MORE PLANETCAVER STORIES

Welcome to the Planetcaver blog, featuring stories from caves andunderground explorations around the world, from the point of view of a beginner caver.

More caving-related articles:

Titlis caving
While skiing on the rainy Titlis, I saw a crack cave by the slopes, and also visited an ice cave for tourists.
Full story

February 2020, Titlis ice cave, Engelberg, Switzerland
Caving (Glacier, Basic, Showtour)

Abandoned bunker on Golan Heights
What a shitty bunker! Literally.
Full story

February 2020, Abandoned bunker, Mount Hermon, Israel
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Desperately seeking... any cave
As we returned from the skiing in Israel, I wanted to stop at a cave in Israel. Most of the show caves are closed in the winter, but there should be enough natural caves to visit, right? Not so... we failed to enter the ones we found for various reasons.
Full story

February 2020, Пещера, Tiberias, Israel
Caving (None)

Cappadocia
Massive cities carved inside rock towers. Luxury hotels carved inside cliffs. Sometimes a bad weather closure day can lead to interesting other things. I'm glad we got to visit Cappadocia, Turkey.
Full story
(TGR version)

February 2020, Göreme Open Air Museum, Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
Caving (Rock, Man-Made)

Small cave in Obertauern
While skiing off the Gamsleiten 2 ski lift in Obertauern, we spotted a potential small cave. It was outside the pistes on a steep slope, but I skied to investigate. And found what would in Finland be classified as a cave: 2-3 meter long roof cave on a cliff. But not in Austria...
Full story

January 2020, Small cave, Obertauern, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Rock, Basic)

Re-visiting the Vienna flak towers
​I was in Vienna already in 2018, but for 2020 Janne and I toured the Vienna museums befor e heading to the ski resorts in Austrian alps. This allowed a new visit to Haus des Meeres, the refurbished bunker-turned-into-and-aquarium, and visits to three other bunkers.
Full story
(TGR version)

January 2020, Haus des Meeres, Esterhazypark, Vienna, Austria; Flakturm Stiftskaserne, Vienna, Austria; Feuerleit Flakturm Arenbergpark, Vienna, Austria; Flakturm Arenbergpark, Vienna, Austria
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers, Military); Caving (Man-Made)

Kettils Grotta
Kettils Grotta (Kettil's cave) near the Rosersbergs Castle for an evening hike in the darkness and rain.
Full story

January 2020, Kettils Grotta, Rosersbergs Slott, Stockholm, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic)

Vela Spila, Korčula
It feels like I'm destined to find closed caves during the winter period. This time I wanted to visit the Vela Spila cave, an archaeologic cave site near Vela Luka, on the island of Korčula in the Croatian archipelago. But, it was closed. Figures.
Full story

January 2020, Vela Spila, Vela Luka, Korcula, Croatia
Caving (Rock, Basic)

Vrnjača špilja
Google maps promised that it would be open. And it took hours for me to get there. But, no, in the winter season there's no one at the Vrnjača špiljar or the Vranjaca cave, and the gates are closed. What a disappointment!
Full story

January 2020, Vrnjača špilja, Kotlenice, Croatia
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic)

Nobel's blasting tunnels
This seemed like a good time of the year to go explore the start of Nobel industries in Vinterviken. Bunkers, tunnels, testing grounds, and simple factory buildings.
Full story

December 2019, Nobel blasting tunnels, Vinterviken, Stockholm, Sweden
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Historic); Caving (Man-Made)

Squeeze Box Finnish Championships 2019
We have a new Finnish cave squeezing record! At the "little xmas party" of the caving association, Jukka Palm and Mike Kushy both pushed through the squeeze box at just 166 millimeters. And I can't even get my fat head fit inside that distance, let alone other body parts! :-)
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

November 2019, Kangasala, Finland
Caving (None, Man-Made)

Caving in Tampere. In a shopping mall.
I don't go caving often, but when I do, I want to do it indoors in a dry, clean environment that is safe for everyone. I have to say that I did not expect much from the caving adventure park at the Tampere shopping mall, but I was blown away by how good this place was. Much recommended!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

November 2019, Irti Maasta, Tullintori, Tampere, Finland
Caving (Man-Made, Social); Swimming (Indoor, Balls)

Seah Im Bunker
Once my meeting ended, I wanted to use the couple of hours I had for exploration, and got Tero to join me. I've already covered the Singapore caves and skiing... what remained was bunkers!
Full story
(TGR version)

November 2019, Seah Im Bunker, Keppel Hill, Singapore, Singapore
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Banff Mountain Festival 2019
This evening I'm at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Helsinki. The movies are about skiing, mountain biking, surfing, and caving. Looking forward to the film's, they've always been powerful stories.
Full story

October 2019, Savoy Theater, Helsinki, Finland
Skiing (None, Social, Media); Caving (None, Media, Social)

Caving equipment store?
I got an advertisement today from Verkkokauppa.com, a Finnish electronics store. The advertisement goes "everything for any cave" (or "kaikkea löytyy luolaan kuin luolaan" in Finnish). I think they meant to man caves etc, but I immediately headed to the shop to see if there was caving equipment to be bought :-)
Full story

October 2019, Verkkokauppa.com, Helsinki, Finland
Caving (Equipment)

The Eyes of God Prohodna Cave
An hour and half from Sofia lies the Prohodna Cave. This is a massive and easy-to-visit cave for everyone, including busloads of tourists. And who wouldn't want to look at the Eyes of God?
Full story
(TGR version)

September 2019, Prohodna Cave, Karlukovo, Bulgaria; Prohodna Cave side caves 1, Karlukovo, Bulgaria; Prohodna Cave side caves 2, Karlukovo, Bulgaria; Prohodna Cave side caves 3, Karlukovo, Bulgaria; Prohodna Cave side caves 4, Karlukovo, Bulgaria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic)

This is the 9th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, and set 8. The next sets are set 10, set 11, set 12, set 13, set 14, set 15, set 16, set 17, set 18, set 19, and set 20.

The Planetcaver articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.