[9][13] Boreal species at Ice Mountain include bunchberry (Cornus canadensis),[4][8][13][14] Appalachian wood fern (Gymnocarpium appalachianum),[4][14] Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense),[14] minniebush (Menziesia pilosa),[14] mountain maple (Acer spicatum),[14] nannyberry (Viburnum lentago),[14] northern bedstraw (Galium boreale),[9][13][14] prickly gooseberry (Ribes cynosbati),[14] prickly rose (Rosa acicularis),[4][9][12][13][14] purple virgin's bower (Clematis occidentalis),[4][14] shale barren primrose (Oenothera argillicola),[14] skunk currant (Ribes glandulosum),[14] starflower (Trientalis borealis),[14] and twinflower (Linnaea borealis).

[2][14] The Appalachian wood fern, which grows on moss, was once thought to have been extinct but is found in abundance near the cold vents at the base of Ice Mountain.

[7] Old growth species include chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), sweet birch (Betula lenta), and Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus).

[2][14] Other bird species include American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), and American black (Coragyps atratus) and turkey (Cathartes aura) vultures.

[2] These invasive species include tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), and Japanese stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum).

[2] The Nature Conservancy has worked with West Virginia University geologists to preserve and prevent the mountain's ice vents from succumbing to effects associated with climate change.

[17] Ice Mountain is a large mass of Devonian Oriskany (Ridgeley) sandstone and Marcellus shale with numerous bare rock slopes and vertical cliffs.

[10][14] At its southern end overlooking the community of North River Mills is located Raven Rocks, a set of stone chimney outcrops.

[14] Among Ice Mountain's earliest descriptions are mentions in Henry Howe's History of Virginia (1845) and in a Silliman's Journal article by Charles Hayden from the same year.

[6] Ice Mountain was also detailed in Hu Maxwell and Howard Llewellyn Swisher's History of Hampshire County, West Virginia: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present (1897), O. F. Morton's History of Hampshire County (1910), and Homer Floyd Fansler's "Ice Mountain: Nature's Deep Freeze" in the July 1959 issue of West Virginia Conservation.

[4] During the American Civil War, Ice Mountain was used as a lookout point while the surrounding area served as the scene of numerous small skirmishes.

[9][14] Thomas McMackin's Confederate militia company camped alongside North River at the base of Raven Rocks, where a sentinel was placed from daybreak to dusk.