Top 10 Amazing Sites Created by Snow and Ice

Enjoy winter? Or maybe there is not enough of it where you live? Take a look at these incredible sites created by snow and ice. Many of them look unearthly and once again prove nature to be a genius artist.

1. Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

Lake Baikal is a rift lake in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between the Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast. Lake Baikal is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water, and at 1,642 m, the deepest. It is also among the clearest of all lakes, and thought to be the world's oldest lake at 25 million years.

2. Blue River, Greenland

Blue River, Greenland. The icy island attracts explorers, scientists and adventurers. The Blue River is one of the greatest places to kayak. The melting Petermann Glacier fills in the lower areas of the glacier and creates a clear blue water river. Each year the river has a different shape, but it is always stunning. Greenland tourism offers many activities: kayaking in the river, trekking and exploring the Arctic wildlife, meeting the Inuits – the natives of Greenland, and other attractions.

3. Abraham Lake, Alberta, Canada

Temperatures may fall below -30 degrees Celsius here, thus making this big lake freeze. The unique circles are frozen bubbles of methane gas, coming from the depth. This creates the unusual phenomena, which looks so incredible in winter.

4. Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes, Switzerland

The Rhaetian Railway is a Swiss transport company, owning the largest network of all the private railways in Switzerland. The company operates most of the railways in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) extends only a few kilometres over the cantonal border to the capital at Chur. Almost the entire network is in Graubünden, with one station at Tirano in Italy. The Rhaetian Railway serves a number of major tourist centres, including St Moritz and Davos. One of the lines, the Berninabahn, crosses the Bernina Pass to the Italian border and on to Tirano, Lombardy, where there is a link to the Italian railways.

5. Perito Moreno, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina

Perito Moreno is a town in the northwest of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 25 km east of Lake Buenos Aires. It should not be confused with the Perito Moreno National Park over 300 km south by road, or the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate. The town is the capital of the Lago Buenos Aires Department. It lies on the RN43, a paved road which links Caleta Olivia on the Atlantic coast to Los Antiguos and the Chilean frontier 60 km west, and Ruta 40, running north and south. The town is a centre of cattle ranches and smallholdings producing fruit and vegetables. Tourism is also an important industry. Perito Moreno is the closest town to Cueva de las Manos, 170 km south by road, and Parque Laguna.

6. St. Joseph North Pier, Michigan, USA

Built on Lake Michigan, which is one of the Great Lakes of North America, the pier has even two lighthouses. During winter the waves crash to the pier and frost it. As a result, the amazing ice formations cover the lighthouses and look like from a fairy tail.

7. The Blue Pond, Biei, Hokkaido, Japan

The Blue Pond is located in the left bank of the River Bieigawa, southeast of the town of Biei in Hokkaido, Japan, about 2.5 km northwest from the Platinum hot springs at the foot of Mt. Tokachi. The pond gets its name from the unnaturally bright blue hue of its water. With tree stumps protruding from the surface of the water, not unlike Lake Kaindy, the Blue Pond has an ethereal and enchanting appearance. The Blue Pond wasn’t there from very long. It’s an artificial pond created when a dam was erected to protect the region from mudflows that might occur from the nearby volcano on Mt. Tokachi.

8. Snoqualmie Falls, Seattle, Washington, USA

Snoqualmie is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington. The city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was of 10,670 at the 2010 census. Movie actress Ella Raines was born in Snoqualmie Falls, a mill town across the Snoqualmie River that is now part of Snoqualmie, on August 6, 1920. Many of the exterior shots for David Lynch's Twin Peaks television series and movie (Fire Walk with Me) were filmed in Snoqualmie and in the neighboring towns of North Bend and Fall City.

9. Snake River, Wyoming, USA

The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At 1,078 miles long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Rising in western Wyoming, the river flows through the Snake River Plain then rugged Hells Canyon and the rolling Palouse Hills to reach its mouth at the Tri-Cities of the state of Washington. Its drainage basin encompasses parts of six U.S. states, and its average discharge is over 54,000 cubic feet per second.

10. Tadami River, Aizu, Fukushima, Japan

The snowfall in Aizu is one of the heaviest in Japan. The Tadami line goes through the region and the bridge above Tadami River. During winter the forests in Aizu become covered in snow, thus creating this spectacular site.

Related Posts:

• Blue River, Greenland. A Paradise For Kayak Lovers
• Is The Most Beautiful Railway In The World?
• Frozen Air Bubbles in Abraham Lake, Alberta Canada
• Lake Michigan’s Famous Frozen Lighthouses
• Top 10 Train Routes in Europe
• Walking on the Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina