AUSTRIAN ALPS
52 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016D
EEP INSIDE HOCHKOGEL
mountain, cave guide Siggi
Kahl is getting ready for his
tour. Using a flaming taper,
he lights old-fashioned
carbide lamps, and hands them one-by-one
to his guests. ‘These are the only lights
allowed in the cave, so please, no torches
or mobile phones. Also, I hope you’ve all
brought a warm coat!’ He takes a headcount,
then heaves open a cast-iron door bolted
into the rock and steps into inky blackness.- Salzburgerland
Elemental forces have created marvels in the mountains of
Salzburg, and the most wondrous is within the rock itself
Inside, the reason for Siggi’s warning
becomes obvious. Within a few steps of the
cave’s entrance, the temperature plummets
to within a sliver of freezing. Breath steams
and fingers chill. Up ahead, a staircase
disappears into the gloom, and high above,
a line of lights from another group bobs and
sways like fireflies in the darkness. ‘Now I
am afraid we must do some climbing,’ Siggi
says, rubbing his hands together for warmth.
After a few minutes, Siggi stops and takes
a strip of magnesium from his pocket.Touching it to his lamp, it catches light with
an electric-blue flash, sending shadows
dancing onto the walls. ‘This is where you
see why we call this Eisriesenwelt,’ Siggi
says, holding the sparking magnesium aloft.
‘Welcome to the World of the Ice Giants.’
From the gloom, a great column of
blue-white ice materialises beside the
staircase, its surface gleaming and glinting
like crystal in the lamp-light, and its upper
reaches lost in the darkness. From inside,
there’s the faint sound of water trickling as
the ice melts – the same process that’s
carved out the cave over millions of years.
‘This is the largest ice formation we
have here,’ Siggi says, lighting another
magnesium strip as the first sputters and
dies. ‘And it’s still growing. It’s added
more than a metre this season.’The cave system at
Eisriesenwelt (‘World of
the Ice Giants’) extends
over more than 25 miles52 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016