[Scrooge]

Snow cave "skylights"

What's holding it up? The snow apron is hollow, a reticulated snow bridge waiting to collapse.

The Ice Caves and snow slopes at Big Four are always dangerous. Right now, they're more dangerous than usual, in a place where danger is least expected, on the apron of snow that extends out across the rubble field from the base of the avalanche cones.

Big Four looking east. What's dangerous is the thin layer of snow on the left.

Snow apron, a thin layer of snow extending out from the base of the avalanche cones. Unlike the caves and the steep snow slopes, it never intimidates anyone.

Once the snow has melted back to the base of the avalanche cones, the whole thing becomes more stable. The cones are thick and dense and, although a few big caves are forming at the base of the falls, those are obvious and the dangers apparent. I hope these pictures will alert people to the dangers that are there, now.

Holes in the roof, 08-08-08

The air layer, 08-08-08

Tuesday, I watched Ice Girl's daughter, Trinity, chip away at the edge of one of the arches like the ones in "What's holding it up?" and "The air layer". Her minor blow proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Without warning, a crack ten feet long appeared and a slab of ice weighing several tons played teeter-totter, shifting several feet till one end touched the ground. ......... It could just as easily have been a kid walking on it, rather than standing beside it.

Cave ceiling cave-in, a clearer than usual example of "before" and "after"

Snow cave "opening"

Holes in the snow

Holes on the floor, a more typical example of "before" and "after".

Picture window. Last year's was better, but it's interesting to note that this kind of opening was developing in the same part of the ice field that it did the year before.

Scrollwork to scale. ........ Look twice.

The Ice Cave, 08-08-08 Last Friday was my day to explore the Ice Cave. Two weeks ago, when it first opened up, I wasn't psychologically prepared for that "adventure" and, as I illustrated then, there was too much fog in the cave to be able to see anything, anyway.

Ice Cave entrance passage, 07-24-08

Getting foggy, 07-24-08

What I want to do is find out how the Ice Cave develops. Does the cave survive from one year to the next, or does a new cave form every year. I figured that, if I could get to the back of the cave, now, I'd have my answer. I'd either crawl back till the tunnel opened up into the big, arched passage of last years cave, or I'd travel all the way to the cliff in a tunnel being melted out of new snow.

IceCave entrances 08-08-08

Ice Cave passage, 08-08-08. Unfortunately, it was still foggy (although not quite as bad as the first time).

Back wall? ........ Probably not, although I was stopped here. I think it's just a big boulder near the end.

Although I'd come in 300 or 400 feet from the entrance, my memory is that the last 40 or 50 feet sloped up fairly steeply, and I hadn't reached such a point when my way was blocked. However, I was in far enough to know it was all new ice. The old cave has disappeared, filled up with last winter's avalanches. Caveat: Ice Girl, who's been exploring and studying the Ice Caves for at least ten years, says that it works both ways. Some year's the old cave is completely filled, some years it's not. When it's not, the new cave will melt back till it reveals the leftover portions of the old cave. ........ So I guess we'll have to keep checking. The avalanche cone One other thing that intrigues me at Big Four is the main avalanche cone, and the topknot that seems to form every year.

Avalanche cone 08-12-08

Upper avalanche cone and topknot, 08-12-08

Topknot and righthand moat, 08-08-08

Topknot pan, 08-12-08

When I was up there a month ago, the avalanche cone and topknot were joined by a honeycomb of ice, and I was able to get right up to the edge to photograph it.

Crevasse art, 07-08-08

Crevasse art, 07-08-08

Last Tuesday, the honeycomb was gone, and what's left is apparently an open crevasse, with no points of contact that I could see (although there must be some).

Crevasse pan, 08-12-08. .......... This is either a terrible stitching job or a remarkable stitching job.

Since I couldn't see how the tip was supported and couldn't see how badly the lip was undercut, I didn't dare get all the way up to the edge to take pics looking down into the crevasse, which is what I wanted. Instead I knealt down five or six feet back from the edge and held the camera out as far as I could with one hand. It wasn't quite far enough, as the picture shows. It is kind of frustrating to climb up 350 feet and then not be able to go the last 12 inches. Next time.

[The Angry Hiker]

[bobbi]

i started to write "then where will scrooge go?" in response to AHs post. just kidding scrooge! that's fantastic that you get to the big four and keep track of it all. maybe ice girl will give you a job on measurement, temperature, etc. last week the wall arch, now an ice cave. do you know if the ice caves at mt. rainier still exists? great photos! i must go back to housecleaning!

[Hulksmash]

Scrooge wrote:

[Scrooge]

bcfc53 asked

[ree]

[bobbi]

cool....years ago, i was invited to go with some friends in 1976 to check out ice caves. i believe they were talking about the one on paradise. i'm a bit claustrophobic so i opted out. wish i had gone and now the cave is gone or not

[Scrooge]

Angry Hiker and Hulksmash: either I wrote my report very badly or you were too busy reacting to pay attention. The whole point of the first part of this report was to caution people about the special dangers that exist at the Ice Caves, now. I assure you, Ice Girl and I understand the dangers out there a great deal better than most people, and Ice Girl is not about to put her daughter at risk. Trinity was beside the snow arch that collapsed exactly because we'd explainrd the dangers to her and spent a fair anount of time showing her what the dangers were ....... a real life version of the "thin ice" pictures in the report. As for Angry Hiker's dynamiting recommendation, that's about on a par with raising the hunting age to to 21 and requiring hikers to wear orange jump suits. ........ Bah! Humbug!

[More Cowbell]

Mr. Scrooge! Angry Hikers words contain SUBTLE hints of sarcasm. Re-read his T.R.'s and you might pick up his special style of posting. Carry on.

[Scrooge]

[Dayhike Mike]

[Scrooge]

bcfc53 said

[Dave Workman]

Scrooge: Disregarding suggestions from the peanut gallery that these ice caves should be blasted, those are some truly remarkable images, and I know a lot of work went into getting them. Nicely done.

[Solo Steve]

Very nice shots, Scrooge, nicely done! I have yet to go -- your pics are great inspiration.

[Ice Girl]

I believe the Ice Caves are dangerous, but it's the people who make the mistake of under estimating the dangers there that gets people hurt or even killed. I have been studing the Ice Caves for over 6 years now, and I am still learning things about them. The more you know the safer you can be. I have seen some pretty dumb things up there. I have also seen and gotten some pretty extreme shots. When I was first going up there I even got hurt, not to bad. But bad enough to learn that the Ice Caves are not a play ground, but a dangerous area where no one can tell what will happen at any givin time. Good report Scrooge. Ice Girl