My heart missed a beat.
It was in Eisriesenwelt: largest explored ice caves in the world.
Just some months into my professional career I got a chance to visit Germany and ice caves in Austria.
From Salzburg we took a slow moving train to Werfen. Train glided through forest, bordering pristine Salzach River. Rhythmic ripples in the river, crumbled shades of cottony clouds and beautiful buds blossomed, in the bright sun. Alluring Alps acted as a backdrop for dynamically changing scenery.
We reached Werfen in an hour. We crossed a beautiful bridge, over a brook. A mud road to ice caves took us through woods. Sky kissing trees, created a welcome carpet by shedding lovely red, yellow and orange leaves. Soothing sound of Salzach enchanted us in serene calmness of the wild.
A 15 mins drive through perilously curvy road, then a 3 mins journey in Austria’s steepest cable car, took us to higher altitudes of Alps.
Last 15 minutes trek on a height of 1600 meters, unleashes the beauty of heaven on earth. Massive greenery, meandering river and miniature houses, provide a unique panorama of Salzach valley. Heavenly high Alps, reflect all the sunshine. This serpentine route, winding along the edges of the mountain, takes us to the mouth of the cave.
Eisriesenwelt in German means “World of Ice Giants”. These 42 km long limestone ice caves were formed 100 million years ago. Anton Posselt, a nature scientist from Salzburg first discovered these caves in 1879.
Every year more than 2 million tourists Visit Eisriesenwelt. Only first kilometre stretch of the caves is open for visitors.
At the cave entrance our guide gave us carbide lamps, 1 per 3 visitors.
As soon as we entered cave, a freezing gale from inside blew out our lamp. Guide lit it again for us. It was as if we time travelled and reached an underground dark ice age.
Coolest cave interior was like a freezer in the refrigerator. Our mobiles, cameras, batteries froze to death.
When our eyes got adjusted to the inside darkness, what we saw next was mind blowing. Huge ice sculptures, stalactites hanging from the roof, stalagmites arising from beneath. Magnificent walls gleamed with hardened white ice.
A large room and A 25 metres high ice stalagmite are named after Anton Posselt. Many fascinating ice formations have fancy names as “The Empire of Diamonds”, “The Serpent” “Labyrinth of Demons”, “Castle”, “Ice palace” etc. For spectacular effect, Guide highlights enormous, endearing, enchanting sculptures with Magnesium lighting.
An ice formation looked as if a bear is ready to attack. A miniature string of structures forms an icy veil. Another structure seemed like water was seeping through a small creek and suddenly froze as if somebody said “Statue”.
Ice palace had an ice Arch, icy roof, huge ice walls, pillars to touch and feel, a big ice block served as bench to sit on.
While returning, my friend and I were the last ones. We could see fireflies like faint light from lamps of fellow tourists. We were afraid of our lamp blowing out and we being left in dark… dark… icy world of giants.
Suddenly we heard a feeble voice of a woman “Help… Help”. We could not see anybody. We were afraid “what if nobody was there, if it was our imagination or some sort of icy ghost”. Again we heard a shrill voice as if she was in great danger. We went back and raised the lamp. A very old lady, was more than happy to see us. We held her hand and walked slowly towards the entrance.
Our guide, our friends and old lady’s family were eagerly waiting for us. They cheered and thanked us.
If you get a chance to visit Austria, Do not miss, cool, calm, captivating ice caves. Rain or shine, you can visit them from May to October.
As a preparation, you need
- 3-4 pairs of warm clothes.
- Good pair of trekking shoes.
- Physical fitness.
Life is all about having everlasting memories. If you visit, Mysterious, Majestic and Marvellous world of ice giants, “Eisriesenwelt” will surely leave you, with a lasting impression.
--Rashmi Patil
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