Konská Diera south of the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia was filled in the last decade of the past century with waste that consisted mainly of spoiled canned meat. Finally the cave was blocked with heavy concrete plates. When Slovakia entered the EU, EU funds were used to pay for the removal of 60 tons of toxic waste and 100 tons of other waste from the cave.

Voronya-Krubera 2006

Three members of Sekcja Grotołazów Wrocław took part in the Cavex expedition to the world's deepest cave in July and August 2006. 46 cavers from 9 countries took part in the event. In a 5-day action the Wrocław team reached -2045 in Game Over (the deepest part was flooded).

Cauldron over Voronja, ph. S. Krasko

Arabika, second time

Eight cavers from Sekcja Grotołazów Wrocław explored the vicinity of Voronya in the Arabika massif while three others took part in the Cavex expedition there. They explored Brestskaya Krepost, and newly discovered PL1 and PL5. Open leads were left in the first two.

Preparing equipment for transport

A Slavic expedition to the pro-Russian part of the Ukrainian Tatarstan

A team from Sekcja Grotołazów Wrocław was invited by their colleagues from Minsk to the expedition organized by the Cavex club of Moscow to the Karabi Yayla plateau in the Crimean Mountains in April-May 2006. Exploration of terminal sumps in Soldatskaya deepened the cave by 20 m and added 200 m to its length. The plateau is so notable for its cloudy weather that an individual GPS device is indispensable for every person moving there. The same "weather" extends to the interior of Soldatskaya. The organizers invited the team members to join them in the Arabika massif (see in this issue).

Section of Soldatskaya Cave

The most interesting caves of Island

Island, though lacking in karst-prone rocks, has many interesting caves. Small lava tubes are present all over the country. The longest cave of this origin, Surtshellir-Stepanshellir, is ca. 3,5 km long. Another big one, Vidgemir, is available only for fee and with a guide. Grotagja and Storagja formed by the collapse of a basalt plate along a tectonic fault. Both offer hot bath in their thermal lakes. Huge caves are created by thermal waters in Island glaciers; they change with time quite rapidly.

Lodowiec = glacier, nieistniejąca = not exist, kopalnia = mine


Entrance to Kirkjan Cave, ph. M. Banaś

Near the Surtshellir-Stepanshellir Cave, ph. M. Banaś

Geothermal lake in Grotagja , ph. M. Banaś

Slovenian canyons

The author describes three canyons in Slovenia, near the boundary with Italia.

Cascase 75 on Globoski stream, ph. M. Wawryka

Nebelsbergkar and more

This year's exploration in the Leoganger Steinberge in Austria by Andrzej Ciszewski and his KKTJ team was extended from Nebelsbergkar to the nearby Dürrkar. In the Nebelsbergkar itself a huge shaft named Perpetuum Horribile opened by a collapse of an ice-and-boulder choke. Exploration of its two arms ended on ice tongues at ca. -100 m. Searching in Ritzenkar, a small cirque to the south that culminates in the Jauskopf peak (2492 m), did not allow to descend deeper than 56 m. An easier route was found to the deeper parts of CL-3 and the water series was reached below a tight meander in Furkaskashacht.

Dürrkar

A part of the KKTJ team in the Leoganger Steinberge in Austria (see above) started systematic exploration of the Dürrkar, a cirque situated between altitudes 1950 and 2350 m. Three days of perfect weather allowed them to search the whole cirque. All the found entrances have been marked, GPS-located and explored down to 20-30 m. The most interesting proved D-27 at altitude 2300 m. A head of a 70-100 m deep shaft was reached there at the depth of 110 m. A weather collapse forced the team out. Coming back in September to collect their equipment they found some earlier snow plugs open.

Albania

A group of cavers and divers from Warsaw and Wrocław tried to dive in Albanian resurgences and caves. The resurgences at the shores of the Ohrid lake and those at Krume and Ragami appeared to have no penetrable spaces. Resurgence at Ivanaj near Shkodër was occupied by an Italian-Swiss expedition. Nevertheless, the country seems potentially interesting for cave divers

Bunkers on the albanian border, ph. A. Szerszeń

Exploration in Wild West

Western parts of Śnieżna Studnia in the Tatra were explored by members of Speleoklub Tatrzański. They also completed some earlier doubtful surveys. The actual section of the cave is presented.

Section of Śnieżna Studnia

News from gypsum

Three adjacent caves in Aleksandrów were connected by conquering squeezes between them. As a result Jaskinia
w Aleksandrowie is now 163 m long. Some other caves have been also extended.

News from explorations near Dukla

Several new small caves have been found in flysch sandstones in the Beskidy mountains, within an active landslide on the Kiliańska Góra. A few metres have been added in Drwali-Słowiańska, which is now 599 m long and that is not all. A few small new caves have been surveyed on the nearby Cergowa mountain.

Island , ph. M. Banaś

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