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:

Napoli Catacombs
Catacombe di San Gennaro is one of the underground burial sites in Naples. Janne and visited this on a tour, and were surprised.
Full story

July 2018, Catacombe di San Gennaro, Naples, Italy
History; Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Catacombs)

Cave Radios with Bo Lenander
I had an opportunity to interview Bo Lenander, Swedish Speleological Society, about cave electronics and communications equipment. In this video he explains the equipment that he has built and what it can be used for. And then we try it out in the Gotland's Lummelunda cave!
Full story
(Suomenkielinen versio)

June 2018, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming, Equipment); Swimming (Indoor, Underground, Water, Waterbody-Cave)

Utö Caving
This weekend I was at Tero's cottage in Särkisalo, and decided to check out local caves, if any. It turned out that there's quite a nice set of cracks, roofs, and boulders in Utö, at the Vårdgasberget.
Full story

June 2018, Vårdgasbergetin luola, Utö, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic)

Pihlajasaari Bunker
Helsinki's recreation islands are interesting, also from the point of view abandoned military structures and ruins. Today's excursion was to Sirpalesaari.
Full story

June 2018, Pihlajasaaren öljysäiliön rauniot, Helsinki, Finland; Pihlajasaaren bunkkeri, Helsinki, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Stasi Bunker
While on my way to a conference, I wanted to do a small detour to visit a bunker that I had read about. A Stasi bunker.
Full story

June 2018, Stasi bunker, Machern, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Lummelunda Caver's Camp
I spent the last five days on the beach in Gotland, camping with Swedish cavers in their yearly meet-up. A lot of fun, sunshine, grilling and old and new friends. And caving... more about that later. Heading home now.
Full story

June 2018, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (None, Social)

Training for Vertical Caving
For the last two days, I've had the opportunity to be trained for techniques that are needed to traverse vertical cave shafts.
Full story

June 2018, Myllypuron Urheiluhalli, Helsinki, Finland
Caving (Man-Made); Climbing (Mountain)

Replica Cave
While in France, I happened to get a number of brochures for tourist caves. One of these brochures was about the Chauvet Cave, the cave with earliest known paintings from 30 000+ years ago. But, that cave is off limits to visitors, so they built a replica of the cave nearby!
Full story

May 2018, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None); Travel

Karby Batteri
More after-work bunker scouting. I thought I had already explored all the underground structures in the northern Korvlinjen, but apparently not. This "batteri" as they called it is a set of defence structures for guns, with small tunnels going from one structure to the next.
Full story

May 2018, Karby batteri 1, Täby, Sweden; Karby batteri 2, Täby, Sweden; Karby batteri 3, Täby, Sweden
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Baume Obscure Cave
I was on my way to Marseille for a conference. And on the way observing other interesting things... like caves.
Full story
(TGR version)

May 2018, Baume Obscure Cave, Cote d'Azur, France
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Showtour)

Grotte de Saint Cézaire
Wow, that was a nice tour. Another brief cave visit while driving to my conference, but this time with a specialist guide, Eric, who has been exploring the depths of this cave.
Full story
(TGR version)

May 2018, Grotte de Saint Cézaire, Cote d'Azur, France
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Showtour)

Deadly bunker trap
Well, that was dangerous. We're very careful when we visit blown-up bunkers. But, we did not expect intentional traps, at least not recent ones. Next to a bunker in Siuntio, Jarmo almost fell into a 5-meter deep well that was covered with fresh tree branches. Would he have hurt himself if he fell in, or even if not, would he have been able to get out if he was alone? Who does this sort of thing?!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

April 2018, Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Kallionreunan bunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made); Hiking

More Sepänkylä Bunkers
Olli and I went to Sepänkylä to visit more bunkers, and to fly our drones. We found a standard Soviet Porkkala bunker model, relatively intact except for the room under the gun hole. But what wonderful flowstone!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

April 2018, Sepänkylän metsäbunkkeri, Sepänkylä, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)

Tivoliberget Forts
I had a long day at my Kista office today, but on the way back to the airport I managed to scout ruins of fortifications and bunkers at Tivoliberget in Bergshamra, Solna, near Stockholm.
Full story

April 2018, Bunker, Bergshamra, Solna, Sweden; Ruins, Bergshamra, Solna, Sweden; Fortifications, Bergshamra, Solna, Sweden
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers, Ruins)

Petite Ceinture
I'm feeling a bit alone here. The tunnel ends are too far to see even that pinhole of light. I'm in a long railway tunnel on the Petite Ceinture, the "little belt", an abandoned (I think) rail system under Paris.
Full story
(Suomenkielinen versio)

April 2018, Old Charonne Station, Paris, France
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)

LA Caving
Cave of Munits is a wonderful cave and a sacred site on Simi Hills in San Fernando Valley, half an hour from Los Angeles downtown.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

March 2018, Cave of Munits, Los Angeles, California, USA; Bronson Caves, Los Angeles, California, USA
Caving (Rock, Rock-Sandstone, Morphology-Other, Basic); Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Quarries)

This is the 15th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, set 11, set 12, set 13, and set 14. The next sets are set 16, set 17, set 18, set 19, set 20, set 21, and set 22.

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.