Photos of Russia’s Secret Ice Caves

In the far east of Russia, on a peninsula called Kamchatka, are stunningly surreal-looking ice caves that are formed under incredibly interesting conditions. Fire and ice are involved, or volcanoes and glaciers. As EPOD states about one, “It was formed by a stream flowing from the hot springs associated with the Mutnovsky volcano. This stream flows beneath glacial ice on the flanks of Mutnovsky. Because glaciers on Kamchatka volcanoes have been melting in recent years, the roof of this cave is now so thin that sunlight penetrates through it, eerily illuminating the icy structures within.”