Eiskapelle

Useful Information

Location:	A8 exit Bad Reichenhall, 35 km to the Königssee through Bad Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden. By ship (Königsseeschifffahrt) across the Königssee to St. Bartholomä. Trail uphill to the cave 60 min.
Open:	Ice Cave: no restrictions. Boat Ride: daily 9:50-16:20. [2008]
Fee:	Ice Cave: free. Parking at Königssee: Car EUR 3. Boat Ride: Erwachsene EUR 11. [2008]
Classification:	Glacier cave
Light:	bring torch and cavng equipment
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As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

The Eiskapelle (Ice Chapel) is probably the most accessible glacier cave in Germany, and also of overwhelming beauty. Unfortunately it is also extremely dangerous!

The Eiskapelle is not a show cave, the visit is extremely dangerous!
We advise not to enter the cave itself and to keep a safe distance from the ice!

The Eiskapelle is a small glacier at the foot of the Watzmann mountain, above St. Bartolomä at the famous Königssee (King's Lake). It is easily accessible on a comfortable walk of an hour. In general the cave inside the glacier is also called Eiskapelle. There are numerous webpage about this cave, many of them showing beautiful pictures of the cave. Unfortunately this obfuscates the fact, that entering this cave is extremely dangerous. The is is disintegrating all the time, and every year careless visitors are hurt or even killed by falling ice.

This cave is a typical feature of glaciers. Melting water enters the ice, forms a system of cracks and gorges to the rocks below the glacier. Here the water collects, forms a river of melting water and leaves the glacier at some point. This river creates its own cave below the ice, by melting the ice and eroding both the rocks below and the ice above. This type of cave may be found in every glacier, but most of those glacier caves con not be entered because of the melt water river inside. Here at the Eiskapelle it is possible (but dangerous) some two months per year.