Welcome to the Planetcaver blog, featuring stories from caves andunderground explorations around the world, from the point of view of a beginner caver.
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Snow White Hall Photography Trip Jukka and I wanted to continue our photography experiments further up in the Lummelunda cave. The most interesting stalactites are in the Snow White Hall (Snövitsalen), beyond the half-way point in the cave. This turned out to be a very long trip, however, and one where we run out of all of our lights... Full story (TGR version) (Suomenkielinen versio) June 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave) | ||
Leppävaara mining Today's abandoned mine exploration was in Leppävaara. Full story June 2019, Kaivoskallion louhos, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Kaivoskallion siirtolohkareen alusluola, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Quarries); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
EuroSpeleo, here I come! Today I managed to sign up for the EuroSpeleo 2019, this time happening near Sofia in Bulgaria! Full story June 2019, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Caving (None) | ||
Lummelunda, here I come! Lummelunda week is coming up AND I'M GOING AGAIN! WOOHOOO! Full story May 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave) | ||
Banksy tunnel While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice! Full story May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Boozetunnel Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-) Full story May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Crack between the plates I knew that there are tectonic plates, but I had no idea one can walk in the crack between them. But in Thingvellir, Iceland it is possible. Full story May 2019, Thingvellir, Iceland Caving (None) | ||
Underground Tallinn I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum. Full story April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Leppävaara fortifications Jarmo and I visited the Leppävaara area fortifications, inspired by Tony Hagerlund's excellent blogs about them. There's plenty of trenches and also bunkers! These are World War I era fortifications built in a circle around Helsinki. We also found a small natural cave under a boulder! Full story April 2019, Bunkkeritunneli 1, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeritunneli 2, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 1, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 2, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Siirtolohkareen luola, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 3, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri 4, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Iso bunkkeri, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 1, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 2, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 3, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Small caves in Hvitträsk I had earlier visited Hvitträsk with Janne for the rock painting there's on a cliff. Back then we had also seen a small boulder cave. This time we returned with Jarmo, flew the drone for some video, and also found a total of seven small caves, three of which may be too small to enter but the others are clearly small caves. Full story (TGR version) March 2019, Luola 1, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 2, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 3, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 4, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 5, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 6, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 7, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic) | ||
R2-D2 bunker A bunker. A ventilation shaft. R2-D2 mod. What's not to like? Full story (TGR version) March 2019, R2-D2, Folimanka Park, Prague, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Communism and bunker tour Lets say that the tour guide was not a big fan of communism. Full story (TGR version) March 2019, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
The Lava Tunnel We had half a day in Reykjavik, and besides visiting a thermal bath, what could we do? Obviously, visit a cave... a lava tube. Or the Lava Tunnel, few kilometres outside the city (coordinates: N 63.9402 W 21.3971). Full story (TGR version) February 2019, The Lava Tunnel, Reykjavik, Iceland Caving (Rock, Rock-Volcanic, Morphology-Volcanic, Basic, Showtour) | ||
The Luola Magazine The "Luola" magazine from the Finnish Caving Association dropped into the mailbox today. Nice! And of course, we got two copies because there's two members in the household... Full story February 2019, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Caving (None, Media) | ||
Cave in Laajalahti? ... or not? Espoo. While looking for the remains of fortifications in Laajalahti, I came across a possible small roof cave. Small, but maybe worth documenting since there are really very few caves in Espoo. But the question is, is this a natural cave or remains of fortifications or quarry operations in the area? Full story (Suomenkielinen versio) December 2018, Laajalahden lippaluola, Espoo, Finland Caving (Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Surveying) | ||
Kittelberget roof cave Kirkkonummi is a gift that keeps on giving! Near the caves that we had investigated in Kauhala there's a very interesting roof cave on the cliffs surrounding Kittelberget. We set out again to hike the area with Jarmo, and found more interesting things, again :-) Full story (TGR version) (Suomenkielinen versio) December 2018, Kittelbergetin iso lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin pieni lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin toinen pieni lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin kallionalusluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic) | ||
This is the 12th 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, and set 11. The next sets are set 13, set 14, set 15, 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.