The Snow Cave at Sas dla Crusc/Santa Croce
Alta Badia is a true treasure trove of wonders, containing masterpieces sculpted by Nature itself—from the most majestic, shaped over millennia, to the more delicate and ephemeral ones, yet persistent due to their cyclical nature. Among these stands out the snow cave, located at the foot of Cima Dieci, inviting you to discover a nature of icy and pristine beauty, revealing the frozen heart of a cave adorned with impressive wavy walls, patiently sculpted season after season.
The cave continues to grow in size in the summer: the narrow hollow carved out by the stream is filled with cold air which is denser and therefore heavier than the summer air outside. This in turn sets off an inverted chimney effect: the heavy cold air sinks down to the bottom of the cave, giving rise to a strong draught from the top to the bottom of the snow cave. Warm summer air is now drawn into the cave from the upper openings, causing the cave to melt from within.
In the meantime, the warm is cooled by the ice and thus flows out through the lower opening as heavy air. This effect can continue for months, melting an ever larger cavity in the ice.
