Subterranean Ice

Whilst out scouting I came across this shaft that dropped down beneath a glacier. In order to explore inside I had to fix a couple of ice screws and rappel down the shaft. 40 or 50 feet below the ice there wasn’t much scope for photography as it was too dark to see. I figured shooting upwards might make an interesting image, when gazing up I was reminded of my ‘Wormhole’ image which was obviously taken somewhere considerably warmer. Getting the shot without a rope in the way wasn’t easy, I needed to rappel into place, then fix some ice screws in place. I hung from these whilst the rope was removed by a friend.  I then used my ice axe to cut out some ledges for the feet of my tripod which was then lowered down from above. The shaft was quite narrow so I focus stacked for depth of field. Once I had the shot the rope was lowered down, I removed the ice screws and used prusik loops to climb out.

An i-phone snap shows me rappelling down.

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