I’m a little bit afraid, but doing my best not to show it. There’s a faint crunching sound as my crampons dig into the ice, enveloping the top of Sólheimajökull glacier in Iceland’s southwest. The blue-tinged glacier’s root lies within the massive Mýrdalsjökull icecap — a fact I’ve learned from my guide Ryan Connolly, the co-founder of Hidden Iceland, a small company that specializes in customized private and small-group tours that take guests a bit off the beaten track.

To me, the ice beneath my feet might as well be the surface of a distant planet: beautiful, harsh and completely uncompromising. And unbelievably exhilarating.

Sólheimjökull Glacier Hidden Iceland © Norris Niman

I needn’t have worried. Despite my novice status as an ice trekker, Connolly has me feeling confident in no time. We hike for a couple of hours, climbing through narrow, carved gorges and into open spaces that appear to be smooth, but open suddenly into deep crevasses. We pause to scoop clear water from a blue pool that’s formed naturally in an ice vein. The world spreads out toward a horizon that’s alternately obscured by mist, or a dazzling, brilliant blue marked with wispy clouds Connolly calls “mare’s tails.”

After retrieving my husband and myself from downtown Reykjavik this morning, Connolly began our South Coast: Fire & Ice Tour with a stop at the new LAVA Centre for an overview of the geography. The real-time data displayed on a wall of screens shows levels of volcanic activity in and around all of Iceland’s major volcanoes, along with ground tremors and earthquakes.

As we drive away, the road spirals calmly along between brilliant emerald moss and obsidian-colored lava. In the background, towering cliffs sparkle with the droplets from a collection of seemingly endless waterfalls. We drive to Reynisfjara, where strange, towering basalt-rock formations face a beach made of billions of black pebbles formed from ancient lava. The colossal rocks frame a large, shallow cave. To me, they look as though they were stacked neatly by giants, but when I press Connolly to tell me if trolls were involved, he merely smiles and leads us toward the Black Beach Restaurant for restorative bowls of hot, savory soup.

Seljalandsfoss Hidden Iceland © Norris Niman

On the way back to Reykjavik, we explore the Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls. There are legends of hidden Viking gold near the massive cascades at Skógafoss, but it’s at Seljalandsfoss where we uncover treasure. There are steps leading to a path that slips behind Seljalandsfoss, and we stand together on a wide ledge behind the falls. From behind the sheet of pounding water, rainbows arc across the sky, illuminating the droplets of water escaping from the edges of the falls.

One of Connolly’s goals is to make the visitor’s experience seamless — and I can personally attest to his success. To that end, Hidden Iceland offers airport to airport service, with single or multiple daytrips in between pick-up and drop-off. Customized planning of activities and preferences ensures no detail is overlooked, because Connolly and his team are sensitive to the truth that no one who visits Iceland wants to have to think about anything beyond drinking in this island nation’s extraordinary beauty.

Skógafoss Hidden Iceland © Norris Niman