The Castner Glacier ice cave, which attracts some 8,000 people annually, is collapsing. Officials are warning hikers to stay away from it, as it's gushing water and spitting out refrigerator-sized blocks of ice.
A torrent of meltwater gushes around big chunks of ice at the mouth of the Castner Glacier ice cave and dumps into Castner Creek. The torrent has widened the cave opening near the terminus of the glacier, which is covered by rocks and gravel and, on top, vegetation.
“Been here a couple of times in the winter, where you can walk into the cave,” Chuck said, “and we figured we’d try it during the summer.” It is indeed gushing out of the roughly 10-by-20-foot opening at the mouth of the cave. And it’s ejecting rocks and chunks of ice — some as big as washing machines — before they’re carried downstream to melt. That’s why the federal Bureau of Land Management has posted signs on the trail leading to the glacier urging hikers to be careful when approaching the ice cave.
“People should be very aware that any tunnel in ice is temporary and there’s potential danger in it collapsing or having rocks that are in the ice above collapsing,” said Matthew Sturm, a geophysics professor with the UAF’s Geophysical Institute who heads up its Snow, Ice and Permafrost Group.
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