This week I'm working in Stockholm, and did not manage to get my usual cheap hotel near the office. Staying at the city center, I noticed a tunnel that I had not seen before: Brunkebergstunneln. A nice walkway from 1880s, 231 meters long.
Full story
November 2018, Brunkebergstunneln, Stockholm, Sweden
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
I'm in Paris for a meeting, and on the way to the airport we visited the abandoned underground railroad line. What did we find? An art show and sculptures deep inside the tunnels! And also wonderful graffiti!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
November 2018, Old Charonne Station, Paris, France
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
The Finnish Caving Association was having a course on basic caving. I've been on that course... but it seemed like a fun thing to do and a nice visit to Turku. And I ended up doing more practice with cave photography using multiple flashes and radio triggers.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
October 2018, Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic, Training)
*Every* cave that I go to in Finland seems to have at least one beer can. Lets clean them up!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
October 2018, Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic)
The book "Suomen Luolat" gives a hint of a cave in Kirkkonummi, near someone's yard, with fuzzy coordinates that could be off by kilometres.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
October 2018, Lohkareluola, Bastuberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic); History
Jarmo, Jukka, and I spent Sunday testing cave photography techniques again. I also got to show the Korkberget cave to Jukka who had not been there before. Hopefully he liked it.... to me it is by far the most interesting cave in Finland.
Full story
October 2018, Palloiluhalli, Kauniainen, Finland; Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Man-Made); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic)
Today I went to Mustavuori to get a small hike and too see the tunnels and canyons.
Full story
October 2018, Linnoitustunneli 1, Mustavuori, Helsinki, Finland; Linnoitustunneli 2, Mustavuori, Helsinki, Finland
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers, Tunnels)
There's a big contrast between warm summer evening in the countryside, and what you find a few meters under your feet: a massive, blown up Soviet-era bunker. Damp darkness, rebar that is difficult to crawl through. And we're here to practice photography!
Full story
(TGR version)
September 2018, Inkoon jättibunkkeri, Inkoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Every time I go on a business trip, I try to look for places that I could either ski or go caving in. In Harbin, China, the language and Internet information differences were too big for me to figure out if there were any caves that I could visit. However, there was a reportedly nice bookstore that was built to resemble a cave.
Full story
(TGR version)
September 2018, Cave Bookstore, Harbin, China
Caving (Man-Made)
My first visit to a large cave system, in the wild. An all day adventure with geology lessons, and climbing steep and slippery clay tunnels!
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
August 2018, Dachstein Mammuthöhle, Dachstein, Austria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic)
Is it an aquarium or a construct of the evil nazi regime? Well, both...
Full story
(TGR version)
August 2018, Haus des Meeres, Esterhazypark, Vienna, Austria
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
During World War II, the Nazis built so called Flak Towers -- fortified air defence bunkers -- in three cities, Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg. I had previously been in the Thumboldthain tower in Berlin. Now I was able to visit two similar bunkers in Hamburg.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
August 2018, Heiligengeistfeld Flaktürme, Heiligengeistfeld, Hamburg, Germany; Energy Bunker, Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Moonmilk. Bats. Artefacts from 1800s. Still, inexplicably, all the other 15 participants have cancelled this excursion, including one of the guides. Why? Last nights party? Perhaps, the last guy to cancel says he partied too long. Or maybe it is the rain. It has been raining cats and dogs.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
August 2018, Nixlucke, Ebensee, Austria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, SRT)
Swoosh, flushed down! This cave makes me feel like going down the drain.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
August 2018, Saubachlhöhlen, Yspertal, Austria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Swimming); Swimming (Outdoor, Underground, Nature, Water, Waterbody-River, Cave)
This week some of us Finnish cavers are attending Eurospelo in Austria. The first session for Jukka, Tor, me, and our Canadian friend Andrew turned out to be cave photography, learning to use backlight with Philippe Crochet and Annie Guiraud. Amazing stuff, very happy that we were able to join.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
August 2018, Gassel-Tropfsteinhöhle, Ebensee, Austria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Training); Photography
You have to feel sorry for this little museum, as their resources are probably tight. But seriously... cave stalactites made of urethan without painting... bears with zippers... all-white plastic giraffes.
Full story
August 2018, Museo di Zoologia, Rome, Italy
Caving (Man-Made, Research)