The most iconic and most famous part of Lechuguilla is called The Chandelier Ballroom. It is an area of the cave that contains the largest and most beautiful cluster of gypsum chandeliers underground in the world. These deliacte formations are extremely fragile and they grow from the ceiling downwards. There is another area of Lechuguilla cave called The Chandelier Graveyard, where the gypsum chandelier formations have all fallen from the ceiling and are now on the floor on the rocks.
Pictured here lies the main set of gypsum chandeliers found in The Chandelier Ballroom. An orange pathway marks where we can and can't stand. However, we tried very hard to make photographs that hid the pathway so not to distract the eye too much away from the beauty of the gypsum chandeliers.
Gina Moseley adds some scale in this photograph and poses admiring the formations.
