Kungur Ice Cave

Kungur cave runs about five and a half kilometres through gypsum and anhydrite under the Ice Mountain above the Sylva river, of which around one and a half kilometres are on the tourist route. It is a cold cave: air sinks into the entrance in winter and cannot escape, so the first grottoes hold permanent ice - floor ice, columns, and crystal growths on the ceiling that reform each year and are at their most developed in late winter and early spring. Deeper in the temperature rises above freezing and the ice gives way to bare gypsum, collapse chambers and about seventy lakes, some of them substantial and connected to the river. It has been shown to visitors since 1914, when a local man, Alexander Khlebnikov, leased it and cut a route, making it one of the oldest show caves in Russia. The route is lit and guided, with a laser show in some sections.

History

The cave has been on record since 1703, when Peter the Great sent the geographer Semyon Remezov from Tobolsk to Kungur; Remezov drew up a plan of the district and made the first sketch of the cave. It has been shown to visitors since 1914 - more than five million have come since, about 100,000 a year. On the eastern part of the Ice Mountain above it lie two settlement sites of the 7th to 9th centuries, of the Lomovatovo culture (Wikipedia, Kungur Ice Cave).

The landscape

• The ice grottoes - permanent floor ice, columns and ceiling crystals near the entrance.
• The lakes - around seventy underground bodies of water deeper in the system.
• The 1914 opening - one of the oldest show caves in Russia, cut by Khlebnikov.
• The gypsum - collapse chambers and bare rock beyond the freezing zone.

When to go

February to April for the fullest ice crystals; the cave is open year-round. Two to three hours including the tour. Guided only, at set times.

Things to know

Guided tours only, on a fixed route with fixed timings. Cold throughout, near freezing at the entrance - warm clothing is needed in any season. Ice is much reduced by late summer. Some sections have coloured lighting and a laser show, which not everyone wants.

Nearby

Kungur town has merchant architecture; Perm is north-west.

Key facts