Primož Jakopin, photo diary

Abkhazia, the Reclusive Sleeping Beauty
Entrances of 4 More Caves, Connected to Krubera-Voronja

August 24, 2019, 44 pictures

Most images are approximately 768 x 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are serial numbers of the original photo files. Most visible event participants who contributed to the making of these pictures (in no particular order, š is pronounced as sh, ž as zh, č as ch, j as y): Darja (Daša) and Nastja Fedotova, Jurij Mihajlovič and Anatolij (Tolik) Kasjan, Katerina Medvedeva - Katja, Vitalij (Vitalik) Leonidovič Kosjakin and Elena (Lena) Sergeevna Kosjakina, Igor Magnowski. The cave Krubera-Voronja is in further text referred to only with the second half of the name, as it was called here.

This page, text and pictures copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2019 except picture 45337 where photo and copyright (c) Igor Magnowski.

Voronja Cave Camp

45311. Early morning view from the east

45312. and 45313. Tent of Jurij with author's backpacks and bed in the foregroud (left picture)

45314. - 45316. Three portraits of Katja

45317. A grove of pinky little trumpets ...

45318. ... yellow daisy-like blossoms ...

45320. ... and a gentian, from the side ...

45319. ... and from above

45321. Pinky cone

45322. Tolik during a nap

45323. Lena and Vitalik, two most remarkable corner stones of the camp, in front of the Berčilj ridge "camel" saddle. She managed the kitchen in its entirety, mostly by herself, feeding 14 day after day, inventing good dishes from very limited selection of ingredients at hand, caring mother of us all. And his technical ingeniuity kept all the caving gear and other equipment in working condition, including an indispensable additional gasoline cooker of his own making.

Arbaika Cave

45324. To the east, to the northeast and to the west of Voronja cave there are three valleys with rocky, cave-suspicious bottoms such as the one depicted here.

45325. - 45327. If you take the eastern one you hit, close to its eastern end, the Arbaika entrance, here shown in a vertical panoramic view from the south, with Daša. It is situated less than 150 m from Voronja, and the entrance has an elevation which is 3 m higher. As the caves are connected, this fact augmented Voronja depth from 2,196 m to 2,199 m. The most pronounced valley, also the longest and most tempting one, it leads towards Mt. Berčilj, is not the right one.

45328. - 45329. View of Berčilj ridge, as seen from the saddle close to the cave

Small Collapse Above Voronja Cave

45330. - 45333. Just past the hilltop above Voronja, to the west, some 50 m from its entrance and about 12 m higher, this interesting hole is to be found. It very likely leads to Voronja and the connection would bring this cave to negligibly close proximity of the top position in the world list. But also very probably just short of the current number one, Verëvkina, and so the prospect remains available to some less demanding, not the main limelight searching digging soul.

45334. A twin-peaked gentian

Gnomov Cave

45335. The cave should be easy to find, some 10-minute walk from the western side of the Voronja camp, especially as it really is, as Vitalik said, on the other side of the hillock to the northwest of the camp. The only problem here is that there is not just one hillock, but four, and the most remarkable, the easternmost, is not the right one. It is the second from the west, a very indistinct one. So, after finding the entrance, in the third try, the author erected this cairn yesterday.

45338. View to the northwest from above the entrance, to a ridge opposite Berčilj

45339. and 45540. and 45543. Vertical panoramic view of the entrance from northwest, ...

45344. ... and a closer view, both with Daša

45337. View from the inside out, taken by Igor (published with permission)

To Genrikhova bezdna and Detskaja Caves

45345. One more grove of pinky little trumpets, here leaves are in a much better shape.

45346. and 45347. Moving down to the coast is scheduled for tomorrow but a lot will be carried to end of the track above shepherd home today, such as the large gas cylinder Igor is carrying. He could meet us at Genrikhova bezdna on return. Left picture was taken from a normal viewpoint, with mountains in the background, and the right one from a low viewpoint with more sky.