Intermediate Velocity Clouds - Distances, Infall and Shadowing

We present the current distance estimates to 11 intermediate velocity clouds (IVCs) which are part of the David Dunlap Observatory Intermediate Velocity Cloud (DDO IVC) Distance Project (Clarke et al. 1999). We briefly discuss constraints these place on infall models and show the potential of IVCs to constrain the radial distribution of hot gas in the Galaxy through shadowing of the soft X-ray background.