Booming Ice Chasm is a stunning ice cave in the Crowsnest Pass area of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The cave is so called for it's incredible acoustics. It is said that as rocks tumble down and crash to the cave floor, 140 meters below, it causes booming echoes. The cave is located about 700 meters up the side of a mountain with its entrance tucked behind a rocky ledge and nearly impossible to see. No wonder it remained undiscovered until 2005 when spelunker Chas Yonge first spotted the chasm as a mysterious dark spot on Google Earth.

Booming Ice Chasm is what’s known as a “cold-trap” cave, where cold air enters the cave and sinks to the bottom displacing any warmer air which rises and exits the cave. The cold dense air is never able to escape keeping the cave frozen all year round.

Photo credit: Francois-Xavier De Ruydts