The Ice Caves

Lore & Background

This type of cave was first formally described by Englishman Edwin Swift Balch in 1900, who suggested the French term glacieres should be used for them, even though the term ice cave was then, as now, commonly used to refer to caves simply containing year-round ice. Among speleologists, ice cave is the proper English term. A cavity formed within ice (as in a glacier) is properly called a glacier cave.

In Their Own Story

The torchlight sputters. Conker's breath hangs in the air like a cheap cigarette, and the ice under his paws gives a thin, treacherous *crack* that echoes all the way down the tunnel. Somewhere ahead, a drip of meltwater hits a stone with a sound like a dropped pint glass. He spits. "Right then. Lovely. Just lovely. We've gone from the pub to a freezer with a roof. Brilliant. Five stars, would not recommend."

Behind him, the others are already arguing about whose fault it is that the path forward is a sheet of black ice over a drop that looks about as deep as the pub cellar. Conker doesn't look back. He never does. He just adjusts his grip, grins at the stalactite hanging just above his head, and starts to run.

Reader's Guide

Ice caves occur as static ice caves, such as Peña Castil Ice Cave, and dynamic or cyclical ice caves, such as Eisriesenwelt. Temperature mechanisms include cold traps, permafrost, and evaporative cooling. Different freezing mechanisms result in visually and structurally distinct types of perennial cave ice: ponded water, accumulated snow, ice formations, airborne moisture, needle ice, and intrusions.

Did You Know?

• In most of the world, bedrock caves are thermally insulated from the surface and commonly assume a near-constant temperature approximating the annual average temperature at the surface.
• Some cold traps may ensnare surface snow and shade it from the summer sun’s rays, which may further contribute to the colder cave temperature.
• Large ice masses from ponded water are plastic and can slowly flow in response to gravity or pressure from further accumulations.
• The only known examples of ice intrusions from a surface glacier are the several 'ice plugs' at the back of Castleguard Cave in Alberta.