Beneath the Glacier: Exploring Ice Caves
Ice caves are awesome! I’ve spent a good bit of time in Canada, living and working in the Rocky Mountains. I have had the pleasure of seeing ice caves of all shapes and sizes and even an incredible ice arch.
Many of the best ice caves I have seen have been on large glaciers. Glaciers can be thought of as being a bit like slow-moving rivers of ice which flow downhill as a result of gravity.
Glaciers are often massive, sometimes many kilomiters or miles long. Ontiop of them and within them are plenty of imperfections such as cracks called crevasses.
Glaciers are made up of glacial ice, which is formed by snow being compacted under its own weight. This happens when snow accumulates in significant quantities. The bottom layers of snow are crushed under the weight of the snow above, with air being forced out of it. This high density snow with little air within it becomes glacial ice. It is this high density which makes glacial ice appear blue. The dense glacial ice absorbs red and yellow light and only blue light is scattered, hence the beautiful blue colour!
Ice caves come in many shapes and sizes. The sad thing is that the ones I have seen are often only there for a limited time only, often only several weeks at best as the ice melts and caves collapse. On the positive side, as one closes, there is often not too long to wait before another opens up and I have somewhere else to explore!
So without further ado, here are some photos of some of my favourite ice caves, which range in size from that of a small wine cellar to that of a church! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Be sure to do your research and take a guide with you if you want to find any ice caves yourselves or play around on glaciers! I have also ommited the locatons of these caves as they tend to melt and disappear but mainly because I don’t want ot encourage people to go looking for ice caves without the correct experience, equipment and local knowledge.
Crystal Cave
On one glacier near to where I lived was the largest cave I have been in. This photo was taken by my friend Alex who ventured in first and looked back as the rest of our party, including me, entered. You can see me at the front of the group in blue. The cave was massive and huge blocks of ice had fallen from the ceiling with their white colour contrasting against the more vivid blue ice of the walls and roof of the cave, making the blocks of ice look like huge crystals. To the left, off the edge of the photo, the cave extended further into the glacier with a fast-flowing icy river running through it. It gave me very Journey to the Centre of the Earth vibes and was an amazing experience.
You can see in the last two photos how the cave appears from the outside. In the second-last photograph, you can see it towards the left of the photograph and showing its position at the toe of the glacier. I love this photograph because it also shows how massive the glacier is; you can’t even see its full width in that photograph but it makes the cave look tiny in comparison!
Adventure Cave
This cave was located within a large glacier. It was a narrow cave but somewhat deep for its relatively small size compared with some others I have seen and it snaked back into the darkness. I was hesitant to enter at first, as the ice which made up the floor was thin and brittle. Glacier ice is typically incredibly dense and strong, so I was concerned that the brittle ice underfoot could be concealing a larger fall below. I used my ice axe to break up some of the loose ice. I was able to confirm that it was simply meltwater, which had refrozen, concealing only a few inches of brittle ice before I then hit solid glacial ice below.
Icicle Cave
Although not the largest, this small but beautiful cave was screened by a wall of icicles and had plenty around the entrance.
Me (left), Josh (centre – Aussie), Alex (right – UK)
Ice Arch
Josh (left – Aussie), Alex (centre – UK), me (right)
A short walk away from the small but beautiful Icicle Cave was an incredible ice arch! What had been an ice cave had melted in such a way as to create this massive arch, which I have yet to see anything like since. My friends and I only had a maximum 10-second timer on our phone cameras, so we all took it in turns to set the camera going before sprinting up the bank to get into frame. This photo is undoubtedly the best effort, with Aussie Josh (left) fully committing to the leap into frame. What a rockstar!
Bubble Cave
From left-right: Oksana (Ukraine), Lauren (Canada), Barney (UK), Ireland (Canada), me
Located within walking distance of where I lived, I visited this cave a couple of times. It had very dramatic bubbles on display in the cave walls and extremely vivid blue ice walls.
Daydream Cave
Me (left), James (centre – Canada), Alex (right – UK)
Daydream Cave as I have called it was a beautiful mid-sized cave located within a large glacier. It had very vivid blue ice and made for a great adventure with my friends. As an added bonus, I also scaled an iceberg on the way back out when crossing over a frozen lake, which we had to cross to get to the entrance.
Abraham Lake
Although not an Ice Cave, I couldn’t resist inlcuding it! Abraham Lake is a large lake in the Canadian Rockies. In the winter, it freezes over with a thick layer of ice. Methane gas in the lake is released and gets trapped as air bubbles, which creates the stunning appearance. It’s definitely worth seeing if you find yourself spending a winter in the Canadian Rockies, especially for keep skiiers and snowboarders who find themselves visiting Banff or Lake Louise and are in need of some time away from the slopes. It’s a large lake though and the wind can be strong with nowhere to shelter from it so be sure to wrap up and bring some spikes for your boots!
Frozen Waterfalls
Josh (left – Aussie), Dennis (right – Canadian-Filipino)
Again, not an ice cave but still a great feature in the Canadian Rockies. Frozen waterfalls are popular with outdoor enthusiasts and especially ice climbers. Canada’s frozen waterfalls are a spectacle to behold!
This is a photo of Panther Falls, which is on the Icefield Parkway. I have been there many times both in the summer and winter. It’s a powerful waterfall and also has some great rock climbs next to it, hence my regular visits. I took this photo during a springtime visit with my friends Josh and Dennis, helping to show the massive scale of this waterfall.
Summary
I hope you have enjoyed this blog. I will likely write more blogs about the beautiful world of ice and my time in the Canadian Rockies. I have spent a great deal of time on glaciers and climbing up mountains in all weather. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, then be sure to visit my Support Me page to subscribe to email updates and my social media. Any donations to support my work would also be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Thank you for reading and happy travels!
Andy Argo
Title image
Me in Daydream Cave, Canadian Rockies
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