photo: Stanisław Kotarba	The Leoganger Steinberge seen from the East, ph. Stanisław Kotarba

should also note that we did not use explosives in exploration. The story, though, does not end here. I was ready to accept that this phase of exploration of the Lamprechtsofen system is over and we shall move somewhere else.

Janusz Śmiałek (1940-1997) the leader of the first Polish expeditions to Lamprechtsofen ph. Kazimierz Szych

Fortunately enough, the team were still eager to explore and we have finally decided to continue. We have moved our area of activity still higher. The zone above PL-2 is nearly completely deserted. A zone of lapiez, practically free of vegetation, extends to the ridge crest; in its highest part, at altitude of ca 2 500 m, it passes into the slopes of the highest peak of the Birnhorn massif. This forced us to move our camp to the area near PL-2, as the earlier one was too far so that the frequent stagnant fog characteristic of the area often made it practically impossible to find the way back from the cave. In 1999, cave CL-3 unexpectedly became our goal. Its entrance, discovered in 1996 at 60 m above PL-2, at first did not let us in. Successive ice chocks blocked the way in, but the dimensions and location of the cave made it a very promising target. After a few days we have passed through the ice zone and past a series of spacious shafts descended into surprisingly vast galleries, whose presence at this altitude we did not expect. Still more interestingly the galleries, crossed by many pitches, led south-westwards and suddenly passed into a complex vertical series descending to the north again. This series led to another level of galleries, nearly 200 m below. Though for the lack of time we stopped exploration at the depth of ca 370 m, the amount of new discoveries and the many leads left were quite a lure for further exploration in the Leoganger Steinberge. The logical goal of the 2000 expedition was to do

Section of Lamprechtsofen system and caves in neighbourhood after expedition in summer 2001