History
In 1992, returning from Dru with their customers, two friends, high mountain guides, Bruno and Bernard Lambolez go to the cave of the "Mer de Glace".
It is the catch, in the Oisans Moutain, at home, the cable of glaciers Meije leads you to the glacier Girose ...
Called "memory time" by paleo-climatologists glaciers reveal our climate history. In fact the more you go deep into the glacier, more ice is old, the more it reveals secrets. So the idea of a museum dug into the ice takes shape.
Confident that this innovative concept carries although considered crazy by many, they are able to convince a local bank to lend funds (€ 45 K) to the development of the first cave in La Grave (Hautes-Alpes). They then founded the "Société des Grottes de la Meije."
The first cave
Based on the comparison between the climate and the beauty inside a glaciar, the first cave was inaugurated in 1993 and situated at over 3200m, after a year spent getting the authorities approval.
Success was immediate : 30000 visitors over the summer of 1993 ! Confidence reigned, visitors were more than enthusiastic, and conscious that the caves were a positive benefit for the tourist industry, our 2 guides were keen to build elsewhere. They then found a team of professionnal sculptors who were capable of making wonderful ice carvings.
A second ice cave was made at The 2 Alpes dug into the mountain at over 3400m ( 1993 the theme was local tradecrafts which were disappearing). Then a cave at Alpe d’Huez ( 1997 was abstract art), and another at Les Arcs (1999 was about Eskimos), another one in La Plagne and the last one in Valloire.