A journey that combines exploration and research, an immersion in the cold heart of the glaciers. La Venta takes us to discover one of the most fragile ecosystems on our planet. Considered by many to be sterile, its ephemeral folds conceal a life with many questions yet to be answered.

We walk and climb on glaciers, but we hardly think of being able to dive in to discover their heart. And yet, since the mid-eighties, this has been the new challenge of speleology. A story that also has Italians among its protagonists with the Association La Venta Explorations Geographics that in that period began its journey into the glacial depths, with what was called the “Ice project”. What pushes curiosity in this direction are the sinkholes where the water disappears from sight to slip into cavities, channels and cracks between the ice.

Where does it end?
How did this phenomenon develop, which over time would take the name of glacial karst?

These are the questions that researchers have been asking for a long time. Thus, several research groups decide to equip themselves with crampons and ice axes to set off to explore this cold underground world. Some move on the glacial masses of Svalbard, others in Greenland and Iceland. La Venta carries out an analysis that ranges from the Alps to the Tien Shan to reach the Karakorum and land on the extensive continental glaciers of Patagonia. A journey, which combines research and exploration, still ongoing because there are still many secrets to be revealed and they concern all fields of science, 360 degrees. We explored the topic in depth with Alessio Romeo, La Venta member and geologist .

Alessio, how do you get to explore glacial cavities?

The history of the internal exploration of glaciers is a fascinating one that has its roots in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, when some precursors of modern glaciology moved to explore various sinkholes present on the Mer de Glace, a glacier located on the northern side of Mont Blanc. On that occasion they reached a depth of 60 meters, then everything stopped.

When did these exploratory campaigns restart?

From the mid-1970s onwards. The Italians began to carry out the first studies in 1982. Then Giovanni Badino, a founding member of La Venta and a famous speleologist, in 1985 started the research on the Gorner Glacier together with Leonardo Piccini and Mario Vianelli. You have returned to the Gorner several times with the “Ice Project”… It couldn’t have been otherwise! The Gorner is the apotheosis for an enthusiast, a playground for glacial speleology. We have conducted over twenty expeditions on this glacier and we continue to discover mills and glacio-karst formations. This is thanks to the fact that it is an ephemeral phenomenon, in continuous evolution.

What do you mean?

That glacial cavities, unlike those in rock, change seasonally and even weekly, and unlike what was initially thought, the position of the mills changes over time and often some of these disappear. With the reduction of glacial masses, the sedimentary cover, the surface hydrology and the fracturing of the ice change and consequently the internal morphology of the glaciers also changes. This is why I defined the formations as an "ephemeral phenomenon". From the first studies to today we have observed the glacier changing radically: today the contribution of what were many lateral glaciers is missing and the surface has lowered by about 100 meters. Two events that have overturned the
surface morphology and also the internal one.


"In the end, everything starts from the visual component, from the aesthetic appeal.
Anyone who approaches speleo-glaciology does it initially for the aesthetics, then becomes passionate about the rest."


What do glaciers tell us from inside?

Basically, they made us understand that exploration has limits. We cannot go beyond a certain level because the cavities become increasingly narrow, or because we are faced with a siphon. A level full of water that, we discovered, does not only concern that point but is spread over a wider area. As if it were a level of the glacier's water table capable of providing useful information to understand its state of health. To give an example, in 2017, on the Perito Moreno, in Argentina, we observed jets of water on the glacier surface. These are conduits, minimal passages, which in certain periods are saturated with water. A phenomenon that over the years is becoming increasingly frequent and accentuated, a clear sign of the climate crisis we are experiencing.

Speaking of South America. Why did you choose to investigate both Alpine and Patagonian glaciers?

Patagonia was the second step of the Ice project, but certainly the most fascinating and interesting. You have the opportunity to study a glacier that is at sea level while in the Alps you are at least at 2000 meters above sea level.
Then, we talk about glaciers that originate from a cap, without considering the visual aspect. In the end, everything starts from the visual component, from the aesthetic appeal.
Anyone who approaches speleo-glaciology does so initially for the aesthetics, then becomes passionate about the rest.

What was the greatest emotion, besides the experience, lived on these ices?

Seeing with our own eyes the blue of the Patagonian ice, a color that we are still trying to explain. With Giovanni Badino we have started hypotheses and dialogues around this bright and vivid color. It is only there. The new research on the interior of the glaciers does not stop only at the exploration of the cavities, right?
Today, we are no longer looking for the deepest cave, but for methods of investigation that allow us to deepen our knowledge of the glacier and its environments. The goal is to extract as much useful information from the ice as possible, thus overcoming the natural exploratory limits. Glaciology, biochemistry, microbiology and other sciences work together for a comprehensive discovery of the glacier.
As La Venta we would like to focus our future activity on multi-disciplinary investigations including biology, because what happens in caves is extremely fascinating. We are talking about isolated places where many types of living beings proliferate, including bacteria that adapt to using particular substances and minerals to live. The same thing happens in the glacier, which is why we are involving more and more microbiologists and biochemists.

So you're telling us that the glacier is not a sterile environment?

Exactly. On most glaciers we find those natural formations called cryoconites: pools of water at the bottom of which there is a dark sediment, which however is not only mineral. Inside there are microalgae, tardigrades, rotifers and many other animal and plant species, along with pollutants from the atmosphere. A microscopic biome in what for many is a sterile environment, but which in reality is not.
Instead, it is a multidisciplinary territory, rich in ideas for scientific research.

After many years of research, the objectives and places to investigate have certainly changed. What is one of the last frontiers of speleo-glacial exploration?

Certainly Kyrgyzstan with the Inylchek Glacier, in the Tian Shan chain. The second longest mountain glacier in the world, with its almost 60 kilometers. Formed following the confluence of two other large glaciers: the North Inylchek and the South Inylcheck. At the point where they converge, a lake is formed, which periodically disappears, called Merzbacher. The disappearance, which usually occurs between July and August, is extremely rapid. The process that leads to this emptying of the basin is still unknown, despite decades of studies conducted on the subject. This is certainly one of the researches that we would like to continue in the near future.

What will be the next speleo-glacial expedition of La Venta?

Iceland with its glacial cavities linked to volcanic activity. We are also dealing with lava tubes in this area of ​​the world, for this reason we decided to also combine an objective for the “Ice” project, that is to explore and study the cavities dug in the ice by underlying volcanic activity.
The disappearance of glaciers is not a new phenomenon for the Earth: a phenomenon that is however accelerated today by human activity, so it is worth investigating in detail with equally rapid timescales.

Ph. Alessio Romeo, Martino Frova - The Venta