A while ago, Bo Lenander asked a question in the Swedish Caver's Association if avalanche transceivers could be used as cave location beacons. As I have such transceivers, I started looking into this...
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May 2021, Torholan luola, Lohja, Finland
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Equipment)
Digitalisation of caves is proceeding! :-) I now have the first model from a bit larger cave, the Torhola cave in Lohja, southern Finland. This cave is Finland's largest karst cave, with around 100 meters of complex tunnels on 3-4 levels.
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May 2021, Torholan luola, Lohja, Finland
Caving (Surveying, Researching, Equipment, Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone)
I've been trying constructing 3D models from few caves with the LiDAR sensors in iPhone. While I've been able to rotate these models on screen easily, I also wanted to see whether I could construct more traditional maps from these models. But it has been a big learning curve to use the 3D modelling software. Today, with the help of Olli, I finally managed to make my first cross section of a cave model in Blender.
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April 2021, Pääluola, Rokokallio, Vihti, Finland
Caving (Surveying, Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders)
The evening's excursion was to Lohja's Karstu area, in search of caves. The Linnanmäki is a high hill and cliff in Karstu, and the book Suomen Luolat notes that there are two caves on the hill. One was supposed to be inaccessible without climbing equipment. But as usual, the coordinates were inaccurate, so I ended up going around the entire hill, and I think found the other cave plus four other small roof/shelter caves.
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March 2021, Karstun Linnanmäen luola 1, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen luola 2, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen luola 3, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen luola 4, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen luola 5, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen luola 6, Lohja, Finland; Karstun Linnanmäen louhos, Lohja, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, None); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Erosion); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack); Urban-Exploration (Quarries)
I wanted to get some exercise, and ended up walking 3-4 hours on snowshoes in Siuntio. I always need a 2nd goal for such trips, however, and this time it was to visit the Grottberget cave, and see if any of the surrounding cliff areas have additional caves.
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March 2021, Grottbergetin luola, Siuntio, Finland; Grottbergetin pikkukolo, Siuntio, Finland; Grottbergetin kivenalus, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crystallization); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders)
Korpikylä ("Remote Village") is a region in Hyrylä. I was stopping in Hyrylä for other reasons, and looked on the map for an interesting place to go snowshoeing in. Korpikylä fit the bill, and after some searching for a parking place I headed out for a two-hour nice hike in snowy forest.
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March 2021, Korpikylän lohkaresuoja, Hyrylä, Tuusula, Finland; Korpikylän leikkaus, Hyrylä, Tuusula, Finland; Korpikylän rakennelma, Hyrylä, Tuusula, Finland
Snowshoeing (Basic); Snowshoeing (Basic); Snowshoeing (Basic); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Surveying); Urban-Exploration (Railway, Military); Urban-Exploration (Buildings)
Cave of the sunset! I guess this just goes to show that no matter how well you know something, there are things you don't yet know. I did a snowshoes hike between Kauniainen and the Glims museum area, and came across a new cave!
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March 2021, Auringonlaskun luola, Kauniainen, Finland
Snowshoeing (Basic); Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Gneiss, Surveying)
I spent Sunday biking and walking in Kauniainen's forests, mainly in the Kasavuori ("pile mountain") area. I wanted to visit a couple of small holes there are in the cracks and boulders of the rocky landscape on this "mountain". And draw a couple of simple maps about them, and use my new iPhone 12 Pro to record 3D models.
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March 2021, Auringonlaskun luola, Kauniainen, Finland; Stockmannin Luola 1, Kauniainen, Finland; Kauniaisten luola 6, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack); Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders); Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack);
While cataloguing Kauniainen's tiny caves (if one can call them that), I came across another one. A small tunnel between two boulders. The tunnel part is maybe 3 meters (though with a small crack at the top for some part of that).
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March 2021, Kahden kiven luola, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders)
I continued my earlier underground tests with iPhone 12 Pro's LiDAR sensor and software. This time I started testing the 3D modelling software. Can we produce an accurate 3D model of a cave using these sensors and software?
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February 2021, Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Equipment); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers, Equipment)
We visited the Högberget cave today, to test drive the LiDAR sensor in the iPhone that got today. Pretty interesting!
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February 2021, Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Erosion, Equipment)
I was hiking around on my snow shoes, going around lake Kattilajärvi in Nuuksio. I was there for the sake of a nice walk in the winter weather, but also wanted to check out the many cliffs for possible caves. I've been here before, and saw for instance a wonderful roof cave. But then I came across a big cliff with a number of caves, not reported by others as far as I can tell.
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February 2021, Kattilajärven pikkukolo, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion lippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion lohkareluola 1, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Lippukallion lohkareluola 2, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Basic, Morphology-Boulders, Rock, Rock-Granite, Surveying); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Surveying)
Christmas seems like a good time to spend on improving your cave lights. Or, "improving" as it may be in my case. But I really like to the colours of the new lights :-)
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December 2020, Lohkarepuristimen luola, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders)
The third issue of this year's Grottan -- Swedish Caver's Association's magazine -- came in mail today.
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November 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Research, Media)
I recently watched the new mini-series "White Wall" on YLE Areena. This is a Finnish-Swedish production. The plot is about a mine being converted to store nuclear waste... until they hit something strange.
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November 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media); Sauna (None, Media)
Tero and I were on a trip... while caving was not the main purpose of the trip, as usual I also wanted visit a cave. A promising-looking hole at the Pyhä ski area turned out to not be a human-sized hole. But while returning to the airport in Rovaniemi, we drove south of the city to look at Tapulikallion onkalot (Tapulicliff holes). We founded a very weird, large boulder.
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November 2020, Tapulikallion onkalot, Rovaniemi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Other, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Weathering)