The Traveller's Magazine
Ice caves are really something spectacular… and fragile. Photographer Ron Gile risks his life in order to capture these places in Alaska, places that could collapse at any time. We’re going cave-deep with Ron, just watch out for falling icicles!
The caves dazzling turquoise walls look like they’ve been there for centuries. It’s hard to imagine this cave was only formed two years ago, at the beginning on 2012. This mystifying place in Alaska isn’t as sturdy as it looks. The ice walls and cavern could collapse at any time and without warning. It’s safe to say that ice caver and photographer Ron Gile, 55, risks his life each and every time he goes into caves like these to take photographs.
On this occasion, Ron and a few of his mates trekked across a 2-mile long frozen lake and descended into an underground chamber that is more than 400 feet deep. At the back of the cave is a moulin, a hole that goes straight up to the surface and is created when melt water from the surface starts to open a channel that pours down to the glacier underneath.
Ron told Caters News,
“I always find it fascinating being inside any of these caves, but I do get a little apprehensive going in, they can and do collapse. However, the beauty inside is just too powerful a temptation to not go inside.”
Perhaps we can leave these kinds of experiences to the experts the next time we catch flights to Anchorage!
Incredible! Have you ever wanted to try caving and cave exploring? The most exciting new tour has just been launched in Vietnam, inside the world’s largest cave.
