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| 2003-09-06..16 Summer course |
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The third stage of our speleo course - after bunkers and climbing;
main stage, "summer" Tatra Mountains
(see speleo.waw.pl).
And a week after the course we visited Malta.
Trips:
Details:
As a quick warmup, we went a on trip from Koscieliska Valley to Lejowa Valley by the track Droga nad Reglami.
At the exit of Lejowa Valley there's a vertical rock wall about the size of the bunkers near Janowek.
Here we could recall what we knew about rope techniques.
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Two teams set off for their first serious caving trip;
each team rigged one of the pits and de-rigged the other pit
(after a meeting at the bottom of one of the pits).
Well, a very fine cave; those two pitches are really impressive and abseiling them is really fun;
especially when these are the first two pitches of the course.
There were minor problems with getting to and getting out of Candidate's Pitch -
there's a squeeze between the boulders at the top.
I was really cold at the bottom of the first pitch (Black Keep) when we were waiting for the second team.
In the Chamber of Rain my suit was thoroughly soaked,
and that together with waiting and doing nothing had the expected outcome.
I started to feel my hands about halfway up the pitch
(nobody told me before about the idea of keeping gloves inside your suit instead of laying them down on cold rocks).
Also, we didn't know yet how should we prepare for this kind of trips.
We didn't have too much food, neither on the ascent, nor inside, nor when we came back out.
So, the trip down into the valley was really tiring for me...
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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Well... these caves are not very interesting - short and without any attractions,
not even some longer rope segments. But the trip itself, as well as the rest after Marble Cave, was really fun.
I like especially the track through Great Pasture - the view of Giewont and Great Crag is fantastic.
See also the caves' descriptions on Epimenides (in Polish): Spiacych Rycerzy Wyznia, Spiacych Rycerzy.
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This was a really hard trip for us. We started at the standard time, the ascent went also pretty well.
We had very nice weather, so warm that you really wanted to take a nap on the track...
I like the cave because the through trip heads mainly along a pretty spacious passage,
you almost never have to even bend. But, as it is usual on course trips,
there wasn't much time for looking around. Of the parts visited, I liked the Hungarian Chimney,
the descent to Emerald Lake and the traverse above the lake.
The exit is also interesting - into the Zleb pod Wysranki cleft.
But we made one big mistake - starting about in the middle of the cave,
we didn't have any water to drink. And on the way to the North exit there wasn't any water to get.
So, when we got out, I was totally exhausted, mainly because of dehydration, I think.
And I guess that the 11 hours spent in the cave didn't help either...
We weren't cheered up when it turn out that we lost our way (at night) on the Uplaz Clearing.
Only after a phone call to the base and getting some directions did we manage to find the track.
This time I was one of the first people at the bottom of the valley -
I could finally get some water from the Mietusiowy Stream.
I spent several minutes just on drinking, and then finally I felt like coming back to life...
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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Surveying was quite fun, after entering the data into a computer
it turned out that our team did the best job (or, at least, we were the closest ones to the mean).
What's interesting is that when we got to the middle of the cave
and were waiting for the other part of the team, a group of 3 or 4 people passed us by.
They had a single candle (!) to light their way through Mylna (deceptive?) cave.
After Mylna we want to Water Cave under Pisana.
One of the entrances is dry and pretty tight - I was a bit worried about that...
However, seeing how everybody went in without any problems, I finally decided to try too.
Despite small dimensions, a very interesting cave.
A pretty complicated system of passages, lakes, a sump and a stream...
We all exited through the main entrance, but only some of the people decided to do this swimming.
See also the caves' descriptions on Epimenides (in Polish): Mylna, Wodna pod Pisana.
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A very long ascent to the cave... In the Kobylarzowy Clef there were quite a lot of people (a school trip, perhaps).
This didn't help us in the ascent - you had to either pass people by, or let others pass you, etc.
And this isn't that easy on a narrow track wearing a have backpack; and a little frustrating.
People at the base tried to scare us a bit that the entrance is really hard to find.
But our instructor had no problems at all. :) A very nice descent into the first pitch -
the entrance and walls are still illuminated by daylight. And finally, the descent through the Bell...
I think that the rope we were using was pretty old; when looping the rope through a stop in a standard S way,
you could let go of the rope and nothing would happen. This made the descent very uneven.
What's more, you started turning around and the rope bounced a lot... :)
So, when going down, most of my concentration was used up on keeping my breakfast inside my stomach.
