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Mt. Hood Glacier Cave Featured By Oregon Field Guide Collapses

One of Mt. Hood's glacier caves, Snow Dragon, has partially collapsed, according to Glacier Caves Explorers. Sometime between November 2014 and the end of January, the roof caved in near the entrance.

Brent McGregor of Glacier Cave Explorers said two skylights opened in the cave in November, and last month about hundred feet collapsed, possibly due to warm air entering through the skylights. This has also been a historically low snow year for Mt. Hood.

"I would consider this the biggest change in the cave system since we have been monitoring it," it says on the group's Facebook page. "It's fascinating to watch the process of a giant glacier cave die away, but at the same time very sad."

McGregor along with Eddy Cartaya have been studying the Sandy Glacier caves since 2011. The glacier cave system has been identified as the largest known system in the Lower 48.

As Oregon Field Guide and EarthFix reported, Snow Dragon was first discovered in the mid-2000s by McGregor and Cartaya. The caves will inevitably disappear as the Sandy Glacier continues to shrink.

Copyright 2020 EarthFix. To see more, visit .

<p>The Snow Dragon Cave is partially closed after a collapse.</p>
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The Snow Dragon Cave is partially closed after a collapse.

<p>Here is what the entrance to Snow Dragon Cave looked like before the partial collapse.</p>
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Here is what the entrance to Snow Dragon Cave looked like before the partial collapse.

<p>Sometime between November 2014 and January, a two hundred-foot section of the Snow Dragon Cave fell.</p>
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Sometime between November 2014 and January, a two hundred-foot section of the Snow Dragon Cave fell.

Lizzy Duffy, Ed Jahn