Skiing the Planet: April 2022

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

It's alive! (and street legal)

It’s alive! (and street legal) The cheap fixes - only about 1.6k 🙂 worked. And a 10+ year idle rpm problem also disappeared after the engine control circuit board was re-soldered. Still a few smaller things to fix in a month but no need to go back to checkup until next year 🙂

Approved:

Only one warning light left anymore, not sure what's wrong with lights, or even if there's anything wrong with them... Anyway, the lambda sensor warning light is gone, after being on for years.

Helsingin Sanomat published 3D cave models!

The main newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, published a story from visiting three caves in the Helsinki region with Harri-Pekka Pietikäinen, the author of a recent caving book.

It was a great article, and I'm very glad to see attention to the book! But it was also interesting that the newspaper journalists' decided to go even beyond the otherwise interesting article and include 3D cave models in the article. On the web version the user can navigate the models of the Torhola cave in Lohja, Grottberget cave in Siuntio, and the Högberget cave in Kirkkonummi. The models are my models, I was happy to provide the newspaper this material!

The article is available here (requires subscription, but free two-week trial subscriptions are available). The models are also stylized nicely and labeled with few key cave parts. Well done!

The original models are aren't labelled with cave parts, but are available in the Planetskier web page. They are also in a form that allows flying through the cave and rotating it on your browser screen:

Torhola 3D model
Grottberget 3D model
Högberget 3D model

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Baumannshöhle

Running into an unexpected cave during travels? Very nice. To a show cave that was opened in 1646? Even nicer! We were on our way to visit the ski hills in the Harz region in Germany when there was a sign for a show cave -- the Baumannshöhle. Upon returning from skiing, we were able to visit the cave as well, just before it closed.

Baumannshöhle is the oldest show cave in Germany, discovered in 1536, visited by many people over the centuries, including Goethe and others. Show cave tours started in 1646!!!

Show caves in Finland

This actually got me interested about show cave history. In 1646 there was barely anything in Finland. The first published mention of a cave in Finland was already in 1424 [1,2], but there isn't a proper show cave in the traditional sense even today. Unless one counts popular, well known caves such as Torhola or the Turku Luolavuori caves, or guided tour services to caves such as Koli's Repouuro [3]. Interestingly, Baumannshöhle was already mentioned in 1829 in Finnish newspapers [1]:

Show cave history in the world

But when did this show cave thing actually get started in the rest of the world? Per Wikipedia [4] the first show cave was established in 792 at the Reed Flute Cave in China, and the first one in Europe, Slovenia's Postojna Cave with its first tour in 1213. The article also mentions that the first "authorized" cave guide starting running tours in 1649 in Baumannshöhle.

Reed Flute cave: (Photo source: Dariusz Jemielniak - Own work (CC BY 3.0))

Postojna Cave: (Photo source: Donald Judge from England - 1.4.13 1 Postojna Cave 61 (CC BY 2.0))

Very interesting, but of course this is all a bit a question of definitions as well. Is it necessary to have some kind of permanent setup, trails etc., or does taking people on a commercial hike to see a cave also count? And what kind of a show cave was Baumannshöhle between 1646 and 1649, before the "authorized" cave guides? Unauthorized cave guides, or no guiding? But how is that different from a wild cave? Or is the determining factor whether you have to buy a ticket?

What about those features, trails, etc? Some data:

The first experiments with electric lights started in 1880 in Australia's Chifley Cave [4].
I was unable to find out when the first gated/locked caves appeared, but presumably very early on, since people did live in the caves. But did you know that there is a standard for cave gates? See reference [5].

Different kind of show cave: Let's not be cruel to small animals!

Also, there's a very interesting case of a show cave in Grotte di Cane (Cave of Dogs) [1,6]. This is a small cave near Vesuvius, and subject to volcanic activity, with carbon dioxide leaking into it. Guides would take tourists and dogs to the cave, and the dogs would faint, being less tall than humans. The dogs would then be thrown out to Lake Agnano to be revived. Except that they did not always get revived, and there were complaints during 1800s about the cruelty... in the end the lake was drained, and the cruelty stopped.

Photo source: Anonymous, probablement Jules Marie Désandré - L'air et le monde aèrien, an 1865 textbook by Arthur Mangin, p.162

Photo source: Sieur de Rogissart - Les délices de l’Italie, Vol. III, Leida, Pierre Vander, 1706

Modern measurements in the cave indicate 50+ degrees and 80% CO2 levels just nine meters from the entrance. Not recommended for a visit!

More about Baumannshöhle

But back to the Baumannshöhle: the best source for information about the cave is the German-version of the wikipedia article (link). The website for actually visiting the cave can be found from this link. And the coordinates for the cave are N 51.754790 E 10.843302.

The cave itself is about 2 kilometers long total, the showcave part being maybe few hundred meters. This is a karst cave, i.e., has stalactites, flowstone, etc. The most impressive feature of the cave is the biggest hall, named after Goethe: the Goethe hall & Wolfgang Lake. Concerts and events are held here regularly.

Photography on the cave tours is unfortunately forbidden. Fortunately I was able to find some photos from the Internet to show what the cave is like!

References

[1] Personal communication with Ralf Strandell, 2022.

