October 7th 2001. Day two of our expedition. Today we planed a dry cave trip. Our cave of choice is the Krasnohorska cave, 305m /680ft above the sea level, a total length 1100m/3630ft and 2 siphons. This cave is listed in Guinness book of world records as having the largest stalagmites in the world (one which goes from bottom to the top of the cave has a total height of 32.43m/107ft).

By Yoko Iuchi

Our trip begins around 8am at the base camp of Local Cave Guiding Services, where we are given lights and suits made from high absorption resistant materials like Cordura. Then we move to the cave location.

The entry of the cave is protected by steel bars. After our guide Jaro Stankovic opens the doors, we walk through a narrow corridor about 50m/165ft and into the first part of the cave. We stop here, and our guide gives a short briefing about the history and safety procedures. This cave is not one of those commercial caves where you have nice sidewalks and railings. You have to climb up and down through the narrow muddy channels between high limestone rocks. There are no convenient spotlights pointing on every stalagmite in the cave with color filters as a special effects. You have only a small lamp on your forehead attached to the helmet, which I found very useful in many parts of the cave.

As the tour begins, we stop around a small pond where Jaro points out a few little dots in the sand. It looked like a piece of paper but is moving. He explains it is a typical inhabitant of the Slovakian caves, Ninfargus – small shrimp like animal which moves on its side. Here we find about a dozen of them. Jaro tells us that it is unusual for them to live in big groups like this. After taking couple of pictures we continue through the labyrinth of small bridges built about 1ft above a small spring.

At our next stop, Jaro points out some bats hanging upside down, trying to begin their winter sleep. Many of the Slovakian caves close around mid October because of the many species of bats which hide here during the winter (some caves have as many as 17 different species). As we continue I notice that the bridges and boards change to ladders and steep hills, where you have to use all your strength to climb up and down muddy rocks. After about 45min we arrive at the BIG GIANT – the biggest stalagmite in the world. Jaro asks us to turn off our head lamps, and he uses one powerful light to illuminate the whole room. It is beautiful.

The monster reaches up to the ceiling. In the beam of the light we can see around the whole room. We stand there for few minutes in silence. Only the sound and mist from our breathing indicate our presence. Jaro believes that there are many other undocumented larger ones around the world. He has seen some pictures from China and Brazil where he believes the stalagmites are higher, only nobody has tried to measure them. I look around and try to take some pictures for my collection. When I look up, everybody is gone. There I am, together with my wife and one of my best friends alone. It is a strange feeling. We hurry to catch up with our leader and continue through a 1ft deep stream towards the “Lake room.”

In this room is a small lake, where you can see a line continuing under water. It looks crystal clear with a very muddy bottom. Jaro says the line continues through 2 siphons. Maximum depth is around 40m/130ft, and explorers have reached 150m/495ft on previous trips. Due to the difficult terrain and distance, it is hard to bring enough equipment to continue exploration further. However the potential is there. On their previous trips, explorers have not reached a dead end or restriction which would be impossible to go through.
From this point we began a journey back to the exit. It takes us about 35min in straight line to get out. The whole trip is around 2.5 hours and there wasn’t one second when I could get bored. It was well worth it. For the price of only $6 a person anybody could do the same trip and I promise, you won’t be sorry.

In the evening we return to Bratislava (the Capital of Slovakia), where we have a whole week to prepare for next weekend mission – Skialsty Potok Cave. We know that this cave is well explored, but that the terrain is very challenging with 22 siphons and muddy rocks in between.

We receive more information from a local dive shop and people who have dove there before. From one person we hear that the cave is easy and you can get far. From others we hear that it is very challenging and difficult terrain. It is a good thing that the cave is visited frequently by many divers, so the sediment shouldn’t be so bad. The walk to the water part should be much shorter, about 50m/165ft.

Report 1 2 3