After a while, back to Mitjina jama
In the most Fragile passage - 2013-06
As written several times before, the Matarsko podolje is one of the most beautiful caving destinations in Slovenia. It is actually interesting along the whole length and the ending hides quite a few caves, the beauty of which can light the flame of interest of even the most spoiled cavers. Some caves have been strongly ravaged by the sharp teeth of the visitation, others have escaped these nasty bites due to the visitation being supervised. One of these is definitely Mitjina jama, which cannot be visited without a proper key.
It was our third visit to Mitjina jama. The first one took place back in 1996, when I visited it with my brother Tibor, who took care of the 3D shots and a big support team, with whom I cruised the large front parts of the cave, was enchanted by the beautiful decorations and spacious halls and promised to myself that I would be back. I fulfilled the promise to take care of the need for photographing the club ‘Naked Cavers’ calendar and soon found out that the cave would have to be paid a visit again.
This time, we were driven by curiosity because of the upcoming international meeting of cave photographers, which will take part in our parts of the world and around Trieste. We had to refresh our memory of the cave, to see if it would be appropriate for photo recording and, most importantly – if it would please the experienced caving photographers. Well, we found out that you have to put quite a bit of effort in to get through certain parts, but it is definitely worth it.
This time, our goal was to reach the high tunnels, which hide quite a few special formations, which you cannot see that often. But the mud in these parts, especially the narrow ones, was quite generous, and the sensitivity of the not really wide tunnel does not allow for mass visitation. Despite all of that, our efforts were certainly paid off by the beautifully crystallized cracks, which charm everyone with their otherwordly beauty. At least it did us.
The tunnel widens into a hall near the end, where you must be very careful about choosing your way. Beneath your boots, there is a fragile layer of calcite breaking off with each step and if anywhere, it is here that it is important to walk on the ready-made paths and catch the small marks of the muddy steps of previous visitors.
This time, the team consisted of Mojca, Blaž and Miha, and we finished the event with a good pizza and set out to clean the very muddy equipment at home.
