There are few things in nature more spectacular than watching a wall of ancient ice crack, begin to crumble, and then simply surrender to its own demise.
Nature filmmaker Richard Sidey recently captured an extraordinary calving event off Ilulissat, Greenland, after heading out alone around 3 a.m. while jet-lagged. Sidey described it as “a magnificent early morning in Ilulissat,” explaining that he began hearing “growling and cracking noises” coming from a massive iceberg offshore. He set up his camera — and then the ice started moving.
The footage shows an enormous section peeling away before crashing into the water with tremendous force. The impact sends spray skyward and, more importantly for surfers, displaces enough water to create a surprisingly organized series of waves rolling away from the collapse. Sidey emphasized that the imagery is genuine:
“There is no AI on any of my videos.”
Related: Collapsing Greenland Glacier Sends Giant Tsunami Wave Crashing into Tour Boat (Video)
Another recent Sidey clip is even more chaotic. Instead of one clean collapse producing an obvious pulse, huge pieces of ice tumble into the sea in succession, turning the water below into something resembling a washing machine — turbulent, confused and filled with chunks of ice. Beautiful? Absolutely. Surfable? Not exactly.
Glacial calving waves are real, however, and an extraordinarily small group of surfers has actually chased them.
In 2007, Garrett McNamara and Kealii Mamala traveled to Child’s Glacier on Alaska’s Copper River and became the first surfers widely credited with successfully riding glacier-generated waves. Surfline reported that ice faces more than 400 feet high produced waves reaching 20 to 25 feet, sometimes peeling hundreds of yards.
McNamara called the experience “way more than I expected” and admitted he initially “just wanted to make it home alive.”
The idea has since traveled farther north. In 2024, Eurico Romaguera was reported as the first surfer to ride a glacier-calving wave in Greenland.
It remains one of surfing’s strangest, and perhaps final frontiers.
Because when an incomprehensible amount of ice collapses into the ocean, it can absolutely make waves. The problem is everything else collapsing with it.
That’s where things get tricky.
Related: Giant Iceberg Flips Over in Iceland, Unleashing a Mini Tsunami (Video)
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