28832. Clearing at the end of the forest road (it continues with two narrower tracks, to Vranja and Najdena jama), cleaned of the snow, as well as the entire road, by Marjan Kolar
The Breakthrough
Most pictures are approximately 683 x 1024 pixels in size. Numbers in front of the photo descriptions are serial numbers of the original images. Excursion participants, who all contributed to the making of this report: Gregor Pintar - Stari, Jernej Petrovčič - Jerko, Janez Kanoni - Žan, Janez Juvan - Manč, Marjan Baričič, Metod Di Batista, Andrej Drevenšek and Primož Jakopin - Klok.
Today's operation benefited very much from generous support of the village Laze. Marjan Kolar plowed the snow off the forest road with his tractor, from the main road Laze - Logatec to the clearing at the end, one mile, driving backwards all the way as the plough is mounted to the back part of the vehicle. Lovrinov Jože (Kermavnar) borrowed the tractor used to bring heavier gear, including portable power generator (also from Laze) to the immediate vicinity of the entrance.
Photo and copyright (c) Primož Jakopin 2016.
28832. Clearing at the end of the forest road (it continues with two narrower tracks, to Vranja and Najdena jama), cleaned of the snow, as well as the entire road, by Marjan Kolar
28831. Manč at a pile of snow, plowed off
28833. Past night added 20 cm of new snow to about 10 cm of the old.
28834. Snow on the spruce branches above and near the cave entrance started to melt quickly. In smaller and larger pieces it showered the team quite often.
28836. Žan's acquaintance Lovrinov Jože from Laze borrowed this tractor so that Žan could bring all the heavier gear quite close to the cave. What is now on the tractor's back carry all is what remained after the team unloaded all what was necessary.
28838. Manč lifted this rock ...
28839. ... and passed it to Metod, who threw the weight gently to the top.
28840. Jerko is placing a rock on top of the plateau, with Stari.
28841. Metod and Marjan
28842. View in to the first (left) turn in the canal
28843. View in to the second (right) turn
28844. View in to the third and last (left again) turn
28845. Bones that Jerko found. The longest (below right) is 18 cm long.
28846. Marjan, reclining, well, not on a sofa but on the rocks, yet still very much in the style of Gustave Léonard de Jonghe, especially his painting Afternoon siesta.
28848. Andrej joined the party in the afternoon, at the best possible time, impressed by how Stari described the Galacijevka developments on Thursday's meetings of the grotto. Andrej's face is a good witness that the shaft from the surface to the work site was today even more muddy and wet than ever, trickles of water were pouring down from all sides and there was no way to avoid them, especially in the two vertical squeezes. Melting snow turned all the earth and clay from the entrance down into soft, jelly-like mud.
28851. Marjan at the second turn, view out. There was not enough room for both the helmet and the bucket so he had to pass it on above his head.
28856. Manč is hammering a path in the stone, a future crack which will break away a sizeable piece and make more room for the feet on the way in and on the way out.
28853 - 28855. Panoramic view of the wall where the plateau from the excavated rocks borders the entrance to the canal, Marjan.
28857. Andrej, returning from the canal, at its first turn
28858. View in of the third leg of the canal, its end looked like this on February 11. Now it has been dug through, and continues with the final, fourth leg.
28859. Fourth and last leg of the canal, horizontal up to this point, quickly starts to descend, as is seen here.
28860. Closer view of the last leg, note the distinct right wall - the canal was dug into the left side wall.
28861. Vertical (top - down) view at the end of the canal. The need for the difficult transport of the excavated material back all the way (10 m) through the canal was no more now, it could be deposed down the shaft. Smooth wall of the hall with the bottom some 10 meters below is clearly visible and the descent would already be possible. But the bulge in the picture center would make the ascent back difficult and problematic. The quesstion whether the hall below is part of Najdena jama cave or some other, unknown cave, will be answered soon.
Galacijevka Cave Canal, Day 4, February 11
Galacijevka Cave Canal, Day 6, February 18, 2016
This page and the photos by Primož Jakopin;
send inquiries and comments to
primoz jakopin guest arnes si (insert dots and at sign as appropriate).
Page initiated on February 14, 2016; date of counter reset and date of last change: February 25, 2017.
URL: http://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2016/PJ20160213_en.php
152
