For a few minutes a day,
for a few days each year,
sunlight finds this piece of ice
over 100 feet underground.

Blinking.

Stage 1: Prep

Yard stick taped to a table with a 10.5 mm caving rope being measured

Measured the rope.
Packed it with anchor kit.
Added two caving kits.
Added as much water as I could
without getting ridiculous.

Forty-seven pounds.
Hauled it up 2,000 feet.

I took the steeper route
to avoid the busy local attraction.

Group approached. I waited.

Let them pass before leaving the trail.
Let them assume
the common destination.

Then disappear.

Stage 2: Cameras and calories

Table filled with camera gear, freeze dried foods, and calorie-dense backpacking food

Load up again.
To do it again.
This time for longer.

Stage 3: Sky laughs

Rain drops on gold-colored tent fabric

You can plan the date.
Measure the rope.
Haul the gear.
Bring the witness.
Know the geometry.
Return during the window.

And still, the event is conditional.

Therein lies the meaning.

Stage 4: Return

Cave dimly lit with natural light revealing a dramatic permanent ice formation with silhouette of caver walking toward it

A week later,
I went back for the gear.

Last weekend,
the sky never let it happen.

This time, it did.

1:12 pm
The beam crossed
the center of the ice

Three cameras watched
I watched too

1:22
One last slice

1:25
Gone

Next year?