Demänovská Ice Cave

Demänová Ice Cave

The Demänovská Ice Cave ( German: Demänovska Cave ) is located on the territory of the Slovak Village Demänovská Dolina in the Low Tatras. It is - in addition to the Demänovska stalactite cave - one of two publicly accessible caves in Demänovská Valley. Mentioned in a document was first established in 1299th The cave was formed by the former underground course of the Demänovska flow in the gray-blue limestone during the Middle Triassic.

Two different cavity shapes can in the Demänovská Cave ľadová are encountered, namely

• Caused by Wasserauswaschungen rounded cavities ( Čierna galéria, Jazerná chodba and Medvedia chodba ) and
• By Deckeneinstürze and frost weathering resulting Dome ( Štrkový dóm, Velky dóm, Kmeťov dóm, Belov dóm, Halašov dóm and Dóm trosiek ).

The special feature of the cave is the filling of the lower part of the cave with ice. This permanent ice created by natural closure of some inputs. This allowed the air in the cave no longer circulate, and the cold air remained in the lower part of the cave. The air temperature in the icy parts even during the summer maximum of 0 ° C. The relative humidity in the cave is between 92 % and 98 %, which favored the emergence of Eisböden, ice columns and stalactites and stalagmites.

The total length of the cave is 1,750 meters, of which 650 meters are open to the public.

Access

You can reach the cave by a narrow footpath that leads the visitor from the parking lot in the valley to about 90 meters higher input. This is located on the cliff Basta, the 840 meters above sea level. inst is located. On the way to the entrance of an informative nature trail has been established.

Flora and Fauna

In the cave now, seven species of bats are detected. In addition, many bear bones were found in the cave, which were kept in the 18th century for dragon bones. Then comes the old name of the cave - Dračia Cave ( Dragon's Cave ) - back.