News

Some small off passages were found in Ptasia Studnia cave (the Western Tatra Mts). Although the exploration was carried out in 2000, it has not been repoted until now. After climbing up in Sala Dantego chamber, the passages, with the total length of 150 m, were explored. In another series 141 m of passages were discovered.

During winter time Śnieżna Studnia (the Western Tatra Mts), the second Polish deepest cave, was explored. A passage leading westward from Studnia Boskich Marmitów pitch was explored. The passage went down and ended in a small sump.

"Living forms" Feitnerschahthöhle, ph. J. Nowak

After ascending from the bottom of Feitnerschahthöhle, ph. S. Wasyluk

Feichtnerschacht 2002

In March Feitnerschahthöhle (the Höhe Tauern, Austria) was explored again. As usual, Andrzej Ciszewski was the expedition leader. The team consisted of 11 Poles and one Austrian. The cave was deepened to - 1049 m. Two parallel vertical sections were also discovered. One of them ended at the level of - 992 m. The length of new discoveries reached 600 m. Now the cave is more than 3,8 km long and consists of five parallel vertical series.

Feitnerschahthöhle map, click for bigger version	Feitnerschahthöhle section, click for bigger version

The green barrier

In winter, a 10-man expedition led by Grzegorz Kuopiel went to Papua New Guinea. They carried out exploration in the Victor Emmanuel Mts. The cave Imalfol Tem, which was discovered by the Poles in 2001, was deepened to ca. -400 m. Unfortunatelly, the bottom of the end pitch is filled with mud. The Poles explored also an upstream passage, which is several meters long. In the neighbouring massif, called Imalfol Tikin, they found a big karst pitch, which unfortunately ends at the depth of about -80 m. The expedition was forced to break the exploration activity by the local officials who demanded 10 000 USD for the permission. Instead, the reconnaissances in the Mt. Butop and Fral Tikkin massifs were carried out. Some small caves were found in the former area, while in the latter a big pitch with an underground river was encountered. The pitch is located at the altitude of 2650 m.

Vrjulia - revision of liquid mechanics

During a "long May weekend" i.e., at the beginning of May, four divers went to Croatia to check the big submarine resurgence located in Vriulja bay. The resurgence is situated at the depth of about 30 m below the sea level. Such a large amount of fresh water issues out of it, that the sea surface over the spring resembles boiling water. An entrance to the vertical submarine pitch is located some distance from the spring at the depth of about -50 m. Two divers, Wiktor Bolek and Grzegorz Dominik, dived down the pitch to its bottom, situated -100 m below the sea level. A 2 m wide fissure was discovered at the bottom. Wiktor Bolek dived in the fissure and reached the depth of -110 m. When coming back the diver encountered a very strong current from the sea towards the cave interior which forced him to move very slowly. The author claims that the pitch must be connected with the resurgence and that such a strong current is due to the difference of static pressure between them.

In Crimean caves

Two Poles visited Crimean caves in May 2002. They cooperated with the cavers from Sympheropol, associated in the Karst caving club. The Karabi massif, 12 km long and 10 km wide, was the main area of their activity. The Poles visited several caves. Almost all of them consist of entrance pitches several meters deep followed by spacious chambers and corridors with impressive dripstone and flowstone forms.

"Erongs" near the entrance of Londa cave, ph. G. Kuśpiel

Two glances at Celebes

The author travelled to Celebes island after the expedition to Papua New Guinea. He visited several small caves, among them Londa and Lemo caves, which serve as burial places for the local people (see front cover).

BACK to index

EPIMENIDES polish speleo page.

Last change 2002.07.03