[2] Suomen keskiaikakirjeiden kokoelma Diplomatarum Fennicum, DF 1743, 1424-03-02. NARC, 1424.

[3] Luolaseikkailu. Koli.fi.

[4] Show cave. Wikipedia.

[5] Cave gate. Wikipedia.

[6] Cave of Dogs. Wikipedia.

Acknowledgments

The author would like thank Ralf Strandell for interesting discussions about this case, and a lot of the information presented here is from him.

This article has also been published at TGR. Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Ice on the plane???

Is it normal that after de-icing and take-off, you can still see ice stuck to the plane's windows? Felt odd to me...

...but obviously we landed safely.

Empty lounge

Crotia's Split has a very nice and modern airport. Still relatively small though, particularly for the big crowds that use it during the summer. But during the spring... pretty empty. There's only one lounge, before passport check and with very minimal services. But still very nice: quiet, there's power, drinks, clean and modern toilets, Internet... nice!

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Supporting Ukraine

I wanted to say that I support the peaceful people of Kyiv, Mariupol and other parts of Ukraine, and oppose aggressors.

The photo is from a visit by me and Jarmo Ruuth to the Protasov Year ski resort in Kyiv. You can find the location of the ski hill here (N 50.4237 E 30.4991) and their website here. Protasov Yar is an excellent in-city ski hill, and clearly used and enjoyed by the local youth. I hope some day they can enjoy it again.

Mysterious delivery

What's this? A mysterious packet in the mail ... wonder what it is?

It turned out to be Harri-Pekka Pietikäinen's book about experiences, fears, relaxation, and other human reactions to him spending time in caves. Very interesting!

The book can be acquired from your local bookshop, or over the web here.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Mini-lounge?

What's this? They are making the lounges really small now?

Ob. plane picture:

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Apartment Carved out of Stone

Coming back from the skiing on the Mount Olympus and Troodos Mountains in Cyprus, I was driving by an area that had reported some kind of underground passage. I stopped to find out what it was about. From the map it looked like it was near a road, but it turned out to be only near some kind of agricultural path, and a kilometer or two from the drivable public roads. Well, why not walk to the darkness on the first night in a country you've never been to...

What I found was basically just a small hole, like an apartment underground. I think this must have been carved out by human activity, although it may have started as a natural cave or parts of the hole could have been natural. Hard to tell.

But it was very unclear why someone would have done this. This place is in the middle of nowhere, far from even the farm houses. What purpose has it served? Secret, safe house? Storage for contra-band? Someone's fun project.

I'd like to know, but there's very little information about this in the Internet!

The coordinates for this place are (roughly) N 34.817412 E 32.835957.

Cave side passage or oven/storage in a man-carved hole in the ground?

From outside:

New airport check-in at HEL!

I've travelled a few times since the opening of the new Helsinki-Vantaa terminal, the expansion of T2 which is the main terminal. However, until now the actual check-in and security still used the old facilities. But now in May they had actually opened the full services in the new expansion. Quite exciting, and difficult to figure out where to go. What a wonderful new security they have, with NO NEED TO TAKE LIQUIDS OR COMPUTERS OUT!!!

The frequent flier desks are straight forward from the entrance doors, walking past the other check-in desks on the left and right sides. Once you've done check-in, you need to walk to the right and immediately back in the priority security on the left.

The most interesting part of this is that their new equipment can handle everything -- computers and liquids included -- without having to take anything out of your bags. Nice! Read more about this technology here.

Finnair priority check-in:

Morning views at HEL:

More flying and travel stories at planetflier.com. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. All photos and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko, except the opening photo which is by Finavia.

Zagrebenje bunker maze

Croatian islands have had a military past. During World War II when Tito held his headquarters on the island of Vis. After the war, Vis was turned into a defense bastion, and only opened for foreigners as late as in 1989. Today we toured a maze of tunnels on the Zagrebenje mountains on the southeast corner of the island, connecting a number gun positions.

There are also many other similar setups around the island. These gun positions are common. For other types of military relics, I've visited for instance, the abandoned missile base, the mountainside tunnels, or the underground submarine base. But I'm sure there's tons more!

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Sauna at the Hotel-Restaurant Bänklialp, Engelberg

Bänklialp feels a bit out of the Engelberg town, on the mountain side towards the ski slopes, but is actually just a few hundred meters walk from the lifts. I particularly liked the hotel restaurant, but the very western-style alpine decoration in the lobby areas was also interesting. And, you can't dislike a a ski locker room with a hang-out lobby, sofas fridges for drinks, etc. :-) Not to mention the sauna! Sauna was the criteria that I used for booking the hotel.

Ski room lounge:

For more skiing, sauna and swimming stories, check out the planetskier, planetswimmer.com, and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. FYI: I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for our group.

Monday, April 11, 2022

Final countdown

Here she goes in this morning... while the radio happens to play "Final Countdown".

Let's see what happens.

Last drive?

Only three days of legal driving left. The Volvo goes to a last-ditch cheap attempt to fix it, but, the odds are not great. Took the car for a spin today, along with the 'Genuine Accessories' aka the Volvo 740 skis. Just like the car, however, the skis are aging, one binding's plastic parts disintegrated. No prob, one ski is enough.