Big Four is a mountain in the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

, located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Granite Falls, Washington

Granite Falls, Washington

Granite Falls is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census.-History:Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Granite Falls was used by Native Americans to portage their canoes between fishing grounds.The first permanent...

. Debris piles on the mountain's northern flank form as a result of avalanche activity. These fields of disturbed snow are able to remain year round in the shadow of the mountain. During the summer months snow-melt streams flow beneath the debris piles and cause cave

Glacier cave

A glacier cave is a cave formed within the ice of a glacier. Glacier caves are often called ice caves, but this term is properly used to describe bedrock caves that contain year-round ice.-Overview:...

s to form in the ice. The caves vary in size from season to season and are unpredictably dangerous. The mountain is open to the public and a large snowfield can be reached by a short trail, but the snowfield itself is off-limits due to cave-ins and slides which have killed hikers in incidents in 1998 and in 2010.

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