Most images are approximately 683 times 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are the serial numbers of the original photo files. Names of cave parts were given by the author. Made with participation of Claudio Bratos, who is depicted in several photos. His caving companion, the late Stojan Sancin, is also mentioned.
The page, texts and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2022.
51846. A Glinščica tributary flows from the cave, it joins the creek after a short run. The area is called Na jami, and so the cave is called Jama Na jami. Only a little more than ten meters of the cave is accessible on foot, while the underwater part is more than 450 meters long. For the first 150, the tunnel descends, then rises again, and the dry part has not been reached yet. In the photo - a stream with a fissure where the dry part ends.
51845. View from the cave towards the mostly built-up entrance. On the wall above in the middle of the picture ...
51844. ... is a memorial plaque to the diver Tomo Vrhovac According to many he was the most famous Slovenian (also cave) diver, who perished in this cave on 11 February 2000. According to Claudio, who was present at the dive, Tomo had two tanks that were interconnected. The automatics ensured that the air first flowed from one tank, and when it was half empty, air began to flow from the other tank, too. Tomo was in a hurry, he had to proceed to Milan that afternoon, and forgot to open the valve on the second tank. Thus, he used up all the air from the first cylinder and suddenly, about halfway through the intended dive, had no air left.
51847. The cave is located in one of the abandoned Trieste quarries.
51852. Upper would-be entrance. When the quarry was still operating decades ago, Claudio regularly inspected newly developed parts to find any new cave openings. Some twenty years ago, when the quarry had already been abandoned, he noticed a promising draft in the place where the upper opening is now, and he and Stojan started digging. But soon they stopped because a homeless man, who had settled on the west side of the quarry plain, began to complain very loudly. He was afraid that the unearthed stones would roll down towards him. Now the homeless man has been gone for many years, even of his cottage only the colorful floor tiles are left. When the nearby caves became more interesting again during
the pandemic, at the end of this summer, Claudio started digging again. But not in the upper, old place, but he opened the lower entrance, a few meters below, because he rightly assumed that they would come together and that it would be easier to dig below.
51853. Claudio in the lower entrance, tells the story of the discovery and digging of the first narrow passage, ten meters long. Several youngs from the area helped him and one of them really wanted to name the cave after his father. Claudio granted his wish and the cave is now the Cave of Paolo Slama.
51854. View from the end of the passage back towards the entrance
51856. We decided to take pictures on the way back, from the end of the first part of the cave, in front of the two shafts, 250 meters from the entrance. In the photo: a view of the calcite-formation-filled niche above the right shaft.
51861. Dripstone forest in a lenticular tunnel, against the light, a view back in the direction of the entrance
51864 From room to room we enjoyed in ....
51865. ... the play of light and shadows on the veiled walls and glittering stalactite decoration.
51872. A pure white calcite macaroon that grew from the ceiling to the floor
51873. View back to the passage through a large fissure, with calcite slabs chipped from the walls and ceiling by turbulent times.
51875. Some moisture and light, and the curled limestone sparkles into a sea of finely rounded crystal forms.
51876. A bright calcite waterfall spilled from a small crack down the jagged wall to the ground.
51878. On the way back, on a steep and dangerous crumbling slope, an over one and a half meter long hazel walking cane slipped from the photographer's hands, a cane which has been accompanying him for quite a few years now. It waited a little, barely a meter from his feet, and when he had almost touched it, it started to move, slowly at first, then faster and faster down the slope into the darkness. But Claudio knew where to go to look for it, next to the skeleton of the former separation building. At the bottom of the quarry, we passed the place where a refugee apparently changed his clothes very quickly. He pulled his pants and underpants down in one go and just stepped out of the two.
51879. The separation structure stands on concrete pillars and this graffiti, dedicated to Irene K., was sprayed on one of them.
51877. We luckily found the lost cane. The horizon to the west was still bright, the sky was darkening, and the village and the factory of heavy four-stroke diesel engines, now moving back to Scandinavia, were already in pitch black.
Related posts:
Skednena jama, 24 November
The Southern tunnel of Zelške jame, 3 December
This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin,
member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL).
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Page initiated 9 December 2022 and last changed 25 December 2022.
URL: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/pj2022/PJ20221130_en.php
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