Jaskinie - The Caves, issue 13

Jaskinie - The Caves, issue 37 (4/2004)


Expeditions:

Kanin 2004 - Tomasz Tomaszek

The team of seven cavers from STJ KW Kraków and one from ST Zakopane,led by Tomasz Tomaszek, in August 2004 continued exploration in the assigned sector of the Kanin massif in Slovenia,in the areas of Razor and of Krlišče and Bielo Celjo.Several new caves were explored,about 60 m deep on the average.Exploration of BC4, after passing some narrows, led to the depth of 297 m.

ph. T. Tomaszek
Comeback from BC-4, ph. M. Wrona
Section of BC-4

Pirin 2004 - Piotr Pilecki

The author went to the Pirin mountains in Bulgaria leading a team of five cavers, three from Bobry (Żagań) and two (including the author) from Gawra (Gorzów).The exploration was aimed at the few leads left after the expedition of 2003 in the area where all way down the massif where all cave seem to be blocked with snow and rock debris. None of the leads gave way to any new series.

ph. P. Pilecki
ph. P. Pilecki

Canin 2003 - two trips, many memories - Marek Kozioł, Beata Tomanek

In March and April 2003 Marek Kozioł with two other cavers went to Complesso del Foran del Muss in the Monte Canin massif (Julian Alps).They explored several leads left from earlier expeditions,all with negative results, and left important deposit for summer.
The summer expedition of 16 people was big enough to explored various objects at the same time. In Grzmiąca Studnia a continuation was found but sudden flooding nearly drowned the surveying team.Another goal was Loch Kozicy,with a prospect of communication between Complesso and Rotule Spezzate.A narrow meander led to a series of steep squeezes.The expedition leader was trapped in the farthest squeeze and was freed only after a rescue that lasted several hours.

"Rock Vein", ph. S. Kotarba
"Underground travelers" ph. S. Kotarba

Poland:

Caves in Nagórzyce - Mariusz Szelerewicz, Jan Urban

Situated at the outskirts of Tomaszów Mazowiecki in central Poland,caves in Nagórzyce are a unique example of underground mining in Poland.They have been proposed as an object of European Geological Heritage. The ”caves” have been excavated in a series of friable Upper Cretaceous sandstones,topped with a layer of well-cemented sandstone providing a solid roof.Exploitation of sand for production of glass lasted from 18 th to the beginning of 20 th century. The now accessible spaces are only two of many formerly existing mines.The larger is an extensive series of round chambers separated by thick pillars.The whole system is now 136 m long,up to 70 m wide and the total length of the galleries within it attains 570 m. A nearby smaller ”cave ”is 47 m long and has some lateral extensions.


Our third year in Mała - Marek Lorczyk

Mała in Mułowa in the Tatra Mountains is accessible only a few months during a year because of the long-lasting thick snow cover.Exploration of the farthest parts requires an underground camp, as the route from the entrance the Waterland series and back takes nearly 20 hours.Exploration in 2004,by SĄdecki Klub Taternictwa Jaskiniowego led by Marek Lorczyk, was done mainly in this farthest and deepest part, below -500 m.
The cavers encountered fragments of old, wide, mud-lined galleries rich in speleothems, partly being dissolved by abundant running water.The surveyed part is 538 m deep and over 3200 m long, the actual, non-surveyed bottom lies probably below -550 m.

"Zambezi spring" ph. M. Lorczyk
ph. P. Pilecki M. Lorczyk
"Waterfall of tears" ph. M. Lorczyk


New series west of Wazeliniarzy shaft - Filip Filar

Cavers from Speleoklub Tatrzański in summer 2002 explored windows in the deepest cave shaft in Poland – Studnia Wazeliniarzy in Śnieżna Studnia cave in the Tatra.They entered lower parts of a few huge chimneys, partly leading to the known series and partly blind.Climbing up the biggest chimney was done in 2003, up to about 100 m above its bottom and without reaching its top.This is the most promising part of the cave now. Śnieżna Studnia is now over 11 km long and may soon become the second longest cave in the Polish Tatra.


163 m of vertical range in Zośka - Dariusz Fuja

Exploration in the Zośka cave in the Tatra proceeds now upwards, from the bottom of a series of recently discovered shafts.The vertical range increased from 92 to 163 m.


Cave diving AD 2004 - Włodzimierz Szymanowski

The year 2004 was overwhelmed by the death of Wiktor Bolek,the leading person in Polish cave diving. He died of natural causes on May 1 during a dive at Wildschutz near Leipzig in Germany.Despite of the loss the leading personality,the year saw continuing progress.It brought the record numbers of events and of participants in Cave Diving Workshop.Expeditions included diving in the greatest water caves of Europe.Expeditions evolve into small, flexible, fast and less costly ones, mainly as a result of the increasing number of fully qualified self-dependent divers. Exploration continued mainly in the Tauz resurgence in Romania.Cave divers took part in production of TV 3 film ”Underwater Poland ”,whose part is the first underwater film made in Polish caves. Over twenty people took part in the ninth Cave Diving Workshop,the first without Wiktor Bolek.The four-days event aimed at preparation of divers for cave diving.A virtual guide to cave diving prepared for this event is available through Internet.
Buna Vrelo resurgence, ph. R. Paluch (Bosnia)
Orahovacka Vljuta (Montenegro)
ph. W. Szymanowski
Tauz (Romania)


Editors:
Janusz Baryła, Michal Gradziński, Jakub Nowak, Mariusz Szelerewicz, Wojciech W. Wiśniewski
This HTML-version: Dariusz Bartoszewski
Editioral address (main):
ul. Ehrenberga 36a 31-309 Krakow, Poland e-mail: szelerewicz@ceti.pl
Internet edition:
e-mail: dbart@sktj.pl, WWW: sktj.pl


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