Austria’s Ice Cave: Eisriesenwelt

Due to the heat today: My blog post is about an Ice Cave. Eisriesenwelt is the largest Ice Cave in the World. It’s located in Austria in the Tennengebinge Mountain Range. It took a 20 minute steep climb and a steep cable car ride up the mountain to the restaurant. After that you have another 20 minute breath taking (literally), it’s very beautiful, but very steep…..  climb up a switchback trail to almost the top of the Hochkogel mountain. That’s the easy part. HA! Once inside on the English tour, my German guide put it this way, “Welcome to the largest ice cave in the world. The temperature in here is freezing. So, for your comfort we have 750 steps up and 750 steps down!” If by this you think he had a sense of humour, you’re mistaken. What happened next was no laughing matter. I tried to get a photo of him in the ice cave “Pictures are FORBIDDEN” rang out and echoed through the whole mountain. You should have seen the look on his face in the photo (glaring at me). If he had a sense of humor, he was hiding it very well. I didn’t take any photos after that inside as he was right ahead of me.  However, in the back of the line, I kept seeing flashes of cameras going off. They probably felt safe there! I had heard how cold it was. So. I was quite prepared. I had an LLBean winter coat, a scarf, gloves, heavy shoes, and the heated foot warmers you can put in your shoes. If you think I went a little overboard, you’re wrong. We were in there 70 minutes. When the door opened I got a blast of arctic wind strong enough to blow me backwards. The hand rails were metal… brrr… and the air was cold enough to keep the ice frozen. The girl behind me couldn’t feel her feet after 15 minutes and couldn’t wait to get out. I heard numerous complaints behind me, but I was very warm. And my camera was burning a hole in my hand waiting to be used. I’d do it all over again. It was the most amazing adventure that equals no other I have done.