The Land of Fire & Ice
July 12 - 19, 2025 | Maximum Group Size: 25 Participants | Availability: Open
Skogafoss Waterfall
From steamy hot springs to top-notch spas, spectacular scenery to magnificent art museums, this unique land is the perfect place to relax, recharge, and explore. According to legend, the ancient gods themselves guided Iceland’s first settler, Ingolfur Arnarson, to make his home in Reykjavik (“Smoky Bay”), named after the geothermal steam he saw. Today, this geothermal energy heats homes and outdoor swimming pools throughout the city—a pollution-free energy source that leaves the air outstandingly fresh, clean, and clear.
Renowned for its spellbinding beauty and stunning landscape, Iceland is the only place on Earth where you can stand on top of the Atlantic Ocean’s submarine mountain chain, as it is the only spot where the chain peaks above sea level! From this perch, you can walk from North America to Europe.
We’ll journey through the north, south, and west of the island, enjoying the long evening twilight of the northern summer and visiting a wondrous variety of small settlements, good-sized towns, and amazing natural landscapes. This captivating geological wonderland offers the opportunity to explore dramatic natural phenomena, many not found together elsewhere on the planet: colossal glaciers, active volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, glacial rivers, cascading waterfalls, moss-covered lava fields, and glacial lagoons.
We’ll dine on Icelandic specialties, including seafood fresh from the morning’s catch, highland lamb, and unusual varieties of game. It’s purely natural food, imaginatively served.
Join Colgate University alumni, friends, and family for on an amazing adventure this summer to The Land of Fire and Ice.
Professor Karen Harpp
Your Hosts: Professor Karen Harpp & Professor Dennis Geist
Professor Karen Harpp has traveled to and worked in Iceland many times, largely in search of the best pylsur in the country (pylsurs are Iceland’s highly elevated version of hot dogs…). She grew up in the shadow of Montreal’s Mont Royal, the remnants of a subvolcanic magma chamber. After her B.S. in chemistry at Dartmouth and a Churchill Fellowship at Cambridge, she earned her Ph.D. at Cornell, focusing on the chemistry of volcanic seamounts surrounding the Galapagos Islands. She began working at Colgate in 1998, teaching in both Geology and Peace and Conflict Studies, the common theme being the atomic nucleus and things that explode in big ways. She has led a dozen student trips to Japan, Hawaii, Ecuador, and Chile.
Professor Dennis Geist grew up in the shadows of the volcanoes of the Cascades, and has also worked in and traveled to Iceland frequently throughout his career. His love of mountains and science led to a degree in Earth sciences at Dartmouth, followed by graduate school at the University of Oregon, which specializes in volcanology. He completed his dissertation on volcanoes in the eastern Galápagos. He started his professorial career at the University of Wyoming, followed by stints at Hamilton College and the University of Idaho and is currently a research associate at Colgate. His research on Icelandic volcanoes has been a recent topic of discussion in the scientific literature. He has carried Professor Harpp’s canteen on the volcanoes of Galápagos, Iceland, the western U.S., the Andes, Japan, Hawaii, and the western Galapagos.
*Once you have submitted the above registration form with your digital signature, a Discover Europe staff member will be in contact as soon as possible to process your deposit and welcome you to the tour.
