Through the grey stone

In Finnish we have this expression, "läpi harmaan kiven". It translates literally as 'through the grey stone'. It represents sisu, another Finnish concept: going through no matter what. Even through rock. Here Harri-Pekka Pietikäinen demonstrates the concept.

Harri and I had a nice evening excursion in Korkberget. He's been there many times, and frequently leads groups to caves, including to Korkberget. I wasn't sure if I would be able to show him anything he hadn't seen before, him being an experienced guide and writer. But I've been in Korkberget probably more times than anyone else, pushing a month or so spent on site on. my map-creation exploration :-) 

So armed with details from that experience, I still managed to show Harri a couple more of precious places that people often like. Such as the squeeze above. The squeeze has actually seen a lot of use, the Finnish Caving Association excursion also enjoyed it a lot. It is just the right size, hard, but not impossible for most people. And since it is in a place where trying to go through is safe as you are accessible from both sides, it is not just fun but also safe and feels safe when you can be surrounded by friends who can help. Or bring in rock drills, if need be. (Just kidding, we would never destroy cave rock! If anyone gets stuck, a few days of dieting in the cave will surely free them up :-) )

We also visited the Fagerkulla bunker close by. This is one of the bunkers built by the Soviet Union when they were occupying the Porkkala peninsula after World War II. A two-storey bunker, a scary place. The entrance is sketchy. In the summer the entrance cannot be seen, so you might suddenly fall five meters to be impaled by rebar if you don't know what you're doing. And now in the spring, it was too wet, so the entrance that was partially covered in mud started crumbling and sliding on us. Well, we made it in and out safely.

A remarkable place as well, even if it represents a human-made horror. 

Harri is the author of a well-known Finnish caving book, Luolatarinoita - suomalaisen luolan filosofia ja muotokuva, about the philosophy of the Finnish cave. More recently he has written about fears in Tunne pelkosi, vapaudu elämään. 

About the places we visited: here's an article about the creation of the map of the Korkberget cave: link. A more in-depth article about the bunker can be found here: link.

Korkberget cave:

The Korkberget cave's boat parking harbor :-)

The team:

Bunker pictures below. In the first picture stalagmites are growing from the broken floor:

NOTE: Both of these places are EXTREMELY dangerous. Never visit them, and if you do, please please be aware of the dangers and know what you are doing.

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 and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko, maps are snapshots on site. All rights reserved.