Ice Cave: Stunningly Beautiful but Potentially Dangerous

If you’ve never visited an ice cave before, a simple web image search will give you loads of beautiful caves from all over the world. They are amazing wonders of nature.

Ice caves happen to be some of the most popular tourist attractions in the world and provide tourists with an interesting interactive experience.

How are Ice Caves are Formed

Ice caves are basically types of natural caves that contain significant amounts of year-round ice (perennial ice). For an ice cave to form, at least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 degrees Celsius all year round, and that water must have traveled into the ice cave’s coldest zones.

Ice caves can occur as static ice caves or dynamic/cyclical ice caves. Different types of ice caves form depending on temperature mechanisms like cold traps, evaporative cooling, thermally insulated surface, and permafrost.

The Dangers of Ice Caves

As fascinating as they are, ice caves are very dangerous. They can collapse anytime. Besides being dangerous, ice caves are difficult to navigate, which further increases the risk.

In 2015, the Big Four Ice Caves collapsed, killing one person and injuring five. The Big Four is a mountain located in the Cascade Range of Washington. The snowfield in this mountain appears in the shape of the numeral four, hence the name.

The Big Four ice caves situated on the north face of the mountain is not entirely made of pure ice. They are rather formed when avalanches fill the gully with snow, and the snow is sheltered from direct sunlight by the mountain all year round.

The ice caves are then gradually expanded by an inrush of warm air under the snow and also get carved out by melted water flow, which makes the snow even heavier and thus more prone to collapse.

Over time, the roof of the caves thin and weaken, increasing the risk of cave roof collapsing or the formation of a snow bridge. The risk is said to be highest especially near the entrance since ice here is much thinner compared to the inside.

According to Adrienne Hall, a manager at the Verlot Ranger Station near the Big Four mountain, heatwaves especially during summer make the ice caves even more dangerous to navigate.

The Big Four Ice Caves are not the only dangerous ice caves. The risk is widespread as many caves around the world have resulted in numerous accidents too.

Tourists visiting these attraction sites should trend carefully as ice collapse isn’t the only risk- falling rocks or boulders are too. Even when the caves seem stable from the inside and outside, they are still unsafe to venture further.

Even during summer, there are ice caves that stay frozen all through the season. However, this doesn’t make them any less dangerous. They tend to become highly vulnerable especially if the conditions around them are disrupted. Even worse, many caves are already being lost as a result of climate change, making them even more dangerous to explore.