The Frauenmauer is a limestone peak, 1828 meters in height, one of several forming a horseshoe round the Gsoll Alp. It presents on that side a sheer wall of rock, in which there are two holes close together, at an altitude of 1335 meters. These are the lower openings of the Frauenmauerhöhle, of which the higher and biggest one is used for an entrance. They are some thirty or forty meters from the base of the rock wall, and a flight of wooden steps leads up to the entrance opening, which is narrow and high. At the top of the steps, we stood in the mouth of the cave; and, going in four or five meters, saw the other opening to the left, below us. About five meters further, there was one small lump of ice, as big as a pumpkin, lying on the ground, but this may have been carried there from within. The cavern went nearly straight for some twenty-five meters from the entrance, rising all the time gently. Then came a steep little drop, of some four or five meters, in the rock floor, and here a small wooden staircase was placed. A gallery opened to the right and this was the cavern proper, which leads through the mountain. It rose considerably and contained no ice as far as we went, which was for some distance. The walking was bad, as the floor was covered with _geröll_, that is broken detritus. [Illustration: IN THE FRAUENMAUERHÖHLE. From a Photograph by A. Kurka. ] Returning and continuing towards the freezing chamber, the floor of the cavern began to rise once more, continuing for some forty-five meters to its highest point, which is lower, however, than the top of the entrance, an important fact to notice. For, although the floor of the cave is considerably higher, at a distance of seventy meters within, than the level of the bottom of the entrance; still, that highest spot is below the level of the top of the entrance. This fact, and also the size of the gallery, unquestionably explains why the cold air can get in as far as it does. At this highest spot we found a considerable mass of ice, a couple of cartloads in bulk perhaps, which the guide said would melt away later in the summer. This was, perhaps, the remains of a fallen stalactite. This mass of ice is an interesting point in connection with the Frauenmauerhöhle, for it shows that ice in a cave sometimes forms, even if in small quantities, above the level of the base of the entrance. There seems no reason why it should not do so, provided there is the necessary water supply. Such ice would, however, suffer more, as soon as the outside air was over freezing point, than would ice which was below the level of the entrance. It would probably disappear early in the year, unless the cave were in a latitude or at an altitude where snow remained in the open during most of the year. [Illustration: Fig. 5. Vertical Section of the Frauenmauerhöhle.]