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Hikers Ignoring Closure Of Big Four Ice Caves

Posted: 11:19 am PDT June 15, 2009

Forest Service officials said as many as 125 people a day are ignoring signs that say the Big Four Ice Caves near Granite Falls are closed.

Officials said hikers are walking around closed gates on the Mountain Loop Highway to visit the caves.

The one-mile hike has been closed since floods washed out the bridge.

Rangers said there's a danger that heavy ice could fall from the caves any time, injuring those below.

Last year, two local boys were buried alive in the collapse of another ice cave last year.

Video from Chopper 7 showed how crews scrambled to save the teens last August near Snoqualmie Pass.

Alec Corbett, 17, and his friend, 14-year-old Alessadro Gelmini, said they thought they were going to die when the massive ice cave crashed down on them moments after they posed for a picture.

It took rescuers five hours to free the boys from the collapsed ice and snow.

The teens' suffered broken backs and ankles.