Eddy Cartaya: My glacier cave discoveries
Eddy Cartaya: Gleccserbarlang felfedezéseim
A ranger at Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, Eddy Cartaya not only solves cave crimes -- he also explores the ever-changing system of caves within Mount Hood's Sandy Glacier. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
been in a cave before?
caves are made of lava rock,
with you today are made
one hour's drive from Portland,
see things and go places
ever seen or touched snow,
clumped together, and it's mostly air.
stacks up on top of it,
on the flow along the ice,
their way down through the glacier,
to the underlying bedrock.
explored a glacier cave before.
the entrance to one of these caves.
and rappel down into the hole.
going to overlapping levels.
the distance between those stations.
heights and distances
you punch it into a computer
bird's-eye view of the passage
sleeping under the snow.
snow melted off the glacier,
they were all connected.
on our feet called crampons
to the surface of the glacier.
and blasting through the cave,
of this entrance room.
what else is inside these caves?
because they're so cold
to live in completely hostile conditions,
on the polar icecaps of Mars someday.
the surface of the glacier and die,
their way up into the ice,
where we end up finding them.
in the back of Snow Dragon Cave.
of the glacier long, long ago,
down through over 100 feet of ice
essentially in our own backyard,
you can only do with space travel now,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eddy Cartaya - Cave ExplorerA ranger at Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, Eddy Cartaya not only solves cave crimes -- he also explores the ever-changing system of caves within Mount Hood's Sandy Glacier.
Why you should listen
Much of Eddy Cartaya's life takes place in caves. A ranger at Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, in charge of law enforcement and investigations, he solves crimes that happen in caves. This can range from investigating the theft of lava formations that date back 6,000 years to tracking down a group of people who covered over ancient cave art with spray paint.
Cartaya and his climbing partner, Brent McGregor, also explore the frozen, icy caves created in the Sandy Glacier as it slowly slides down Oregon's Mount Hood. In 2011, the pair identified and explored three caves which they named Snow Dragon, Pure Imagination and Frozen Minotaur. Together, the caves create 7,000 feet of passageway through the glacier. Experts think this may be the longest glacial cave system in the United States outside of Alaska.
Eddy Cartaya | Speaker | TED.com