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With multicoloured lights gently glowing from a
translucent ceiling, a stream rippling through rocks beneath and a
bright light in the distance, this tunnel looks like a passage to
fairytale world.
But this breathtaking photograph was taken in cave carved out of the
living rock and ice of this world - albeit on a remote fringe little
visited by outsiders.
These incredible pictures show ice caves carved by volcano-fed hot
springs through the glaciers of Kamchatka.
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They were captured by local guide and photographer Denis Budkov, Natalia
Balentsova, a photographer from Chelyabinsk, and others on the peninsula
on the eastern edge of Russia's vast Siberian land mass.
The intrepid snappers came across the magical caves by chance while on
expedition near the Mutnovsky volcano, some 45 miles south of the
regional capital of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
The incredible lights shining purple, blue, green and yellow are no
computer trickery - they are the result of sunlight streaming through
the glacial ice into the hidden world below.
The cave was carved out of the glacier by an underground river that is
sourced in a hot spring gushing from the Mutnovsky volcano itself.
Mr Budkov told the Siberian Times: 'Mutnovsky volcano is the heart of
Kamchatka.
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'This heart is literally beating and you can feel it while the earth is
slightly moving under your feet'.
He added: 'We found the cave by chance in September 2012. It was not far
away from a volcanologists' hut.
'I was taking some photographers for a tour and we saw a spring running
from under the glacier. We came closer and saw that there was a hole so
we went into this extraordinary cave.'
Ms Balentsova spent several hours inside working on photographs to
record the incredible subterranean world they found themselves inside.
One her pictures - dubbed Treasures Of The Dwarfs - won the Russian Wild
Nature competition last year.
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She said: 'Outside, the glacier was very dirty and grey. But inside,
everything was different.
'The snow was melting, and the light passed through the thin walls,
reflecting surprisingly bright colours.'
The walls and ceiling of the frozen world are made up of layers of
compacted snow, with the river softly gurgling through a long chamber
illuminated by light glinting through windows made of ice,
'It's hard to find such places without a guide', said Budkov. 'Even me,
being an experienced guide, didn't know about this cave as it is off the
usual routes I normally take.
'Plus at the moment, it is impossible to get there as we have a metre
and a half of snow covering everything.
'I'm not sure if it will even melt during the summer. So maybe the
people who want to see the cave will have to wait until next year'. |
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