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:

Data sources for cave search
Yay, a delivery! I got the third book in the series of cave, canyon, and boulder books from Tuomo Kesäläinen and Aimo Kejonen! Very excited to read this as well!
Full story

June 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media, Research)

The book of boulders (Suomen Lohkareet)
My earlier post was about data sources for finding new caves. I've now been reading the Suomen Lohkareet (the book of boulders in Finland) book, and it is great.
Full story

June 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Research)

Gåskärr cavelets and boulders
During the quarantine, I've taken up trying to hike almost every day. It turns out that I can go within just a few kilometers from home and still end up in areas that I've not been to before. The forests not marketed as the hottest hiking areas, etc. And almost every time, there are some tiny rock holes that one could call "cavelets".
Full story

May 2020, Gåskärrin lohkareluola, Gåskär, Espoo, Finland; Gåskärrin lippaluolanen, Gåskär, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)

Mapping Grani's caves. If I could only find them...
For May 1st, I also wanted to see if I could add Kauniainen to the map with regards to having mapped caves.
Full story
(TGR version)

May 2020, Kauniaisten koululuola 1, Kauniainen, Finland; Kauniaisten koululuola 2, Kauniainen, Finland; Siirtolohkareluola 1, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Surveying); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic, Surveying)

Haavikkolehto cave, now with a map!
Haavikkolehto - a protected site with many boulders left by the ice age - is also very interesting from caving perspective. Likely not everything here has been found. But the most spectacular cave is known from this Retkipaikka article.
Full story

May 2020, Haavikkolehdon karhukiven luola, Suonenjoki, Finland; Haavikkolehdon karhukiven luolan sivulohkareluola, Suonenjoki, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Surveying)

Looking for caves on Nilsiä's Mustikkamäki
I'm looking for caves... not for bears. But heard some growling and saw some big piles of sh*t, so decided to do a roundabout tour to return to the car.
Full story

May 2020, Ryömittävä lippaluola, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland; Kololuolanen, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland; Korkea lippaluola, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland; Pieni kulmalippaluolanen, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland; Pieni lippaluolanen 1, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland; Pieni lippaluolanen 2, Mustikkamäki, Nilsiä, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic); Hiking

Högaberget, Espoo
Tiny cavelets on my evening walk again.
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May 2020, Högabergetin siirtolohkare, Espoo, Finland; Högabergetin lohkareluolanen, Espoo, Finland; Högabergetin kalliolippaluolanen, Espoo, Finland
Hiking; Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)

Caves in Nuuksio's Katajasuo
Research pays off! I wanted to explore more boulder caves, but where to find boulders? I kept looking for data, and it turns out the geologic research institute had made a listing of the most valuable boulder fields in Finland. One of them was nearby, in Nuuksio, so I headed out to investigate on Sunday. No caves had been listed at that spot, but the report already made some promises about cave-like holes between the rocks. And a 50 meters wide and 10 meters deep field! I was hooked. Although it turned out the location was listed after all in the book of cave in Finland (albeit with a different name).
Full story
(TGR version)

May 2020, Katajasuon kivikon pääluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Katajasuon kivikon luola 1, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Katajasuon kivikon luola 2, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Katajasuon kivikon sivuluola 1, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Katajasuon kivikon sivuluola 2, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Surveying)

Kaupunginkallio cavelet
I go hiking on a different spot on most days, as my evening exercise. This time in Kaupunginkallio, Espoo.
Full story

May 2020, Kaupunginkallion halkeamakolo, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic)

Kattilajärvi roof caves
Today's exercise was an excursion to Kattilajärvi, which was reported to have interesting cliffs. There were a couple of small caves and two interesting roof caves.
Full story

May 2020, Kattilajärven iso lippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Kattilajärven kallion lippaluola, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Kattilajärven kalliokolo, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Kattilajärven pieni lippaluola 1, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Kattilajärven pieni lippaluola 2, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Kattilajärven pieni lippaluola 3, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)

Röylä hike (with cavelets!)
Röylä. A place with an ugly name and no one with interest to visit there? Not so. The forests are quite big, and full of cliffs, and indeed, no one goes there so one gets to hike alone :-)
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May 2020, Röylän halkeamaluolanen, Röylä, Espoo, Finland; Röylän lippakolonen, Röylä, Espoo, Finland; Röylän siirtolohkareluolanen, Röylä, Espoo, Finland
Hiking; Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic, Surveying); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Surveying)

Kirkkonummi Cavelets
I realised last week that I need exercise, and sunshine. Today's exercise was to go caving in Kirkkonummi. But I didn't want to visit places that other people would likely be in. So I took the approach of visiting forest areas where there have been NO caves listed.
Full story

April 2020, Masalan siirtolohkareen luolanen, Masala, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Nägelsin siirtolohkareen luolanen, Hirsala, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Nägelsin lippaluolanen 1, Hirsala, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Nägelsin lippaluolanen 2, Hirsala, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Nägelsin halkeamaluolanen, Hirsala, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)

Stairway to Hea...Bunker
Bunker... in Jorvas. With a ladder leading down a tight concrete shaft. How could I resist?
Full story
(TGR version)

April 2020, Sähköaseman bunkkeri, Masala, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Lummelunda canceled -(
For the last three years, the highlight of my caving year has been the fun, warm, and social camping week at the Lummelunda cave in Gotland. Sadly, I just received a cancellation for the flights to Gotland, due to the virus. I think this year's caving week is therefore cancelled.
Full story

April 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None)

Grottan arrived at mailbox
No, it is not a rat. It is a Swedish caver's magazine. Grottan is cave in Swedish.
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April 2020, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media)

Virtual caving club meeting. In a cave.
Another caver's club virtual meeting! Nice! Since the others played around with nice picture backgrounds, I decided to have a background of my own: in a cave in Korkberget, Kirkkonummi.
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April 2020, Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Pieni lippaluola 1 pohjoiskärjessä, Korkberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Pieni lippaluola 2 pohjoiskärjessä, Korkberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Social)

This is the 10th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, and set 9. The next sets are set 11, set 12, set 13, set 14, set 15, set 16, set 17, set 18, set 19, set 20, set 21, set 22, and set 23.

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.