In this episode of, “Tales from Secret Western Caves”, hot desert cavers chill out, hundreds of feet underground in a premier and quietly kept alpine cave.
Who will tell all, will the locals react, and who definitely did not make a whisky Pleistocene with an “ aged” ice back?
The story begins with a birthday flight for my friend Mark to Salt Lake City.
The crew on this journey is: Mark Arnold, Jamie Goodwin, Zach Bangerter, Alex Chagovetz, John Horton. Below is a brief description of what we come down into:
A few hundred feet underground and at the last re-anchor, cave opened up into a large chamber with a solid ice floor with sections over 8 feet deep.
Within the ice, rocks and other undisclosed artifacts lay suspended and frozen in time from falling into the depths of the cave.
What could these artifacts reveal about the regions past?
The cave was discovered decades ago and there have been trips into this cave
This cave has been pretty well hidden from the general public and not many people have been inside this cave.
There is a 350 ft drop to gain access to the bottom of the cave. You do need 400 ft of rope for the re-anchors and re-directs.
There is some passages at the bottom that continue but are plugged with ice.
There is over 8 ft of ice in some locations at the bottom and the ice is slowly melting so crampons do help to walk around. There might be some interesting artifacts that are frozen over in the ice that should be studied more. This is a sensitive cave, so the location is being withheld.
the melting ice water re freezes and fills in the previous ice.
Continuing exploration will occur, and I feel that this cave will be a significant and treasured resource for generations to come.
Take great care when going with your local grotto.
