Frost Cavern in Pokémon X: Route to Team Flare, Ice Rock, TM79 and Both Mega Stones

Frost Cavern is the ice cave north of Dendemille Town, and you have to clear it to cross Route 17. Go north out of Dendemille, past the Mamoswine sitting by the bridge, and into the cave. Work up through three floors of ice to the north end of 3F, where two Team Flare Grunts and the scientist Mable are tormenting an Abomasnow. Beat the Grunt (Trevor takes the other one), then Mable’s Lv. 48 Houndoom. Talk to the Abomasnow afterward and it gives you Abomasite. With Team Flare gone, Mamoswine goes back to Route 17 and carries you across to Anistar City. On the way, a small room on 1F holds the Ice Rock. You reach it by Surfing west on 2F and taking the stairs down. Level up an Eevee there and it becomes Glaceon. Pokémon Y has the same cave, with one small change to the wild Pokémon on 2F.

This page covers Pokémon X and Y on Nintendo 3DS, 2DS and New 3DS, up to update 1.5. None of the update notes mention Frost Cavern. You visit it once during the story, after the sixth Gym in Laverre City and before the seventh in Anistar City, and you can come back after the Hall of Fame for Scizorite. This is not the Kalos of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which stays in Lumiose City.

Frost Cavern at a glance

Where Frost Cavern is, and why Mamoswine is sitting there

After you win the Fairy Badge in Laverre City, take Route 15 southeast to Dendemille Town (Route 16 also connects it to Lumiose City). Leave Dendemille by the north path, cross the rope bridge and follow the trail uphill. The cave mouth is at the top, behind a Photo Spot.

The way on to Anistar City is Route 17, the Mamoswine Road, east of Dendemille. The snow there is too deep to walk through, so people ride a Mamoswine across. A man at the start of Route 17 tells you the Mamoswine “is hanging out in front of the Frost Cavern and won’t budge.” You’ll find it outside the cave with Trevor, who is heading in to study Pokémon for Professor Sycamore. Mamoswine has sensed that something is wrong inside, and it stays put until you fix it.

You don’t need Waterfall now

You can finish Frost Cavern and get Abomasite without any HM. Surf, which you can already use with the Rumble Badge, opens the Ice Rock room, the Icy Rock and a Never-Melt Ice. Waterfall comes later: you find HM05 on Route 19 and need the Iceberg Badge from Snowbelle City to use it outside battle. It reaches only two items outside the cave, so leave them for a later visit.

Get through the cave and free Route 17

On the striped ice you slide until you hit a rock, a wall or a patch of snow. Push the Circle Pad diagonally and you slide diagonally too. You’ll need that once, for TM79.

1F: across the ice to Neil

1. From the entrance, head northeast and cross the first patch of ice.
2. Where the path splits, turn east. Ace Trainer Neil (Raichu, Golduck, Marowak) stands near the northeast stairs.
3. Take the right-hand stairs in the northeast up to 2F. The left-hand stairs only lead to a small dead end with a hidden Dire Hit.

2F: Delmon, Alonzo and Kinsey

1. From the stairs, cross the ice to the north. A hidden Ice Heal is on a stalagmite on your right.
2. Work your way over the ice to the northeast edge of the floor, then walk west past Hiker Delmon.
3. At the next split, go northwest to Black Belt Alonzo. Brains & Brawn Eoin & Wolf stand on the ice nearby for a Double Battle.
4. Head south to Battle Girl Kinsey. The Ice Rock room is across the stream to the west (see the Ice Rock room).
5. From Kinsey, head west to the ice, work south through it, then take the eastern branch to the Max Repel at its southeast end. Surf south for the Never-Melt Ice, then take the southern stairs down.

1F west: the Ace Trainer who heals you

1. The stairs put you on the west side of 1F. The Ace Trainer here offers to “make a bivouac” and heals your party.
2. Head north past Hiker Alain and take the stairs back up to 2F.

3F: Kenji, then Team Flare

1. On 2F, check the stalagmite in the short corridor for a hidden Super Potion and go up to 3F.
2. Go northwest over the ice for an Ether, then cross to Black Belt Kenji on the east side.
3. Go north past Kenji. If you want TM79 and the Zinc first, take the detour in the TM79 section before you go on.
4. At the north end of 3F, Team Flare is tormenting the Abomasnow. Save before you walk up.

