Why did we cover this story now? The alpine ice caves are rapidly melting as our climate changes and average global temperatures are rising. Here, you see a beautiful artistic lithograph from 1845 showing people exploring Kolowratshöhle, on the Austria/German border taken from the artist: Georg Petzoldt. Some visitors went there to ice-skate. Sadly, melting since the 19th century has changed Kolowratshöhle dramatically. Researchers today stand in the same part of the cave seen in the lithograph. It’s now devoid of ice. This will be the fate of all the other ice caves in the next few decades. In "When the Magic Melts," my most recent article in the October 2022 issue of National Geographic magazine, we document the important contributions of scientists—and tour guides—as they work against the clock in this rapidly disappearing landscape.
