Ice cave within a glacier in the winter of 2023/2024. Through the lateral crevices, the first winter storms blew snow into the interior of the ice cave, creating a winter wonderland inside. Never before and never again have I seen anything like this in a glacier cave.

The first snow of winter creates a unique winter landscape inside the ice cave.

At the entrance area of a glacier cave.

The cave is reflected in the frozen water on the ground.

Sometimes a safety tools are necessary to venture deeper into the cave.

Climbing down the little ice fall leads deeper into the glacier.

From the opposite side, a magnificent scene with an ice waterfall reveals itself.

In some sections, tunnels extend several hundred meters deep beneath the ice.

Usually these tunnels exist only one winter and then
collapse during the next summer, while the glacier is melting away.

Each cave is unique, revealing its own secrets and perspectives.

Spectacular ice formations are the reward for exploration.

Icicles hanging from the ceiling illuminated by the spotlight.

Sometimes ice caves open up again further inside and reveal huge rooms 
that feel like being in a cathdral of ice.

The ice at the entrance to an ice cave glows blue.

Mother Nature creates entire sculpture parks out of ice.

In summer, ice caves are very dangerous and usually in danger of collapsing. But in winter, the world freezes into a wonderful, bizarre landscape that can then be explored.

Small lakes can also form inside an ice cave.

The headlight of a flashlight and the residual light that falls on it bring light into the darkness of an ice cave.

Sometimes the entrances to the underworld are spectacular and impossible to miss.
In winter, ice caves can be reached on touring skis or snowshoes.

A bird's eye view of the entrance to an ice cave.

Sometimes the entrance looks like the entrance to an ice palace.
But this impression is deceptive. Here it goes down another ten meters until you reach the bottom of the cave.

Sometimes the entrance is rather inconspicuous.

But the wide angle shot close to the entrance shows the full beauty of the ice cave.

The view outside is also quite spectacular.

Sometimes friends or other photographers accompany me.

About 200 meters deep in the glacier, a cave branches off to the side.

But sometimes you can only crawl along before the cave gets bigger again.

Ice caves in the Alps can be found in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France.
Germany only has four glaciers left and these currently have no ice caves.
But there is the “Eiskapelle” at lake Königsee.

This is a so-called permanent ice field, which consists more of old snow than glacier ice. As it can collapse at any time, it is life-threatening inside.

In this case, the images in the "Eiskapelle" were taken with a drone.

Ice caves are subject to constant change.

The light shines through several glacier mills from above. In this case, the ceiling was so low that the image was composed of nine single wide angle shots.

The view upwards through the glacier mill is wonderful.

In autumn, the ice is not yet covered by snow and the light colors a hall inside blue. Following the meltwater, it goes even deeper into the glacier.

First, the safety of the ceiling is examined and you carefully make your way 
into the cave.

A double cave entrance forms an ice arch.

Further down, ceiling slabs in danger of collapsing prevent even 
deeper exploration of the cave.