Kungur
2 legends
The White Caver
The underground counterpart of the Black Climber, known to everyone who goes into caves across the former Soviet Union. What makes him white is calcite, settled on his clothes over years below ground. Meeting him traditionally means the party has lost the route. Cavers have a half-joking initiation rite for newcomers in which he is described — a rare case of folklore whose carriers know perfectly well it is folklore, and which is none the weaker for it.
The Kungur Ice Cave
A gypsum cave in Perm Krai some six kilometres long, with seventy underground lakes and permanent ice in the entrance chambers. The first survey was drawn in 1703. Tradition holds that Yermak's band wintered here before crossing the Urals, and one grotto is called the Ladies' Tears — legend has a daughter of Christian X of Denmark slipping and dying here on a visit.