This was our first glacier cave project. Losing the Sandy Glacier is like losing a friend. Oregon High Desert Grotto received an award from the National Speleological Society for our work in the Sandy Glacier Caves. We re-survey these caves at least once a year to track their rapid demise, conduct climatology studies, and collect water and microbial samples.
As the Sandy Glacier retreats, the caves pull back as well and leave rock debris piles at the end of ablation/melt season, marking the previous entrance position/drip line. Each arrow marks the annual retreat of cave. The orange arrow marks the cave entrance at the end of 2012, and the red arrow is 2015.
For more on this project, watch this award-winning Oregon Field Guide show:
Mt. Hood's Secret World