Skyrim:Glacial Crevice

Cave: Glacial Crevice
Added by	Dawnguard
# of Zones	1
Respawn Time	10 days
Level	Min: 18
Occupants
Chaurus, Falmer, Frost Troll
Console Location Code(s)
DLC1GlacialCrevice01
Region
Haafingar
Location
Forgotten Vale

Glacial Crevice

The Glacial Crevice is a small cave in the Forgotten Vale, which must be traversed to reach the Inner Sanctum.

Related Quests

• Touching the Sky: Find and retrieve Auriel's Bow.

Walkthrough

Exterior

The exterior to this cave is the Forgotten Vale. There are two entrances. The first entrance is at the river's headwater south of Sharpslope Cave, and is guarded by two leveled Falmer. The second entrance/exit is in the isolated southwest area of the vale, and can only be initially accessed by proceeding through the cave from the first entrance. Finally, after retrieving the diamond paragon from the frost giant in the southwest area of the vale, it may be used in the paragon platform to reach an otherwise inaccessible ledge in the cave.

Glacial Crevice

Chamber

The entrance at the river's headwater leads into a partly flooded ice tunnel which proceeds south to a huge dimly lit open-roofed chamber. The chamber is deeply flooded, with various ledges and terraces rising above you, including an icy ramp against the east wall rising up to further ledges and terraces. A large iceberg that can be climbed and explored floats in the middle of the chamber, but holds nothing of interest. Under the water are two passages; one is a narrow passage in the middle of the west wall, and the other is a far wider passage to the south. A current runs from south to north, so anything falling into the water will slowly float back towards the entrance. To completely explore this cave system, there are two distinct circuits you will need to follow. If you don't wish to fully explore the cave system, skip to here.

Completing the upper circuit first allows you to later loot any of the enemies that may fall from the ledges or walkways. It's recommended that you first deal with the Falmer in this chamber by climbing the icy ramp against the east wall. A frost troll is either wandering the ramp, in a battle with up to two Falmer patrolling this section of the chamber, or already lying dead. Too much noise will alert two more Falmer at the top, one of which is a magic-user, which are patrolling between two Falmer tents. As the path continues to ascend, it crosses a damaged Falmer bridge before reaching a ledge high above the water with the two empty tents. A Falmer chest is to the left of the tent to the north. Above you are more ledges and a bridge that cannot be reached from here. Next to the south tent is a passage heading southwest. However, it's recommended that you leave that for now, and instead return to the bottom of the icy path or simply jump down into the water.

For this next section, unless you are an Argonian, you will require potions of waterbreathing or preferably a corresponding enchanted item or spell. If you returned to the bottom of the chamber by jumping into the water, you will probably be near where a small waterfall cascades into the water. A wide partially submerged passage is west of the waterfall; ignore this passage at this time. (It leads to an area with a Falmer tent, a Falmer hive, and a rowboat, as described below.) The submerged passage that you should now find can be reached by swimming north, towards the iceberg in the middle of the chamber. When you reach the iceberg, swim to its west side and look at the west wall below the waterline, where you should find a fully submerged tunnel entrance. This submerged passage leads to an almost completely flooded chamber with five dead Falmer floating in the water. The water is partly frozen over; however, there are gaps in the surface ice, with a Falmer chest next to another dead Falmer on the ice. Another submerged passage continues to the west to another deeply flooded chamber, with Falmer-built walkways and bridges crisscrossing above you between ledges. The first walkway rises on your left. There is also a wide passage descending in the western corner of the chamber near the base of the walkway, but this forms part of the lower circuit, so ignore it for now.

Climbing the first two walkways leads to a ledge with a leveled Falmer guarding an empty tent. The next ledge has a short passage heading south, which ends with a Falmer magic-user guarding a tent and two Falmer chests, with one chest in the tent and the other to its left. The next walkway leads to a narrow ledge that continues to rise, spiraling up further, with a Falmer patrolling the path. At the top are two passages. The first passage heads east past a closed gate, and leads to the exit in the isolated southwest area of the Forgotten Vale; this is the route to take if you've already fully explored or aren't interested in fully exploring the cave system. The second passage at the top heads west, with a lookout point to the right of the entrance overlooking the ledges below. After a short distance you'll come upon a claw trap facing away from you, with the tripwire that triggers it just ahead. The passage turns south to reach a closed gate onto a ledge high above a narrow crevice. Two leveled Falmer patrol the ledge, where a walkway descends to another ledge holding a tent containing a Falmer chest. The first ledge continues south along the left wall, before the sides of the crevice narrow and the paths on both sides join together briefly before widening and splitting again. The path on the left rises, while the path on the right descends. A leveled Falmer and a chaurus patrol the right ledge, while farther along the left ledge is another Falmer. Either party can be alerted by fighting with the other. The path on the left leads to a bridge crossing to another platform, with an unlocked Falmer chest at the far end and an inaccessible ledge directly above. Backtracking and following the path on the right as it descends leads down to an icy tunnel with a tripwire across it triggering twin claw traps from the sides. Past the traps is a gate, beyond which the passage turns left before leading out to the ledge with the two tents at the top of the huge open-roofed chamber where you previously stopped and dropped to the water below.

From here, return through the submerged passage west of the iceberg to the tall chamber with the walkways above. This time, head west down the wide passage near the base of the first walkway as it narrows and turns south. You emerge in the partly flooded crevice. Any Falmer or chaurus corpses that fell from the ledges and walkways above will have floated towards the beginning of the crevice due to the current, and can be looted here. Proceeding southeast, you will eventually reach a small area on the shore, where a Falmer magic-user stands by a Falmer tent containing a Falmer chest. An empty Falmer hive is to the right, and a rowboat is moored in the water. The boat seems to have been built from a large overturned bug. The passage widens and turns north at this point to lead back into the south end of the huge first chamber west of the small waterfall, completing the lower circuit.

Once you've completed both circuits, or if you don't wish to fully explore the cave system, take the submerged passage west of the iceberg in the main chamber, and continue to the tall chamber with crisscrossing walkways and bridges. Climb these to the top, and take the gated passage heading east. The passage rises and turns north before opening into a chamber with three Falmer tents. The middle tent is larger and more ornate, and contains a Falmer chest. An icy ramp to the left ascends in a clockwise spiral around the walls of the chamber. At the top, another passage heads southeast before emerging far above the main chamber on a ledge leading south. A Falmer on the first section of the ledge patrols backwards and forwards to an empty tent, beyond which is a Falmer hive on the right wall concealing a leveled Falmer. A second tent beyond the hive contains a Falmer chest. Ahead are two more empty Falmer hives and a bridge spanning the chamber to the east, with a Falmer at either end. Across the bridge is a ledge heading north towards two broken stone pillars. The pillars flank yet another passage heading east leading to the exit in the isolated southwest area of the Forgotten Vale, which is filled with Falmer settlements.

Once you've retrieved the diamond paragon, you can use it in the paragon platform to teleport to an otherwise inaccessible ledge with an unlocked stone chest holding quality loot to the south. The broken stone arch forming the portal allows you to return directly to the paragon platform. The ledge is far above the crevice, near where the walls narrow and the ledges join. From this ledge, you can drop down to further ledges below, or using at least two words of the Whirlwind Sprint dragon shout, cross to another wide ledge opposite. However, none of the other ledges hold anything of interest.

Bugs

• There are some glitched areas under the water, particularly in the arch-shaped passages that connect to the first area. Coming into contact with them may cause you to drop to the bottom, then surface and gasp for air.

Maps

Glacial Crevice