The Fragile Beauty of Glaciers - A Disappearing World

Glacier Caves

Deep Inside the Glacier

In the depths of the ice cathedral stands a second glistening column, formed by slowly dripping meltwater, frozen into a crystalline sculpture. It supports the icy vault above, a temporary pillar in a world in motion.
The ceiling gleams with veined blue ice. Beneath the column, still meltwater flows, smooth as glass. From a distance, cold light enters through the opening, as if from another world.
A place that feels like a chapel within the glacier: silent, mysterious, and fleeting. This photograph received an honorable mention by the jury of the Swiss Photo Club at the SPC Photo Awards in Zurich, late 2024 and won third place in a photography contest by Expozer.
 

Light in the Dark

In the sheltered interior of the glacier, a single light source casts its beam across the frozen landscape. It is the headlamp of a man standing still, surrounded by ice. His light falls on an ice stalagmite on the ground, formed by meltwater dripping from above, freezing, and slowly building into a glistening point.
Above it, an icicle like stalactite descends from the ceiling, created by the same process in reverse. Together, they form a frozen flow: a kind of ice waterfall stretching from ceiling to floor. This feature is visible in another image in this exhibition: Frozen Veil” This photograph was selected for the Top 50 of the Swiss Photo Club Awards in Geneva in June 2025.
 

Ice Cathedral

Beneath the Morteratsch Glacier unfolds a space of striking grandeur, not shaped by human hands, but by time, pressure, and melting ice. The arched ceiling of layered blue ice rises like the ribs of a Gothic cathedral, while a solitary column of frozen meltwater stands as a fragile pillar at the center.
A clear river flows through the cave. The rhythm of dripping ice is at times harshly interrupted by the thud and rumble of stones collapsing from the melting upper rim near the entrance, an ominous reminder of the landscape’s constant motion. Entering this space during daylight feels like playing Russian roulette.
At the same time, the sounds of working ice rise from the depths: creaking, shifting, and the deep sighing of a living mass in motion.

The Ice Cathedral’s Gate

From this ice cave, there is a view of the Bernina massif. The sun is low on the horizon and illuminates the glacial landscape. In front of the cave entrance, meltwater drips downward, a sign of the ongoing melting process, which continues even in winter.
What we see here is not only spectacular but also risky. When the sun hits the area directly, entering or exiting becomes dangerous due to falling rocks from above the entrance. The warming of the ice and surrounding rock regularly causes fragments to break off. Sometimes icicles fall as well. This photograph was awarded the Silver Medal in the category Berge in der Landschaft at the Berge 2025 competition of PhotoSuisse and ÖVF.

Glacier View

This image shows the view from a small ice cave. Through an opening of glistening, translucent ice, the imposing entrance of a much larger glacier cave comes into sight. Blue layers of ice shape the winter landscape, while the sun breaks through just below the edge of the ice with a star-shaped sparkle. I spent the night in this cave. Across from it, in the larger cave, I also created the photograph Glacier Veil.

Melting Tunnel

What we see here is a partially collapsed ice tunnel, an impressive structure carved by meltwater as it makes its way through the glacier. A year earlier, this was still a seemingly stable cave rather than a tunnel. The arched ceiling once stretched unbroken, but during the melting process the roof split in two, creating two separate sections.
The blue ice, intensely colored due to its extreme density and age, glows under the soft light now entering from above. The ever widening opening reveals not only the beauty of this natural tunnel, but also its impermanence.

Ice Pillar

This imposing ice pillar stood in the “ice cathedral” during the winter of 2023/2024.
The pillar was reflected in the dark water of a small stream that flowed through the cave. As the winter progressed, the water began to freeze, and the cave gradually sealed itself beneath increasingly thick layers of ice. As the ice closed in, we were able to venture further inside and observe the structure of the cave more closely.
Ice pillars in glacier caves form from meltwater droplets that freeze upon contact with cold air or frozen ground. They grow slowly, either from the bottom up or from the ceiling downward, and sometimes both ends meet to form a continuous column. Airflow, prolonged cold, and regular dripping are the ideal conditions for these natural sculptures.
In another photo from this exhibition, Ice Pillar Base, the base of this pillar is visible, photographed on a different day, showing the distinctive shape of its lower part.

Frozen Veil

Roughly a month after the photo “Light in the Dark” was taken, the stalactite and stalagmite meet, two ice formations that had slowly grown toward each other, drop by drop, now joined in a fragile ice waterfall, a frozen veil that just barely touches the ground.
The fan shaped, “flat” ice structure likely formed through a combination of airflow, irregular water supply, rapid freezing, and minimal contact points. As a result, it resembles a frozen brush more than a column. A beautiful illustration of how dynamic and unpredictable ice growth in glacier caves can be.

Glacier Beach

A beach of fine sand beneath a ceiling of blue ice, an unexpected scene, deep within the glacier. The sand was carried by meltwater and deposited by the glacier itself, which grinds rock and debris into tiny grains. Flowing water has left behind patterns, much like those we see along the seashore.
A year ago, this spot was still a closed cave, but the landscape is constantly changing. At times, large volumes of meltwater surge through here, carving out the ice and expanding the space. What was once a cave has now become a tunnel, shaped by flow, time, and temperature.
"Glacier Beach" shows that the glacier not only freezes, but also shapes, scours, and re creates, even forming a beach of sand beneath the ice.

Wave of Ice

The ice vault arches over the cave like a frozen wave. Warm daylight enters through the opening, illuminating the ice in shades of blue, green, and gold. In the distance, a few mountain peaks of the Engadin glow in the last light of day.
The clarity of the ice is striking, resulting from its extremely slow formation: water freezes drop by drop, allowing the crystals to grow in an orderly way with hardly any flaws. With almost no air bubbles or impurities, light can pass through unobstructed, giving the ice a deep blue green tint.

The Weight of Ice

The ice ceiling bows under its weight, radiant in blue and green. Below, iron-rich stones add flashes of rust-red, a striking contrast to the fragile glacier above.

Lichtquelle

Deep inside a glacier: frozen water, suspended in time.
A point of light makes the darkness glow.
Photography in an ice cave, without AI, with a headlamp and much patience.