Jouni had organized a tour of the Löpärö island in Sipoo for us, including the local guide Jukka showing is the cave locations. I think all of us were expecting a nice walk but pretty small caves. But were were really impressed by what we found! Just take a look at these photos by Jarmo Ruuth! (Also some by Jari or Elena.)
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(TGR version)
November 2020, Dyviksbergenin luola, Löpärö, Sipoo, Finland; Dyviksbergenin luola 1, Löpärö, Sipoo, Finland; Långbergetin lohkareluola, Löpärö, Sipoo, Finland; Långbergetin lohkareluolan sivuhuone, Löpärö, Sipoo, Finland; Långbergetin toinen lohkareluola, Löpärö, Sipoo, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack); Caving (Basic, Rock); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack)
Nice cave, but I had to reverse my car out of the road that led to it. No way to turn around, and road got impassable after a while.
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November 2020, Laukkosken luolakallion onkalot, Pornainen, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack)
I spent at least an hour trying to find the cave, despite a tag on the Google Maps from someone, as well as coordinates from the book of Finnish caves. It turned out that the cave can be entered from the middle of the sloping rock face, in the cracks that have opened in it. But what a wonderful cave there was!
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October 2020, Urtvuoren luola, Sammatti, Finland; Urtvuoren kalteva rakoluola, Sammatti, Finland; Urtvuoren lippaluola, Sammatti, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack)
Right in the middle of Tammisaari there's a classic "stone table", Ramunderinkiven onkalo (The Hole of the Ramunder's stone). Stone tables are stone formations where a rock sits on other stones. Ramunder is the strong man of old tales, and the story is that he threw a large boulder to crush some giants, giants that are now the stones holding up the boulder.
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October 2020, Ramunderinkiven onkalo, Tammisaari, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders)
The book Finnish Caves (Suomen Luolat) lists several caves in Perniö. I had already been in the 'Hiidenkellari' (Devil's basement), but since I needed to drive through Perniö today on my visit to Tero's summer cottage, I wanted to visit more of the caves. I chose 'Antinmäen Hohteen kellari ja paja' (The basement and workshop at the Antinmäki shine).
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October 2020, Antinmäen Hohteen kellari ja paja, Perniö, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders)
I got a tip from Johan at work about an interesting book, one that deals with underground wonders. The book is Underland by Robert MacFarlane. I don't really know yet what's inside, but there was a recommendation in New York Times, that can't be bad :-)
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September 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media)
An evening outing to a promised 30+ meter cave. Turns out there are three, with the biggest one 45 meters. Roof caves, so not so cave like, dark holes. But rock above your head nevertheless. Also, deer flies. Oh how I love deer flies in my hair.
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August 2020, Limpanin lippaluola 1, Siuntio, Finland; Limpanin lippaluola 2, Siuntio, Finland; Limpanin iso lippaluola, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack)
With the new cave map service that we've been building with Ralf, I was able to make more sensible searches for known caves. In the cave map I can select the length of cave, for instance, and look for the bigger ones (albeit all Finnish caves are small). It turned out that there's supposed to be a 50-meter roof cave in Hyypiänmäki, near Klaukkala.
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August 2020, Hyypiänmäen lippaluola, Nurmijärvi, Finland; Hyypiänmäen pieni lippaluolanen 1, Nurmijärvi, Finland; Hyypiänmäen pieni lippaluolanen 2, Nurmijärvi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)
I recently visited three nearby places that had been listed as having large roof caves (by Finnish standards). And they did indeed deliver on that promise! In addition, I found that the three actually had three roof caves each. Nine cave visits on three trips :-)
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August 2020, Limpanin iso lippaluola, Siuntio, Finland; Siitoonmäen lippaluola, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Siitoonmäen lippaluolan sivuluola 1, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Siitoonmäen lippaluolan sivuluola 2, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Hyypiänmäen lippaluola, Nurmijärvi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Granite, Surveying)
Jarmo went further on our search in Vihti, and found some small roof caves.
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August 2020, Lippaluolanen 1, Isonniitunmäki, Vihti, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack)
Need some excitement? Maybe crawling inside a blown-up bunker in the middle of dark forest would help. Hope the Nazi command is no longer on site... and that the ammunition laying in the ground isn't dangerous.
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August 2020, Lager Koralle, Wandlitz, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers, Military); Caving (Man-Made)
Such beautiful pure calcite in the ceiling and floor. And cut so exact, as if by man... but it is the works of chemistry and water.
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August 2020, Hiidenkellari, Vihti, Finland; Kololuolanen 1, Isonniitunmäki, Vihti, Finland; Kololuolanen 2, Isonniitunmäki, Vihti, Finland; Hylätty kellari, Isonniitunmäki, Vihti, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders); Urban-Exploration (Buildings, Ruins)
I've been using the new Luolaseura map app and database to look for nearby caves that I have not been to. This is now much more convenient than it was before :-) You can easily look at, say, all caves bigger than some number of meters and look around you. So, I wanted to go see another 50 meter roof cave that was just 40 minutes drive away.
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August 2020, Siitoonmäen lippaluola, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Siitoonmäen lippaluolan sivuluola 1, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Siitoonmäen lippaluolan sivuluola 2, Nummi-Pusula, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders)
Searching for a cave listed in the Finnish book of caves as "unconfirmed". Came up with nothing.
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August 2020, Lähderannan kolo, Lähderanta, Espoo, Finland
Caving (None)
On my way to swimming in Myllyjärvi, I noticed a bouldering cliff, with an overhang. Quite a spectacular roof cave, maybe 35 meters long and 4-5 meters deep.
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July 2020, Myllyjärven lippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)
Inspired by Ralf's observation of cave-like names in the countryside, I searched for more caves from the Finnish map databases, and came up with some more placed called "Luolamäki" or cave hill. This time near Nummi-Pusula, Lohja, and Vihti. Jarmo, Ralf, and me set out to explore... with no prior knowledge of any caves in this area reported anywhere. Not in the book of Finnish caves, not in Retkipaikka, nowhere.
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July 2020, Kyynärjärven Luolamäen lippaluolanen, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Kyynärjärven Luolamäen pieni lippaluolanen, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Kyynärjärven Luolamäen lohkareen alusluolanen, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Huopinmäen Luolamäen lippaluolanen 1, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Huopinmäen Luolamäen lippa 2, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Huopinmäen Luolamäen lippaluolanen 3, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Huopinmäen Luolamäen lippa 4, Nummi-Pusula, Finland; Huopinmäen Luolamäen kolonen, Nummi-Pusula, Finland
Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Surveying); Caving (Rock, Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Surveying); Hiking