Team Flare, Mable and the Abomasnow

Mable and two Grunts have cornered the Abomasnow. They’re agitating it on purpose: the angrier it gets, the stronger its Snow Warning Ability, and the harder it snows outside. They want its energy, and they explain that only Team Flare is supposed to survive. Mable sends the two Grunts at you, and Trevor steps in to take one of them. After the Grunt, talk to Mable to start her battle.

Mable has only the one Houndoom here. Foul Play uses your Pokémon’s Attack, so a strong physical attacker takes more damage from it, and Embargo stops you using items on the Pokémon it hits. Once she runs, Trevor leaves too, and Mamoswine is free to go home. Talk to the Abomasnow and it gives you Abomasite. You can’t catch this Abomasnow. Wild ones live in Route 17’s deep snow at 1%, with Snover much more common.

When you get back to Route 17, the same man on Route 17 tells you Mamoswine came home while you were in the cave. He says an Abomasnow once carried the injured Mamoswine into town, so they’re old friends. Talk to Mamoswine to ride it across Route 17. It smashes the rocks along the way, so you don’t need Rock Smash.

TM79 Frost Breath: the diagonal slide

TM79 sits in an alcove below the ice in a separate part of 2F, and you need a diagonal slide to reach it. The only way into this room is the staircase in the far southeast of 3F:

1. On 3F, work your way south from Black Belt Kenji to Battle Girl Gabrielle. Check the stalagmite next to her for a hidden Elixir.
2. Continue southeast. The Zinc is in the second dead-end on the east side, just north of the stairs. Take the stairs down.
3. In the room below, the TM is in the alcove on the south side of the ice, between two rocks. Line yourself up with the gap using a diagonal slide, then slide in.

The +Control Pad only moves in four directions, so use the Circle Pad for the diagonal. Frost Breath is a 60-power Ice move that always lands a critical hit, unless the target has Battle Armor, Shell Armor or Lucky Chant.

The Ice Rock room: Glaceon, not the Icy Rock

Battle Girl Kinsey stands on 2F next to a stream. Surf west across it to a staircase in the northwest corner, which leads down to a small room. The big blue rock in the middle is the Ice Rock. If you check it, the game says only that it’s covered with ice and that touching it could make you freeze.

• Level up an Eevee anywhere in this room, by winning a battle or with a Rare Candy, and it evolves into Glaceon. The wild Pokémon in the room are Lv. 38–40, so even a low-level Eevee gains a level fast.
• Only this room counts. Leveling up on the other floors of Frost Cavern doesn’t trigger it.
• The Ice Rock wins over the other evolutions. In this room, Eevee becomes Glaceon even if it also qualifies for Sylveon, Espeon or Umbreon. If you want one of those, keep your Eevee from leveling up here (see Espeon and Umbreon).
• An Everstone stops it, so take it off first.
• There’s no Ice Stone in X and Y. Newer games have one, but here the Ice Rock is the only way to get Glaceon.

The Poké Ball in the room holds the Icy Rock, a held item that makes hail last eight turns instead of five. It doesn’t evolve anything. Need an Eevee? Catch one in the yellow flowers on Route 10 (see where to find Eevee).

Two Mega Stones, two different rules

Both stones are near the Abomasnow on 3F, but they work differently:

• Abomasite is the Abomasnow’s thank-you gift, right after you beat Mable. No time of day, no Mega Ring upgrade. Same in X and Y.
• Scizorite is a hidden sparkle on the floor behind (north of) the Abomasnow. It only appears after the Mega Ring upgrade, and only between 8:00 and 8:59 PM on your 3DS clock. Same in X and Y.

The upgrade happens after the Hall of Fame: complete at least one battle at the Battle Maison in Kiloude City, beat your rival there, then go to the sundial in Anistar City. Full steps and every other hidden stone are in the Mega Stones guide. If the sparkle isn’t there, check the clock first (why the 8 PM hour matters).

Wild Pokémon in Frost Cavern (X and Y)

Cave tables in X and Y have 12 slots: nine at 10%, then one each at 5%, 4% and 1%. Frost Cavern uses one table for 1F, 2F, 3F and the Ice Rock room. The only difference is in Pokémon Y, where 2F (including the TM79 room, which is part of the same floor) turns the 4% Cryogonal slot into a fourth Haunter slot, so Haunter goes from 16% to 20%.

