Bombergsgrottan

Bombergsgrottan has a small entrance, a hole at the bottom of a big cliff. But the small hole hides a big (25m, big by Finnish standards) cave that extends left and right under the cliff.

The crawling is good, on top of sharp rocks and under the close and relatively smooth roof.

The cave is listed in the Suomen Luolat book as well as in Retkipaikka.

Bombergsgrottan is in Liljendal, and easily accessible, by the road. Coordinates: N 60.60521 E 26.05246.

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article and videos is (c) 2016-2020 by Jari Arkko, and all photos (c) 2016 by Jarmo Ruuth. All rights reserved.

Mäyrämäki. Badger hill.

 

Icy holes. Those are the best ones!

On the trip to Bombersgrottan, we also stopped at the Mäyrämäki massive crack and cave underneath.

It was tricky to enter the cave though, given that it was so icy. Not to mention getting out of the cave.

Coordinates: N 60.72975 E 26.22404.

Wondering if we should go in:

The canyons:

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article and videos is (c) 2016-2020 by Jari Arkko, and all photos (c) 2016 by Jarmo Ruuth. All rights reserved.

Roof caves on Isonniitunmäki

Jarmo went further on our search in Vihti, and found some small roof caves.

I had taken the shorter, upper route and he took the lower route. The forest here is pretty thick, and it had been rainy, so going through the lower parts of the hill was quite a lot of wet work :-)

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! For this article the text is by Jari Arkko, but pictures are (c) 2020 by Jarmo Ruuth. All rights reserved.

Hiidenkellari. Rare Karst in Finland.

Such beautiful pure calcite in the ceiling and floor. And cut so exact, as if by man... but it is the works of chemistry and water.

Jarmo, Eino, and me did a Sunday outing in Vihti, visiting the Hiidenkellari (Devil's Basement) cave. This cave had been used in the early 1900s for cold storage of milk, so a wall and door had been setup at the cave's entrance. And a small storage pool made of concrete. Still, this cave was spectacular in a cold, wet fall morning. Beautiful rock... water droplets shining like diamonds... colors like gold... and a tight spot to crawl into the final chamber of the cave...

The cave map for this cave is here.  The coordinates are N 60.35048 E 24.40388, but please be careful in the area -- the cave is very close to a house, so do not disturb anyone if you do visit this place.

We also walked around the hills to see if there's any other caves, and found two small holes between boulders at N 60.35236 E 24.40841 and at N 60.35259 E 24.40807. Jarmo went further than I did on this search, there are some additional small roof caves (described here). There was also the ruins of a basement of a house near the main cave.

The photos below are by me (Jari Arkko) and Jarmo and Eino Ruuth. First the entrance:

Inside:

Roof:

Floor:

Final chamber:

Crawl:

Butterfly:

Boulder hole 1:

Boulder hole 2:

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth. All rights reserved.

Visiting the devil's church - Pirttimäen hiidenkirkko

We visited this magnificent hole without really knowing much about what to expect. We had seen it listed in the book of Finnish caves, and in Retkipaikka, but the name told us little. Devil's church?

Hiisi is kind of a semi-bad mythological entity, only recently being equated to the devil. Not sure the hiisi appreciates this designation, though.

We found a massive hole, between and under large boulders next to a cliff. There was also a moose skull decorating the devil's hole...

Worth a visit! Coordinates are N 60.27046 E 23.10751. Read more about this cave also from Retkipaikka and Luolamiehen blogi.

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Sipilän luola

 

Sammatti. Hemmetti. Wipers not working on my Volvo. Oh well. But on the other hand, we visited a very nice little cave, Sipilän luola. Beautiful forms of rock.

Coordinates: N 60.362915 E 23.714391.

This article in Retkipaikka inspired this visit.

The fix to the wipers? Easy:

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

The Missing Hole

 

Searching for a cave listed in the Finnish book of caves as "unconfirmed". Came up with nothing.

Well, there was a small hole in coordinates N 60.24617 E 24.74078, but less than a meter long... probably not that.

I also took my friend Lars on the hike this time. We had not seen in a long time, due to quarantines, travel, and so on. So it was nice to chat, and he too needed exercise. Hiking through the forests and climbing up and down the hill seemed suitable for the moment. Even if it was going through thick bushes at times. Lets see if he comes for another excursion :-)

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! See also my cave map that runs the Psgeo software that has now been open sourced! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

3 times 3 roof caves

 

I recently visited three nearby places that had been listed as having large roof caves (by Finnish standards). And they did indeed deliver on that promise! In addition, I found that the three actually had three roof caves each. Nine cave visits on three trips :-)

The places were Klaukkala/Nurmijärvi and the Hyypiänmäki cave (more here), Nummi-Pusula and the Siitoonmäki cave (more here), and Siuntio and the Limpan's cave (more here).

I also draw maps of all nine caves, linked from the articles above.

I had not realized there were this big caves (even if just roof caves) nearby, but found them through the cave map tool that Ralf and I are developing. Each individual cave is also accessible via the tool using a URL, e.g., Limpan's cave.

Limpan's cave:

Hyypiänmäki cave:

Limpan's cave map:

Siitoonmäki cave:

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.