The exploration of the Kanin massif carried out by STJ KW Kraków (Caving Section of Mountaineering Club in Cracow) started in 1998 during their first expedition lead by Michał Gra-dziński. The aim of the expedition was to find a new region for the prospective exploration. As a result, Kanin Research Committee (KORK) assigned a region for future activity to STJ KW. The region is situated in the southern part of Kanin, among the mounts of Velika Glina Glava (2,114 m), Konic (2,289 m), and Mali Skedenj (2,112 m).
The first expedition to the Kanin massif took place in 1999. It was organized by the Sekcja Taternictwa Jaskiniowego KW-Kraków. The exploration team consisted of the members of STJ KW: Mariusz Czarnul, Andrzej Góralczyk, Ryszard Grzywa, Krzysztof Kozak, Dominika Rupp, and Maciej Tomaszek, the leader. The other members of the team were: Mariusz Miedziński, Marcin Zamorski - Częstochowa Caving Club, Radosław Paternoga - Sopot Caving Club, Małgorzata Barcz - Warsaw Caving Club, and Bartłomiej Sobieszczański - Wrocław Caving Section.
It was a reconnaissance expedition, aimed to get detailed information concerning the new area and to locate the known caves, which had been explored in the 60's by the Lubliana DZRJ and Pazin DS "Istra" clubs. The process of locating the known objects was not an easy task. There were no marks by the entrances and information provided by maps was not exact enough. There are a few dozen known caves in the region altogether. Because the previous system of numbering cave entrances did not survive, we introduced the new one, which would help us locate the entrances in the future. We managed to find and explore the caves Primoževo Brezno (F23) -195 m, Śnieżnice (E1) -111 m and a dozen or so smaller objects. The exploration of the surface was conducted at the same time, which resulted in locating about 40 new caves.
The following caves
are worth mentioning:
• in the region of Bielo Celjo: BC-8 ca. -130 m, BC-3 -30 m, BC-4 -40 m,
BC-7 -30 m, BC-9 -40 m, BC-10 -55 m;
• in the region of Mali Skedenj: MS-3 -25 m, MS-4 -50 m;
• in the region of Krlišče: KR-1 -43 m, KR-2 -60 m.
The exploration was also conducted in the previously known cave Primoževo Brezno. The cave had been explored in 1966 with the help of ladders and due to information we received it had not been explored completely. After locating the cave and reaching the known bottom we managed to explore only a few meter-long meander. Generally, all explored caves were vertical pitches or systems of pitches. The bottoms of such pitches were usually blocked with snow plugs or sporadically with rubble. The most interesting object of our exploration was the deepest explored cave - BC-1 (ca. -120 m).
In the course of the expedition the weather conditions were not favourable for sport activities. Numerous storms and lingering fog hampered the surface exploration. During a storm with hurricane wing, torrential rain, hail and lightning most of our tents were destroyed, our equipment partially lost. Moreover, heavy rain destroyed the large part of the documentation made up during the expedition.

Close to the entrence of Grotta Dobra Picka, ph.: D. Perhinek

The second expedition took place in the year 2000. That time the team was not so numerous and consisted of Mariusz Czarnul, Andrzej Góralczyk , Mirosław Pindel, Maciej Tomaszek, Tomasz Tomaszek, Marcin Żurek, and, additionally, Rafał Drzewiecki and Paweł Jurkiewicz from Student Caving Club. The main aim of the expedition was further surface exploration and the cave BC-1. Unfortunately, during this expedition we did not manage to go through a long narrowing in the cave and the exploration came to a standstill.
Thanks to Jože Pirnat the team was given the current documentation of the target region, and due to this fact the surface exploration conducted by our expedition was a success. The two new objects (KR 3, - 96 m, and KR 4, - 171 m) discovered at the end of the expedition were not explored completely, so there still remains much to do for the next expedition. Those caves, especially KR-4, were systems of very spacious pitches separated by narrow meanders, that made the exploration difficult and time-consuming.
The area of our last expedition was very interesting and seemed to be promising. That is why we are planning the next expedition for the season 2001 in order to solve the problems left in BC-1, KR-3 and KR-4 definitely and maybe find the new ones.