experienced guide. at no time did we feel at risk in what was actually a slightly technical and challenging conditions, including white out conditions. He was always careful to make sure we understood how to use our crampons. He spent a lot of time scouting ahead for loose ice or potential crevasses, and he was very careful and thorough with his decision making. He let us to an amazing ice cave, and he took us deeper than we would’ve even thought was possible to go to. We actually had probably the youngest traveler that will be on the glacier in sometime with usand he made the whole trip without any issue. Can’t say enough about the experience. Kish was great. It also helped that he was a geologist in a former life and so had a lot of perspective on the ice and the rocks and the overall landscape.

Excellent day - We got far into the glacier and saw some amazing features including tunnels that we were barely able to fit into. Beautiful spots and a great guide that adjusted the difficulty to our preferences. Thank you!

Best time at Skaftafell - My boyfriend and I booked a private tour and we had an amazing time thanks to this superb guide Kish! A lot to explore, he made some special path forus, he is passionate and love to share stories and information about the nature. The landscape is fantastic and it’s a real adventure. If you want to book a hike at Skaftafell, do not hesitate to do it with Ice Guardian. I recommend at 100%. All the best Kish!

Every other glacier tour feels like a ripoff - We had Kish as our guide, and we simply had the best time. He takes his time to get to know you and feel which style of hike you’re capable of. He gave us two options: a simple walk or an adventurous start to ice climb. Being 2 fit young men, ofcourse we chose the latter. Besides the adventurous hike, he also took his time to answer all of our questions. He gave us lots of information about the region, glaciers and Icelandic culture. We felt like he really knew what he was talking about, seeing he’s got a degree in geology. All in all we almost pitied the large groups who only got to see the base of the glacier. The money they payed almost feels like a ripoff compared to this unique experience!

Large corporate operators vs. Ice Guardians - In some situations, I suppose a larger corporate tour operator could be a good fit for you. Here's why Ice Guardians is probably WAY better. Kish and Rich are two of the most experienced glacier guides in Iceland and have been head guides for several of the larger operators. But they wanted to start their own independent company to ensure they can keep the quality of the experience high while operating leaner. As a result, they are able to offer much richer, smaller group experiences than other larger operators at (at the time of writing) very similar price points. From what I could see from other groups on the glacier, the difference between a 2-4 person group and a 8-16 person group is extraordinary. We noticed that other groups moved a lot more slowly. For them, most of the guide’s time seemed to be taken up by wrangling and waiting, with some sporadic group explanations. Because it was just the two of us and Kish (a former geologist), we could walk side by side as he pointed out each detail in the ice and mountain and explained the in-depth scientific background throughout the entire day. He was also able to bring us much farther out than the crowds, giving us nearly all the day feeling like we had the glacier all to ourselves. Don’t be put off because the large tour operators have a ton of reviews. Ice Guardians runs much smaller groups and I suspect have less of a machine or inclination to persistently remind clients to post on social media. (I’m writing this because it was so clearly a superior experience and making these insights public can really help people trying to figure out the difference between all the operators. Another side effect of having a tiny tour group is that we could chat candidly about the industry—sorry Kish if I’m spilling state secrets.) Also keep in mind that these guys subcontract for other other tour operators, so going with another company might end up being the exact same tour but with more people and a higher price tag. If you’re a group larger than four, aren't renting a car, or only want to be on the glacier for an hour for photos, I could see the argument for going with a more corporate tour group and Kish spoke highly of the other guides out that day. But otherwise, doing a half or full day with Ice Guardians is an absolute no brainer. Our day on Vatnajökull was the highlight of our trip.