Exploring another cave in Kirkkonummi!

This isn't really an unknown place as such -- the geocachers and climbers regularly visit these cracks and the cliff. But it hasn't been noted in any of the usual places where Finnish caves are listed. Jarmo found this place on his hike in November, and we've been exploring it on several trips since then.

And now I drew also a map of the cave system. The location is near the Kauhala village in northern Kirkkonummi, maybe a kilometer from the Kakarberget roof caves that we've visited previously. The area is part of the Kauhala outdoors area, on the stream valley that is noted as a very nice hiking area.

So, another addition to my "Underground Kirkkonummi" list!

The main cave consists of three crack systems. They aren't particularly long -- I was able to get in one meter into the first one, six into the second, and eight meters the third :-) but they all include nice climbing and nice very tight spaces. Plus the side wall of the first crack is a huge, high slice of rock that is at places only 20cm thick.

Coordinates for the main crack caves are N 60.235603 E 24.488854. The two side caves (boulder caves) are at N 60.23636 E 24.48916 and the yet to be explored small crack side cave is at N 60.23492 E 24.48953. I also found a tiny roof cave (enough for one person to be out of rain) to the south at N 60.233182 E 24.487535. There's another larger roof cave to the north that Jarmo has been to, but we don't yet have coordinates for it.

Here some more photos of the area; most of the photos are by Jarmo, a few by me and Olli. This was a beautiful sunset as seen from the front of the caves:

The map (much more information in PDF though):

First crack:

Second crack:

This is the end of the first crack, around 22cm high. I did not go...

Third crack:

There were also two side boulder caves:

And one small side crack cave that we didn't attempt to enter yet, as it was difficult to climb to:

Photos (c) 2018 by Jarmo Ruuth, Olli Arkko, and Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. This article has also been published at TGR. All caving-related articles can be found from planetcaver.net! Tämä artikkeli löytyy myös suomeksi Relaasta!