It's NPS Cave Week! Did you know that Mount Rainier has caves? Ice caves, that is, filled with steam created by high ground temperatures on the volcano's summit. Climbers have often taken refuge from storms by descending into the caves from entrances along the crater rim. Geologists have mapped over a mile (1.2 km) of passageways and found a network of tunnels at slopes of 30 to 40 degrees.
The National Park Service manages 4,700+ caves across the country, from high elevation snow caves on Mount Rainier to caves deep beneath the surface of the earth. Learn more about caves at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/cave-week.htm
______ NPS Photo of scientists exploring one of Mount Rainier's summit caves in 1971. Description: Two men in orange parkas and yellow pants descend a steep slope into a misty snow cave. ~k
