Resident thrilled with ‘ice caves’ rising up near shore of Little Shuswap Lake

Teresa Olynyk remains thrilled with the sight she can see on Little Shuswap Lake right in front of her home.

She said on Feb. 17 that the ‘ice caves,’ as she calls them, appeared about four or five days earlier.

Two caves – or tents maybe, stretch away from shore. The first one is about 20 to 30 feet long, she estimates. A peaked ceiling of ice stands about four feet above the surface of the water. Where it ends, another ‘cave’ can be seen about 30 feet beyond the first one.

When Olynyk walked down to the shoreline to take photos, she decided to lie down on the rocks to get a view of the structure from the inside. She was tempted to crawl in as the water is shallow there, but she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of getting soaked in ice water. The water at the opening to the first one is probably about four inches deep and deepens to about two feet at the far end, she said.

Olynyk posted her photos on Facebook on the Shuswap Everything Friendly page, where they’re attracting lots of attention.

A similar but probably not as spectacular ridge appeared in the vicinity of shore in Shuswap Lake’s Salmon Arm Bay in February 2022. At that time, a Salmon Arm firefighter with the ice rescue team urged caution as the ridge indicated the ice had moved around enough that it had created a ‘fault line’ – so there could be weak spots elsewhere.

Olynyk is ecstatic she’s had the chance to witness the cave-like ice.

“You have to see it to believe it, it’s so cool.”