Visitors who descend into the ice caves near Dobsina in Slovakia
will find themselves an underground fairyland. Discovered in 1870,
the caves are a true geological rarity and have continued to astonish
visitors.
The Slovak Ore-Mountains include the famous castle of Murany,
the ice caves of Dobsina, and the Slovak Paradise, which is one
of the most beautiful regions in Slovakia: scattered with waterfalls,
gorges, and rock formations.
High mountains separate the ice caves from Dobsina and it takes
about two hours by car to take the long detour from the town and
reach the ice caves which had been called "ice holes" before
they were discovered. Up until 1870, they had been thought to be
merely an ice-filled opening at the bottom of a cliff. Then mining
engineer Jeno Ruffiny made the discovery which made the town famous:
he found caves across a total area of 7,000 square metres and with
height of 20-25 metres.
The caves are under the north-facing side of the mountains. From
the narrow entrance, visitors have to descend gradually and they
can enjoy the view of inner caves of different sizes on both sides
along the way, containing wonderful ice shapes and huge ice blocks.
The ice in the caves comprises of multiple frozen layers, sometimes
forming flat platforms, at other times huge walls, and icicles,
ice columns and ice cylinders make the view even more varied. The
appearance of the ice also changes: sometimes it is colourless
and transparent and sometimes white and opaque, including tiny
air bubbles. From time to time, flowing water brings some movement
to the snow-white scenery.
After descending 18 steps from the entrance, we reach the Ice Hall,
which is 120 metres long, 60 metres wide, and 11 metres high. The
hall has a total floor space of almost 5,000 square metres, covered
with ice as smooth as glass, and the ceiling is decorated with
shimmering ice crystals. The hall includes several ice columns.
The ice formations here have been named after the shapes they resemble:
burial stone, waterfall, tree stump, Bedouin tent and well. Going
further down into the caves, we reach the Ruffiny corridor, which
is 80 metres long and leads to a pointed hall named the
"chapel" through a man-made tunnel which is 6 metres
long. This tunnel is demonstrative of the width of ice in the cave.
This is the driest and coldest point of the caves, where the water
of the ice caves disappears. Visitors can also see here an ice
stump named Lucifer, an ice curtain, an organ, and a glass column.
After climbing as many as 120 steps, you will certainly forget
all the exertion when the marvellous formations of the smaller
ice hall appear in sight.
The fact that the ice grew gradually to its current width, forming
layers upon layers, played an important role in the development
of these marvellous formations in the ice caves of Dobsina. The
first layer appeared as a result of the inflow of cold air at the
bottom of the cave, and on top of this a second horizontal layer
formed, followed by several further layers. Other ice formations
resulted from a struggle between warm and cold air inflow, and
this process is still underway. Ice growing from top to bottom
or bottom to top is formed by dripping water. This is how shapes
called the ice curtain, the waterfall, and the ice-trellis developed.
Formation is going on all the time: the shapes are constantly changing.
Visitors can see new scenes not only as the years go by, but even
as the seasons change. For instance during springtime, they will
notice thumb-sized ice crystals, clear as water, growing on the
walls. These develop as a result of the meeting of water vapour
dissolved in the cold air and the much colder air from the rocky
walls. One of the reasons that the ice does not melt here is that
the caves lie 972 metres above sea level. The temperature in the
caves is minus 8 degrees centigrade, which may slightly increase
as a result of warm external air during the summer.
It takes about one hour to walk through the caves, and it does
not require any special physical effort because the caves can be
explored without difficulty.
After descending 18 steps from the entrance, we reach the Ice Hall,
which is 120 metres long, 60 metres wide, and 11 metres high. The
hall has a total floor space of almost 5,000 square metres, covered
with ice as smooth as glass, and the ceiling is decorated with
shimmering ice crystals. The hall includes several ice columns.
The ice formations here have been named after the shapes they resemble:
burial stone, waterfall, tree stump, Bedouin tent and well. Going
further down into the caves, we reach the Ruffiny corridor, which
is 80 metres long and leads to a pointed hall named the
"chapel" through a man-made tunnel which is 6 metres
long. This tunnel is demonstrative of the width of ice in the cave.
This is the driest and coldest point of the caves, where the water
of the ice caves disappears. Visitors can also see here an ice
stump named Lucifer, an ice curtain, an organ, and a glass column.
After climbing as many as 120 steps, you will certainly forget
all the exertion when the marvellous formations of the smaller
ice hall appear in sight.