Monday, January 21, 2013

Icy Caves

برای دیدن عکس ها در اندازه ی واقعی روی آنها کلیک کنید
Inside the glacier-cave: Amazing underground chamber with giant ice slides that never melt

•140 metre deep cave is beneath the Rocky Mountains
•Crystal clear ice makes explorers feel they are flying, while unique acoustics make it almost impossible to   converse.
The cave has unique acoustics as falling rocks crash and boom when they tumble down the 140 metre deep cave, making it hard to converse
 As melting snow and rainwater trickle down the cave entrance, it is transformed into an amazing natural frozen water slide
Adam Walker inside a newly found cave, called Booming Ice Chasm, beneath the Rocky Mountains. Crystal clear ice is several meters thick and makes people feel like they're flying
 Adam Walker inside the Booming Ice Chasm
Water dripping into the cave's entrance causes a huge ice slide to form, which explorers say is treacherous as the ice is crystal clear and difficult to navigate
 Explorers say navigating across the crystal clear ice gives them a feeling of flying as they become disoriented
 Adam Walker at the entrance to the cave, preparing to descend onto the 'ice slide'

The entrance to the cave as Adam Walker (left and Christian Stenner (right) prepare to enter through the entrance which helps keep the cave frozen all year round due to a rare natural phenomenon.
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Plummeting to new depths: Spectacular ice caves photographed for the first time deep beneath a Swiss glacier
 Vertical limit: The team had to abseil often vertical shafts that are up to 65ft deep
Long route: The group camped about an hour away from the glacier and had to get up at 5am to get ready to spend around eight hours on the glacier each day
 Steep slope: The ice caves presented a 'completely different challenge' to normal caves, Mr Shone said
 Challenging temperatures: The team had to grapple with varying temperatures which could drop to -18 degrees at night time
 A sight to behold: Mr Shone said he is now fascinated with the ice caves and wants to visit them again
 Inside the ice cave: The team's work will help researchers get a better understanding of glaciers and their rate of melting
 The bright blue: The glaciers move about 50ft a year as they melt
 Descending the depths: A team of eight climbed down the moulins - vertical shafts - in the Gorner Glacier near Zermatt in Switzerland
Adventure into the deep: The team spent two days digging a path down to the glacier to reach the moulins on the expedition in October in what photographer Robbie Shone said was 'extremely spectacular'

Giant glacier: The glacier in Switzerland is 8.7 miles long and is the second largest glacial system in the Alps
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The ice tunnels of the French Alps: Breathtaking shots show climbers risking their lives in steep, narrow caves
Brave: Hulya Vassail climbs the sheer, treacherous walls of a moulin ice cave, formed by meltwater on Chamonix's Mer de Glace glacier
Treacherous: The walls of the cave are made entirely from slippery ice, and climbers face a 20m plummet to jagged ice below if their ropes fail to hold them
Courage: Alexandre Buisse clung to supports screwed directly into the walls of ice to capture these spectacular images of his friends climbing in the caves
Look! No hands! Ms Vassail reaches the narrow mouth of the crevasse - and heartstoppingly lets go to allow the rope to take her entire weight at the top
Daunting: Giulia Monego faces the terrifying climb out of the crevasse
Daredevil: Ms Monego tackles the daunting ascent from the icy cave, which Mr Buisse said was about 20m deep, and three by six metres wide
Tools for the job: Wielding an ice axe and with her boots equipped with crampons, Ms Monego makes her way up the steep walls
 Dark: These pictures show Ms Monego as she climbs from a second, deeper, narrower cave
Seasonal: here is only a short window of time in November and December each year when the caves can be climbed

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