I had an opportunity to visit Cyprus this week, and, of course, there were also some caves. The Cyclop's Cave is on the south-east end of the island, a nice 23 m x 24 m cave with a sand floor and a thin rock cover above. Right on the beach, with great sunset views. But this is also likely not the "real" Cyclop's cave from the historic tales, that is in Greece.
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February 2022, Cyclop's Cave, Paralimni, Cyprus
Caving (Basic, Rock, Surveying)
What's this? A mysterious packet in the mail ... wonder what it is?
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February 2022, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media)
Coming back from the skiing on the Mount Olympus and Troodos Mountains in Cyprus, I was driving by an area that had reported some kind of underground passage. I stopped to find out what it was about. From the map it looked like it was near a road, but it turned out to be only near some kind of agricultural path, and a kilometer or two from the drivable public roads. Well, why not walk to the darkness on the first night in a country you've never been to...
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February 2022, Σπηλιά του Μούλου, Troodos Mountains, Cyprus
Urban-Exploration (Other, Bunkers); Caving (Basic, Rock, Man-Made)
In August I visited Austria, and was able to hike to the Tischofer höhle and Hyänen höhle caves. Back then, I took 3D scans of the caves. Having worked with automatic construction of cave maps since then, six months later I'm now starting to have a capability to run these models through the Cave Outliner and get plan and cross section views out. Pretty interesting work, by no means done but lets see where this path leads us to!
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January 2022, Tischofer Höhle, Kaisertal, Kufstein, Austria; Hyänen Höhle, Kaisertal, Kufstein, Austria
Caving (Basic, Rock, Surveying, Equipment, Researching, Rock-Limestone)
Großer Bunkerberg is the name of the Berlin ruble mountain in Volkspark Friedrichshain. It housed previously one of Berlin's air defense 'flak towers', the Flakturm II G. Only a small corner of the blown up tower is still visible on the site, at the top of a large hill.
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December 2021, Großer Bunkerberg, Berlin, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (None, Man-Made)
Just before the caver's pre-xmas party, I visited 'Kollinluola' - the cave of the tomcat. Or, the cave of Juho Korkiakoski who was also called Kolli. It is a small cave under rocks.
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November 2021, Kollinluola, Jalasjärvi, Finland; Pirunpesä, Jalasjärvi, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Surveying); Caving (None)
My article on 3D modelling in Lummelunda was published in the Swedish Caver's Association's 'Grottan' (cave) magazine. Nice! The magazine was delivered to me rolled :-)
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November 2021, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None)
Caver’s meetup, warm even if -17 and interesting short films at Kino Jalasjärvi. And my Volvo made it 350 km away, furthest it has been! But will it last the way back? The summer’s trip reliability was 85% - what we call in the industry with the technical term “almost one nine reliability”. So the odds are pretty good!
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November 2021, Jalasjärven Kino, Jalasjärvi, Finland
Caving (None, Social, Research)
Grafenloch -- also called Luegsteinhöhle -- is a cave on a massive cliff face above the villages of Luegstein and Oberaudorf. A smallish cave, maybe 22-25 meters deep. But an interesting small hike of about 40 minutes to get to it. And an interesting last few meters to climb to the cave on the cliff face. Assisted with a rope and metal stairs, but still.
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September 2021, Grafenloch, Oberaudorf, Germany; Rossstall, Oberaudorf, Germany
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Surveying); Hiking
How much fun can you pack into one birthday trip? I started with a drink ... non-alcoholic, of course. And then things starting going faster after that: a sauna at the Oberstegen, continued with skiing on the Hintertux Glacier, went for a SUP paddling tour in an ice cave river under that glacier, and ended up climbing to the Grafenloch and Rossstall caves, and doing a 3D model of them. Not bad, and that was just the first day! Maybe for my next birthday I'll try to come with an active program.
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September 2021, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Hintertuxer Gletscher Eispalast, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Grafenloch, Oberaudorf, Germany; Rossstall, Oberaudorf, Germany; Gasthof Oberstegen, Stockach, Söll, Austria; Gasthof Oberstegen, Stockach, Söll, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Basic, Boating, Surveying, Ice); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Surveying); Hiking; Sauna (Normal, Infrared); Travel
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nt6U1SyJuMM/YU_zjznDQtI/AAAAAAAB3IE/zYG_FKdnSzQMROyxAHecCKvT1vuQICn5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/blog964_cover.jpg
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September 2021, Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Surveying, Researching, Equipment, Media)
I had been to Eispalast before. It is an ice cave that tourists can visit, 30 meters under glacier, near the top of the Gefrorene Wand mountain in Hintertux, Austria. But when I saw they had an option for trying SUP boarding on the river or lake in the ice cave, I knew I had to go again.
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September 2021, Hintertuxer Gletscher Eispalast, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria
Caving (Basic, Ice, Boating, Surveying)
Such a nice hike. If it weren't for the missing piece of the path, at least. But I finally made it to the Tischofer Höhle, a cave in Kaisertal, near Kufstein, Austria. What a wonderful cave, easy to visit if one picks the right path to get there. And despite being only 40 meters long it is a large cavern, with a large opening and large hall inside.
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August 2021, Tischofer Höhle, Kaisertal, Kufstein, Austria; Hyänen Höhle, Kaisertal, Kufstein, Austria
Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Limestone); Hiking
New signs lead visitors to the right place! Well done, Ratsutila Wikner!
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July 2021, Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Equipment, Morphology-Erosion)
Kari Vierinen organizes nature appreciation walks in Siuntio, and he called me to join their walk to the Solamäki caves in Siuntio. It was a very nice experience, particularly with the new information about paintings in the cave that Kari was able to tell us about.
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June 2021, Solamäen luola, Siuntio, Finland; Solamäen luolan halkeamasivuluola, Siuntio, Finland; Solamäen siirtolohkareluola, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders)
Last winter I explored the far reaches of the Kattilajärvi on snow shoes, and found several new small caves. But also ran out of time to explore them further, and the heavy snow cover didn't make it easy to explore the boulder caves. I wanted to return during the summer, and now Jarmo and I hiked around the Lippukallio are east of Kattilajärvi. And wow, many new small caves, and we realized one of the boulder caves I had seen in the winter was actually quite big. Three levels, complex maze, shaky moving boulders... nice!
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June 2021, Lippukallion lippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion lohkareluola 1, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion lohkareluola 2, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion minilippaluolanen, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion halkeamakololuolanen, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion kiipeilyhalkeamaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion pieni lohkarehalkeamaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion kallionsisuksen halkeamaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion halkeaman päätykololuolanen, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion rapautumislippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Surveying, Rock-Gneiss)