Moravian Karst, Czech Republic - Summer 1998

In the summer of 1998 Southampton University Caving Club undertook an expedition to the Moravian Karst area of the Czech Republic. Three members set out from London Victoria Coach Station on Wednesday 24th June of that year with the intention of touring the Czech Republic for one week and meeting the local cavers. The reconnaissance was a success and a full expedition consisting of 12 Club members set out in two parties, the first leaving England on Friday 4th September while the second group departed the following week on Friday 11th September 1998. Most members returned to England on Sunday 20th September while three members returned on Sunday 13th September.

The party stayed in the Club hut of ZO6-19 Speleogroup Planivy while in the Moravian Karst area and was led down the caves by members of that club

Expedition Members

The expedition members involved were:

Reconnaissance trip: Neil Hatcher, Andy Manners, Matt Trenchard.
Both weeks in September: Tim Comer, Neil Hatcher, Matt Trenchard.
1st week only: Andy Manners, Matt Wiltshire, Charlie Thompson.
2nd week only: Matt Adams, Anthony Simpson, Sarah Totterdell, Richard Webber, Caroline Wiltshire, Helen Yates.

Planivy Members

The local cavers who led us underground over the time we spent in the area were: Petr Polak, Pavel Roth, Jan Vit, Thomas, Martin Vit, Michael,

The Moravian Karst

The Moravian Karst is a region of Devonian Limestone situated to the North of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. The area is the major caving region in the Czech Republic and contains the largest cave system in Central Europe, Amaterska Jeskyne (Amateurs cave).

The Karst region is divided into three areas: Northern, Central and Southern. SUCC visited the Northern region. The region is formed around the confluence of two streamways which come in from the north. These are the Bila Voda (White water) and Sloup (Pillar) creeks. The creeks run along two separate sediment filled valleys and sink at the edge of the limestone plateau. Below the confluence the streamway passes across the bottom of the Macocha Abyss (134m deep) and resurges at Punkeveni Jeskyne.

In the northern parts the active cave system is 70 metres below the surface of the plateau and is reached by descending shafts on fixed ladder. The confluence and southern streamway are reached by a horizontal blasted entrance from the punkva gorge.

ZO6-19 Speleogroup Planivy

Jan Vit of speleogroup Planivy was contacted by e-mail by Neil Hatcher on 21st May 1998 after the latter came across the Planivy Club’s web pages The page was found using the Muscat Euroferret search engine using the keyword cave and searching sites in the Czech Republic only.

The club was set up in 1959 and was named after one of the local caves which was their first location of research. They now explore the caves of the Bila Voda creek and the Punkva river and also upstream from the confluence along the Sloup creek.

The club has two huts. Their base chalet is situated in the town of Ostrov U Macochy and can sleep 15 people with a shower, toilet, changing area, kitchen, dining room and kit storage room. They are currently in the process of building a sauna. The club’s second hut is a small two storey house situated on the Holstein road near to the Spiralka cave entrance. The latter hut is used most of the time by the members due to its proximity to the caves in which they are exploring. The Ostrov hut however has the better facilities.

Cave Access

In 1992 the Protection Act of Nature and Landscape was passed in the Czech Republic. The act protects the whole of nature and its components in the country against damages and overexploitation. Under this act all caves are protected against damage and destruction except for caves discovered during mineral exploitation. From this all of the caves are gated and locked and it is necessary for all visiting cavers to be led by a caver from a local speleogroup.

Food

Breakfast and lunch consisted of bread or rolls with cooked meats or cheese. These foods were bought from a supermarket in Brno and from two local shops in Ostrov u Macochy.

Evening meals were eaten in various restaurants in the locality. A pub in Ostrov, which was a regular haunt for drinking served basic traditional dishes on Saturdays. Other regularly visited restaurants were found in Jednovice and Lipovec. The restaurant at the Macocha abyss was visited on the reconnaissance trip and during the first week of the expedition, however it was closed during the second week. A restaurant in the outskirts of Blansko was also visited for one evening only.

A number of members fell ill with stomach complaints at different times during the two weeks. The illness generally lasted for 24 hours and we decided that this was food related. A specific source or cause of the illness was not located.

A staple part of the local diet appeared to be pickled cabbage and this became a little hard to stomach after a few days.

The food was not suitable for vegetarians as most of the vegetables were fried. This resulted in one member having to return to England after only one week rather than staying for the intended two weeks. This is something which had not been realised from the time spent in the area during the reconnaissance trip.

Transport

A commercial coach service operated by Capital Express was used to travel from London to Prague. The team then hired a 9 seat minibus and a Skoda Felicia GLX estate car, from R.E.N.T. for the journey to Ostrov and for local travel during the two weeks. On the reconnaissance trip a Skoda Felicia LX hatchback was hired.

The Minibus had ample power, however it had a tendency to jump out of second gear. Both Felicias were found to be underpowered, this might have been rectified by hiring the injection versions.

The coach service was quite comfortable in general (as good as expected from 20 hours in one seat) except for on the return journey from the reconnaissance trip when the air conditioning did not cope with the conditions and number of passengers. In this instance it was uncomfortably hot even when sat in shorts and a T-shirt.

Prague

Prague has many interesting sites and there is beautiful architecture throughout the city centre. The centre is set up to accommodate tourists. One of the main tourist elements is the American/Canadian etc youth traveller who is backpacking around Europe and so there are plenty of places for people of university age to go.

Trams run throughout the city and add an extra element of interest to driving around Prague. Tram tickets are bought before getting on the tram and work on a timed system. However, the selling points were not discovered and so the trams were not used. The metro system has three lines and also works on a timed ticket system. An hour pass in the middle of the day costs approximately 24 pence (GB) per person.

