This is fun. The hike to the top takes about an hour. The Nature Conservancy bought Ice Mountain in 1989 to preserve its unique geology and the plant life it spawns. When the holes were discovered, people thought the mountain held an underground glacier. The mountain is what geologists call an algific talus field, or a cold-producing slope.
Water seeps into the mountain and freezes.
American Indians, Confederate soldiers and settlers in what was once Virginia used Ice Mountain for refrigeration, storing food there in warm weather. Algific talus fields are common in the Midwest, but they are unusual in this part of the country. He knows of no other in West Virginia or its neighboring states. Because of the cold air, plants that ordinarily flourish at 3,000 or 4,000 feet above sea level live at the base of the mountain, at just 700 feet. Among them are the twin flower, the Appalachian wood fern and a tree that resembles a dogwood.