Walking

Jynx, Cryogonal, Vanillite, Cubchoo and Smoochum can’t be caught anywhere else in Kalos. Piloswine, Beartic and Bergmite aren’t found on any other route either, but they can turn up in the Friend Safari. Cryogonal is the hard one at 4%: in Pokémon Y, look for it on 1F, 3F or in the Ice Rock room, because on 2F you’ll never see it. After the Hall of Fame, an Ice-type Friend Safari can also have Bergmite or Beartic, or Piloswine as its third Pokémon (that slot needs the friend in the Hall of Fame and a PSS meeting, now over local wireless), but never Cryogonal, Jynx or Smoochum.

Hordes (Sweet Scent or Honey)

Hordes are the only way to find Vanillite, Cubchoo and Smoochum here. They are much lower level than the walking Pokémon. A Vanillite or Smoochum horde gives five Sp. Atk EVs per battle, a Cubchoo horde five Attack EVs.

Surf and fishing (outside and 2F)

You can fish in the river outside the cave and in the stream on 2F. Every rod Pokémon here has a fixed level: Lv. 20 on the Old Rod, Lv. 30 on the Good Rod and Lv. 40 on the Super Rod.

To see these tables on the map next to the rest of Kalos, open Frost Cavern on the interactive Kalos map, and register what you catch in the Kalos Pokédex.

Item checklist and the Waterfall return

The Heart Scale and TM71 Stone Edge sit on the river below the waterfall outside. You need HM05 Waterfall (Route 19) and the Iceberg Badge from Wulfric in Snowbelle City, so pick them up when you come back for Scizorite. Outside the cave, using Air Cutter, Blizzard or Twister on the blue Berry trees during a battle can knock down Oran, Passho, Yache or Coba Berries, and Hyper Voice or Rock Slide on the snow piles and icebergs can turn up a Snowball or Never-Melt Ice.

Other Trainers

Five of the cave trainers use Fighting types, so a Flying or Psychic Pokémon (or a Fairy, now that you have Valerie’s badge) makes 2F and 3F much easier.

Why isn’t it working?

• Mamoswine still won’t give rides. You haven’t beaten Mable yet. After the Grunt, you still have to talk to Mable to start her battle.
• You can see TM79 but can’t reach it. It’s in its own room, reached only from the southeast stairs on 3F, and it takes a diagonal slide. Use the Circle Pad, not the +Control Pad.
• Eevee didn’t become Glaceon. It has to gain a level inside the Ice Rock room itself, the one you reach by Surfing west from Kinsey on 2F, and it can’t hold an Everstone. Leveling on the main floors doesn’t count, and there’s no Ice Stone to use instead.
• The Mega Stone behind the Abomasnow isn’t there. That’s Scizorite. It needs the post-game Mega Ring upgrade and 8:00–8:59 PM. Abomasite is the one you get right after the story battle.
• No Cryogonal in Pokémon Y. You’re on 2F. Try 1F, 3F or the Ice Rock room.
• You can’t reach the Heart Scale or TM71 outside. They need Waterfall, which you can’t use until after the eighth Gym.

FAQ

Where is Frost Cavern in Pokémon X?

North of Dendemille Town. Leave the town by the north path, cross the bridge past Mamoswine and follow the trail up to the cave.

How do I get Mamoswine to move?

Clear Frost Cavern: beat the Team Flare Grunt and Mable at the north end of 3F. Mamoswine goes back to Route 17 and gives rides across it. Talk to the Abomasnow while you’re there for Abomasite.

How do I get Glaceon in Frost Cavern?

Surf west from Battle Girl Kinsey on 2F to the stairs, go down to the Ice Rock room, and level up an Eevee there.

Can I catch the Abomasnow?

No. It’s part of the story. Catch a wild one on Route 17 (1%), or evolve a Snover from the same route at Lv. 40.

Do I need Waterfall for Frost Cavern?

Not for the story, the Ice Rock, Abomasite or TM79. Only the Heart Scale and TM71 Stone Edge outside need it.

Is Frost Cavern different in Pokémon Y?

Only on 2F, where Cryogonal is replaced by Haunter, and in the Basculin colors from the Good Rod and Super Rod. The route, trainers, items and Mega Stones are the same.