Speleology - interesting and dangerous hobby
The
cave secrets
"One
meter of discovered field in Litlle Carpathian is more than 10 meters in High
Tatras. There are plenty of rocks, and these rocks are many times dangerous for
us. But how we (speleologists) talk, the caves have a live spirit. They are on
our side"
By SONA WEISSOVA
from Bratislava,
SLOVAKIA
Try to close eyes for a minute. The world of cave
seems like this, if your helmet light turn off. You must stay hours and hours
in absolutely darkness and dampness, in temperature about 7 degrees. Waiting,
if somebody reflect on you. The cave - the sternest place on the Earth, creation
of mother nature, which is forming for milleniums. Be a speleologist - it is one
of the most adrenaline and dangerous hobbies.
"Some of people take
speleology like a sport. They are trying reach the biggest deepness, achieve some
goals. But for us, it is about discovering, recognitioning", said a young
man Alexander Lačný, head of Speleoclub in Western Slovakia for
WAVE magazine.
The
cavern now is not a place only for strong men, but women starts to coworking with
men. The goal for all is discover and defend. Along with this, be on places where
no man was not before and have an incredible adventure.
To be a good speleologist,
it is necessary to have a passion of gold digger, strong will of rock climber,
resistivity of strong man, elasticity of gymnast. Learn, how to enjoy a small
discovery. But for a succesful work it is significant to have a good team. People,
which you can absolutely trust.
The caves are his life
To
clean footpath is a long way. Speleology in Slovakia is a hard work. It is about
clamber through narrow areas. There must be a lot of actions to caves, moving
is after centimetres. But why speleologist makes this job despite failures? "Mysticism.
On the small place, you can find something magicly, rare mineral or bear bone",
thought Alexander. He is only 26 years old man, the caves are his life. He fell
in love with speleology ten years ago. Now, he studies geology at University Komenskeho
in Bratislava. Speleology as a field of study does not exist in Slovakia. He is
proud of his hobby, he tries to motivate young people for nature, caves. They
have a Speleoclub of Litlle Carpathian.
In
October 2008, this organization has arranged first public lecture about caves
in Litlle Carpathian, mainly about Raven cave. The lecture took place in really
romantic place, Smolenice castle. The audience had a chance to view a rocks from
the cave, pictures and interesting commentary from young speleologists. "One
meter of discovered field in Litlle Carpathian is more than 10 meters in High
Tatras. There are plenty of rocks, and these rocks are many times dangerous for
us. But how we (speleologists) talk, the caves have a live spirit. They are on
our side. Last 20 years, there was not a fatal accident in Slovakia", claimed
Alexander Lacný.
Speleoclub makes a lot of lectures in primary schools
- "Children do not know, what is speleology, what are caves". One of
awkward activity is cleaning caves from tourists rubbish. They find out a "hole"
in ground and throw away bottles, cans... "Sometimes we find out dead animals
- moufflons, roes. They fall into holes. We must remove them away", told
us Martin Kočkovský (22).
In the beginning of January 2009,
speleologists from Speleoclub found a new areas in secret cave in western Slovakia,
near Smolenice castle. It is located a few steps from tourist footpath. The cavern
called "Raven". There are lots of tales about it. One tells about endless
life. If young speleologists found something like this, it is not known. They
claim they found an old speleologist equipment and mysterious signs on walls.
But they accomplish their dreams, discover. Now, their only goal is to defend.
(Published: 10.02.2009.)
