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. Vladimir Levašov of Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society greatly contributed to this excursion. The names of parts of the cave are sometimes the author's.
Page, texts and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2025, except the photos VL37 and VL38, which were taken by Vladimir; they are published here with his permission.
54741. Vladimir is setting the training ground for a rebelay practice. It will be used to refresh the author's knowledge of single rope technique and improve less suitable settings in his equipment (length of both umbilicals cords and of the foot ascender loop). It also turned out that his carabiner, to which the rope brake is attached, is of the wrong shape. Instead of a D shape, it is much better to have an oval shape (e.g. the Petzl OK carabiner).
54742. Vladimir in the upper opening of the pit. The cave is also rightly called a "Black Hole" ("Črna luknja").
54744. View from the first ledge in the abyss towards the entrance
54743. View from a slightly lower point down towards the bottom of the pit. It is about 15 meters deep, but more rope is needed, close to 30 meters, to overcome with it another six-meter step up into the tunnel, where the cave continues.
54751. The stalactite wall in the Front Hall of the cave, opposite the entrance pit
54745. There are several passages upwards in the stalactite wall from the previous photo, towards the top of this part of the hall. In the photo: a view back from the stalactite slope through the stalagmite forest.
54746. Higher up, before the continuation passage, this stalagmite altar is situated. The wooden ball in the middle of the picture has a diameter of 4 cm.
54747. Right at the top of the stalactite part of the Front Hall there is a small plateau, which slopes down into an approximately six-meter step to the Side Hall. In the photo - a view from the edge of the plateau to the Side Hall - the abseil rope is at the right edge of the picture. To the right of Vladimir there is a steep slope towards the chimney, which ends with a smaller second entrance to the cave. At the foot of the slope, Vladimir found the bones of mammals that fell or were thrown through this entrance and ended up at the bottom of the slope.
VL37. Bones under the steep slope
54750. "Cave ghost" in the side wall of the plateau. The right eye is about 3 centimeters wide at its widest point.
54767. Vladimir is rigging the passage to the other side of the ridge that separates the Front Hall from the Main Tunnel. The ridge can in fact be freeclimbed, on the left side, but a free descent on the way back would be risky. The rope in the picture is the one from the Entrance pit. It was 28 meters long and just reached the flowstone pillar in the picture. We had another 15-meter piece for the descent to the other side.
54753. View back from the Main Tunnel to the ridge that separates it from the Front Hall. At the top, Vladimir found an anchor spit, which he used for a safer and easier return and a better descent forward.
54755. Crystal surface, cross-section of ...
54754. ... of a broken stalagmite. The brown beech ball we already know.
54760. View up from the middle of the slope in the Collapse Hall, where the Main Tunnel ends.
54763. The author at the elongated rock near the standpoint of the previous photo. Most of the rock (left) is covered with a white flowstone spray.
54766. On the left side of this hall, looking in the direction of the entrance, the side of the collapse is nicely covered with sinter. The stalactite cypress in the middle of the picture is about 2.3 meters high. It was not possible to position the person well in the photo; two attempts are depicted in the photos 54764 and 54765.
54756. The Collapse Hall ends at the lowest point of the cave. Here Vladimir found a small stream, perhaps it would be possible to get deeper into the cave during the drought.
54758. A dripstone covered hanging balcony above the end of the hall - its lower edge is the upper edge of the previous photo.
VL38. The author during the ascent in the Entrance pit
54769. Vladimir on the top of the Entrance pit, with a lot of caving and photo gear
Related pages:
Križna jama, January 1, 2025
Lipiška jama, January 11, 2025
This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin,
member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL).
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Page initiated on January 13, 2025; date of the last change: January 15, 2025.
URL: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2025/PJ20250108_en.php
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