Ice Cave in Paradana

13 February 2025 Caves

A caver in red stands beyond a blue frozen pool beneath the layered rock ceiling of Paradana Ice Cave.

The Great Ice Cave in Paradana is one of the deepest and best-known caves in Slovenia, partly because of its history: at the end of the 19th century, blocks of ice were cut from the cave, hauled away and sold. Today it is recognised as a natural monument, primarily because of the permanent presence of ice in the cave.

At the time of the first explorations, the ice extended to a depth of 150 metres, but temperature changes are causing it to melt ever faster. At this rate, there may be no ice left in the cave at all in a few decades.

The photographs show a chamber quite close to the entrance (at a depth of approximately 20 metres).

A caver in red stands inside the vast Paradana ice cave, with blue ice hollows in the foreground.

A headlamp glows beyond a frozen pool and sculpted blue ice inside a narrow chamber of Paradana Ice Cave.

Vast ice-lined entrance chamber of Velika Ledenica in Paradana, with a red-suited caver providing scale among rock and frozen pools.

A caver in red protective gear climbs beside a towering wall of blue-white ice in the Paradana ice cave.

A small frozen pool fills a narrow passage in Paradana Ice Cave, with a headlamp visible deeper inside.

A red-clad caver studies sweeping layers of translucent ice glowing blue and amber inside the Paradana ice cave.

A helmeted caver stands beside a towering blue-grey ice wall in the dim Paradana cave.

A caver in red examines an icy Paradana chamber where misty blue walls rise above a gravel floor.

A red-suited caver stands beneath sweeping translucent ice facets, whose curved blue-grey layers fill the chamber wall.

A small red-clad caver stands beneath sweeping translucent ice formations inside a broad chamber of the Paradana ice cave.

Blue ice and sculpted rock frame a steep chamber in Paradana Ice Cave, viewed upward toward a caver.