This time we felt like going to Black Cave, but from the North.
So, on Saturday morning we went to Zakopane, and without hurrying, around 10:30 a.m.
we registered and the gate in Koscieliska Valley. It turned out that already two teams went to our cave,
but fortunately, we still fit in the daily limit. :)
The ascent to the cave was not that super - it was quite hot
(imagine that just two weeks ago it was much colder - only 4 degrees... at the bottom!).
After a while we started enjoying the hike and for practice and to recall our topography,
we got to the Oven. A very nice view on the Mietusia Valley was not worth... the fight with the legions of flies.
How did it go in the King of Rats? You shouldn't kill a fly, but for what it does to us,
hurt it in such a way that the dying will take it as long as possible... Amen to that!
Anyway, we went back to the Uplaz Meadow and started going in the direction of the nearby rocks.
There we found a hardly visible path, about which we weren't sure if that's the one we wanted to find
(on the course, we got to the Meadow late at night, going down from the cave,
so there was no way we could remember the access). Fortunately, it turned out that we found the correct path.
So, next the ascent... we took a look at the rocks on the way... among other things,
a small cave just before the rope ascent. Next, up using the fixed rope there
(however, its condition is pretty bad on the topmost segment; own rope should be used instead).
And finally we got to the entrance! There was a strong and loud draught from inside.
A short crawl and we're inside. Funny - I remembered this crawl as a very long one,
and the rope ascent as a much higher one... And here, such a small thing! :)
We quickly got to the Pitch of the Falling Boulders. And here we met one of the teams
that we heard about at the gate. We had to wait over an hour until the 8 or 9 of them got out of the pitch
(but it went much quicker, than we thought)... This meant that we're starting to be short on time -
it's almost 5 p.m., alarm time is set for 12 a.m., and we have to go down, get out,
get to the end of the valley and only then will our mobiles work...
Tough. First, a descent into the pitch - no problems... only that our rope wasn't long enough.
The survey shows a 48 meter segment here, we had 51 meters, but that wasn't enough for the last descent.
Fortunately, the climb down wasn't very difficult, so we got down pretty quickly.
And we're in the Chamber of St. Bernard - much smaller than I recalled... :)
Next to the Brown Pitch. The plan was: if there's a rope, we're going onward (to the Emerald Lake),
if the rope's not there - we're exploring the parts near the North entrance.
The rope was there, although that knot, err... totally not funny. On the return trip, we used our own rope...
And that's where a nice cave starts! The Triumph Passage is very pretty, as well as the farther parts -
moonmilk (that sometimes had the shape of crystals), stalactites, stalagmites, rice fields (big)... well, very pretty.
I didn't remember that at all! We even found some helictites.
But we had to remember about the time, so instead of looking around and taking pictures, we went further.
A 3-meter easy pitch and we're at the top of the Name Day Pitch.
We rigged a traverse and (forgetting about de-regging the rope) went on...
White Pitch (or the Snail), supposedly easy, but caused us a bit of trouble.
We weren't expecting this and these parts were unknown to us...
So, first went Martha, then I (with a belay). So easy that now I feel ashamed! :)
Next, the Whirring Pitch - the cave changes its character, in place of washed passages we have these great rifts.
Really, quite high! Next, a bit lower, the Overhanging Boulder and that's how we got to the Small Whirring Pitch...
And here it turned out, that the rope that we left on the Name Day Pitch was needed here to get us down...
But I wanted to see the Emerald Lake so much, that finally I decided to go down without a belay
(and it turned out, that it wasn't that difficult). And the lake - I remembered it
as a much more shallow and dirty puddle. But here, deep water and that color - really emerald - super!
Right, but it really was getting late, a bit after 7 p.m., so we had to start returning, and be quick about it.
That's why we don't have those photos - if not for the hiking and for waiting on the other team,
we would have had much more of those (because there are a lot of nice things to take pictures of).
No worry, we will do that on our next visit.
On our way back we wanted to see what we can climb. So, the Small Whirring Pitch up
was a bit harder than down, but I managed. Overhanging Boulder didn't want to let us through -
I can't do the splits, and the walls were slippery. You can wriggle and crawl onto the boulder,
but that's no pretty climbing... :)
The Whirring Pitch, even though much higher, went quite nicely - by chimneying.
White Pitch - that's down; then the traverse of Name Day Pitch - very easy,
the next small pitch was easy too (that was the 3-meter chimney described earlier), Brown Pitch - down also...
And the last one - the Pitch of the Falling Boulders...
We really wanted to test our climbing here, but it was 9 p.m. already.
Even if we got out quickly we could have problems contacting people before midnight.
So, we climbed only the lowest parts, and later on used our ropes.
Martha went ahead and fortunately she was able to make the call from the cave's entrance
(we're using the Plus mobile network). Thus, around 10 p.m. we got the message out that everything's fine.
Actually, I spent some time fighting the last small climb - a 2 meter step.
I almost got out, but then the bag got stuck between rocks. I elongated its donkey's dick and got it moving.
I got to the top and then it turned out that I left some of my gear at the bottom...
Down again and up once more... (the last time it went quite easily).
The return trip - in total darkness (typical for winter). Without any adventures, but under beautiful stars.
We got to the parking lot at 2 a.m., and returned home at about 5 a.m.
And that was the end of this very pleasant, but tiring, trip...