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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The main attraction of this trip was an exposed, 60-some meter abseil
between the Upper Kasprowa and Middle Kasprowa caves. Unfortunately, the weather that day
was pretty bad and the only thing I saw during the descent was fog (and some rock just in front of my face).
So I guess that nobody was much impressed with the descent...
Even before starting on the trip it turned out that there were some problems with permits.
When we finally managed to get those, we were running out of time.
So, in the end, we had to skip Middle Kasprowa cave.
And the Upper Kasprowa cave... was moderately interesting.
I guess that the best part about that cave was... the trip to the cave, and the trip down afterwards.
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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For our self-rescue training we went to the Jaroniec Cleft.
There are some vertical rock walls there, maybe 20 meters high, just right for this exercise.
We tried the following techniques:
- Getting down a victim who's hanging on a shunt
- Getting down a victim who's hanging in ascending gear using the croll in croll method
- Getting down a victim who's hanging in ascending gear using the counterweight method
- Negotiating a belay with a victim
- Negotiating a knot with a victim
I can't say that we had a lot of fun - these aren't comfortable exercises.
And we didn't have much practice yet in using our gear.
For instance, Martha wasn't able to get de-rig me from out of my croll (with a weight difference of some 30 kilos).
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Mike took this day off, so we took off for Wielka Litworowa without him.
Since I had some problems with keeping up with the others on the previous trip,
I didn't want to hold everybody up, so I took of about 2 hours earlier than the rest.
Contrary to expectations, I made good time. Nearby roars of deer helped me a lot on the lonely track.
Thus, I waited for the others about an hour at the rendezvous point at the top of Kobylarzowy Cleft...
The entrance is pretty exposed and in a picturesque setting.
When the clouds finally drifted away, the view was really impressing.
In the cave I went down to the Chamber under the Slab (ca -200m).
I remember well both Fifties, First Slab and, of course, the traverse above Flach's Pitch (a bit of a struggle there).
The whole trip was super and it's really worth another visit (or several) - after all, I visited only a small part of the cave.
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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Mike's last caving trip during the course - Chocholowska Rift through trip.
We rented bikes to get near the entrance (IMO, the valley is a bit long for walking).
And since this trip was supposed to be pretty easy, I finally took a camera and show some pictures.
The caving trip itself was quite fun, virtually no ropes (just for one of the traverses) and without hurry.
So we could spend some time on "seeing" the cave.
For instance, there were some very nice rice fields made from mud
(though a bit damaged by some asshole that just had to write something on them).
I also remember the 20-some meter tight crawl to the exit.
See also the cave's description on Epimenides (in Polish).
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To this day I don't know how I joined this trip... :)
Somebody (Recielus, I guess) woke me up at some pagan hour and asked me if I wanted to go.
Barely conscious and not thinking right after the last night's party...
I agreed. And, after I agreed, I had to dress and drag my feet after the rest of the team.
We followed the blue track to the Kondracka Pass, next to Kondracka Kopa.
Just before reaching the summit, we turned to Upper Swistowka.
There we had a chance to look at some cave entrances
(I don't remember exactly, but I think these were Above the Valleys, Malolacka and Bright Aven).
And we could walk over the only place in Poland a la lapiaz.
Next we went to the Source in Ratusz and the cave there.
We rested there for a while (and my hangover finally ended)
and then we went to Litworowa Valley (passing the nearby Blue Pitch).
Next, through Machajowka to Mulowa Valley and finally, down the red track through Adamica.
A great trip that showed us totally different Tatras than we were accustomed to - quite, without any people, wild.
I will have to visit one of the future courses to go on this trip once again.
Martha was on a similar trip the day before - they went up to Kasprowy Summit,
next followed the main ridge till the place were the track leads down to Tomanowa Valley.
A much less interesting sounding trip than ours... :)
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Unfortunately, there aren't many pictures from this course - I had a camera,
but I usually didn't take it on trips. I had to concentrate on caving,
and ont on shooting photos. So, most of the pictures that are here,
are from the last trip - to Chocholowska Rift.
[MJT] Packing our stuff before the course
[MJT] Getting our things unpacked at the base
[MJT] A big mess in Aro's and Merhewa's room
[MJT] Cycling up Chocholowska Valley
[MJT] In Chocholowska Rift
[???] All course students together (those that went on this trip, obviously)
[MJT] Aro, as always, with a helmet tilted to one side
[MJT] One more picture from the same region
[???] Super mud rice fields
[MJT] Finally some formations in Tatra caves!
[MJT]
[???] The exit from the cave
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