A travellers hostel situated in the northern part of the old town was used for the overnight stays in Prague. The cost was approximately 9 per person per night for 3 or 4 bed rooms with breakfast included. The rooms and washing facilities were decent and sheets were provided.

Meals were taken in a variety of places and the average cost was 4 per head. A night club was visited near the Charles Bridge. This stayed open until 6am and had a small dance floor, unfortunately most drinks were overcharged.

The Caves

Amaterska Jeskyne (Amateurs Cave)

This is the master cave of the northern area of the Moravian Karst. It takes water from the Sloup creek, via Sloupsko-Sosuvske and from the Bila Voda creek via Nova Rasovna, Pikova Dama, Spiralka, Trinact C. and Stare Amaterska. Downstream the water flows into a sump which rises in the Macocha Abyss. The cave is entered through a blasted tunnel from the Punkva gorge. The cave is around 80m below the plateau and is on two main levels. The lower level is permanently submerged while the upper level floods to the ceiling during the spring melt. After a heavy rainfall over the middle weekend of the expedition it was not possible for the party to continue to the further reaches upstream and the Punkva creek downstream was too high to be followed.

When it is dry, however, over 10km of cave passage can be covered in a few hours. There are many good flowstone formations in the cave and a raft is used to cross a lake in the further reaches upstream along the Bila Voda creek.

Jeskyne Pikova Dama (Queen of Spades Cave)

This cave is connected to Spiralka by caveable passage and to a small ice cave, whose entrance lies near Diaklasova, by a too tight connection. The cave is entered by descending 60m on ladders. A ladder can then be climbed up 8m into the connection with the ice cave. This section of cave has ice formations in it for about two thirds of the year. The remnant ice flows were still visible in June. Large horizontal passage can be followed to a sump pool which connects with Spiralka and a high level connection can be reached by swinging across the pool on a rope swing and climbing through a window the connection has many laddered pitches and a handlined chimney before emerging in Spiralka.

The ladders in the entrance shaft and some of those in the connection are fixed iron girder ladders. A few of the more extreme locations have rope ladders with solid rungs (alloy or plastic).

Spiralka Jeskyne (Spiral Cave)

This cave is also entered by descending a shaft on ladders. An 18m ladder down concrete tubes leads to horizontal passage to the top of the second ladder. This leads down to a ledge from which the connection to Pikova Dama leaves. The main shaft is descended for a further 27m on ladder before descending a mud slope to the bottom of the shaft. There is a connection tube to Friday shaft, which connect with an upper level, and a route off this connection leads to a shaft which connects with a lower submerged level. From the bottom of the mud slope it is possible to access the active streamway. The streamway continues to a sump which leads through to Trinact c.

Diaklasova (Stare Rasovna) (In a Diaclasa (Old Rasovna))
(Rasovna is an old Czech word and does not have a translation in English)

Formed along the joint between solid karst limestone and a weaker brittle limestone, this cave has a different style from the other caves in the area. It is the old sink of the Bila Voda river and occasionally still takes water during very wet periods. Inside the entrance a chimney climb is encountered this is followed by an descent in a rift with few hand or foot holds. The cave becomes more strenuous with after a sloping ascent with a traverse across a pot and another chimney descent. The cave ends in a small chamber with mud sculptures. There are two other routes off which were not followed.

Zavrt Hedvabna (Silk Shakehole)

The cave is located in a forest on the Ostrov plateau. The cave is again entered on ladder for a descent of around 70m. An impressive feature of this cave is a 40m sloping ladder in the main shaft. Mud sculptures have been made in the final chamber.

V Buci (In the small beech forest)

This cave is situated west of Holstein and is very mendipesque. The cave is not active and has mostly crawling passage with a few climbs. There are extremely pretty formations in the further reaches.

Holštejnsk and Nezamestnanych (Holstein’s Cave and Unemployed Cave)

These caves have been accessed by a major tunneling operation using pneumatic drills. Holšteynk is a low bedding plane (approx 30cm high) with hundreds of stal pillars. These pillars show that the floor has sunk over time by reconnections after breaks. Nezamestnanych consists of a crawl sized passage which ends in some nice formations.

Hladomorna Jeskyne (Dungeon Cave)

This is a large chamber under the ruined Holstein castle. Access is via a large entrance arch. The cave used to only be accessible through a shaft from the floor of the castle and this is where it gets its name of dungeon cave.

Diary

• 4/9/98 1st party departs from England
• 5/9/98 Arrive Prague, hire minibus and drive to Ostrov, met by Jan Vit.
• 6/9/98 Zavrt Hedvabna.
• 7/9/98 3 Holstein Caves
• 8/9/98 Spiralka Jeskyne and video footage of Jobless cave.
• 9/9/98 Pikova Dama – Spiralka through trip.
• 10/9/98 Amaterska Jeskyne.
• 11/9/98 Punkevni show cave then returned to Prague.
• 12/9/98 2nd Party arrive in Prague, hire car and return to Ostrov.
• 13/9/98 Sloupsko-Sosuvske show cave.
• 14/9/98 Amaterska Jeskyne
• 15/9/98 Balcarka, Punkevni and Katerinska show caves.
• 16/9/98 Spiralka – Pikova Dama connection
• 17/9/98 Pack up
• 18/9/98 Brno then on to Prague
• 19/9/98 Prague then depart
• 20/9/98 Arrive England.

Acknowledgements

The members of Southampton University Caving Club involved in this expedition would like to thank the members of ZO6-19 Speleogroup Planivy for their help and time.

They are also grateful to the Athletic Union of The Universtity Of Southampton for helping to fund the expedition.

Written by Neil Hatcher, SUCC
Last updated 19/11/98