The first 500 meters of the cave Skalarjevo brezno

This year’s Kanin camp was perfect for a return visit to the Skalarjevo brezno. 2025-08

Exactly four years had passed since the last time we were there. Back then, our large team entered the initial sections of the cave and explored the Gallery of Good Soil. For some, it was their very first high-mountain experience and a test of whether alpine caves might attract them again in the future. The main purpose of that trip was photography, which we managed fairly well. Already then, the idea was born to photograph the lower parts too, but for one reason or another it kept being postponed.

In the meantime, the cave was anything but idle. Even more, the depth surpassed 1200 meters, and several kilometers of new passages were discovered, which considerably extended the duration of expeditions. Reaching the cave, staying inside, and returning successfully requires at least five days, and for various reasons we had been unable to gather such time until this year’s traditional summer camp. Preparations for the Kanin camp had been serious throughout the year, even though we weren’t sure what exactly we would do there. In the end, Mrki and Nina—new but highly motivated cavers—got excited enough to attempt Skalarjevo brezno together with my ambitious idea of photographing the lower parts all the way to the Free Willy siphon lake.

The new sections of the cave begin just above the bottom of the massive, nearly 300-meter shaft called Rolling Stones. There, explorers had climbed into a small window and discovered a narrow, muddy passage leading to horizontal galleries and to the bivouac named Hotel California at a depth of 1000 meters. That was also the target of our first day underground. On the next day, we planned to photograph the passages leading to the Free Willy siphon at 1200 meters, return to the bivouac, spend the night, and then start making our way back toward the surface. If we couldn’t manage the return in one push, we would stop at the bivouac above the Rolling Stones shaft at 556 meters, rest or sleep, and exit on Sunday, the last day of the camp.

Access to the Peter Skalar hut from the Slovenian side has been difficult for years, as the Kanin cable car is no longer operational and cannot provide the convenient lift to Station D at 2200 meters above sea level. The only options are the time-consuming approach from Gozdec or a rough off-road drive to the chairlift, which is a gamble with a regular car. Luckily, there is still access from the Italian side by gondola to Gilberti hut and then to Prevala, followed by a tedious stretch to the Saddle and descent to Station D of the Kanin cable car. From there it is only a short way to Peter Skalar hut, but with heavy backpacks that last section can drag on endlessly. Fortunately, the cargo cable car solves this perfectly, hauling all the gear in just a few minutes.

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We entered the cave on Thursday morning and at a relaxed pace made our way through the entrance passages down to the bottom of Delirium Tremens. From there onward, the passages were mostly unknown to us, but we didn’t have much reason to worry about getting lost. A wire for the cave telephone runs throughout the system, always showing the correct direction. Our first real challenge came at the entrance to the meander called Strela (Lightning), notorious as one of the toughest obstacles in Skalarjevo brezno. During the first explorations, the meander was an impassable barrier where progress stopped. The first to break through were members of the Cavex team, composed of Russian and Ukrainian cavers led by Oleg Klimchouk and Denis Provalov. The meander was so narrow that they could only squeeze through the tightest sections without helmets and climbing gear, and transport bags had to be emptied outside and their contents carried piece by piece through the constriction.

Nowadays, the meander has been widened at key points and passage is relatively straightforward. It is interesting because of its shape, twisting sharply in places, and with a bit of imagination resembling a lightning bolt—hence the name. Even so, it cost us two hours, since we not only had to pass gear along and find the right route but also stopped to take photographs. The narrow sections gradually widen and, after a series of short drops, open into a 130-meter shaft called Mlajši brat (Little Brother) – the “older” one being Delirium Tremens. At its bottom, the shaft connects to passages explored in the late 1980s. In a window of Little Brother, the Cavex team discovered an entrance into a new 153-meter shaft named Klymkina jama (Klymkina Cave). Through a window there as well, they accessed new sections resembling fossil galleries similar to those in Delirium Tremens. At the end of the gallery they reached an enormous nearly 300-meter shaft—Rolling Stones—where they searched in vain for continuation at the bottom. Later, cavers managed to traverse the shaft at its very top and discovered a gallery on the opposite side of the vast drop.

At our pace, we reached the area above Rolling Stones nine hours after entering the cave, having descended to a depth of only 560 meters. Reaching the lower bivouac was still a long way off, and with photography we would likely need many more hours. We took some shots of the initial section of Rolling Stones, then retreated to the first bivouac just around the corner and decided it was best to sleep there. That, of course, disrupted our original plans, but we felt that Nina and Mrki could still be fully satisfied with what we had achieved. On Saturday, at a steady pace, we climbed back through all the shafts to the entrance and reached the hut before dinner. On Sunday, we used the day for a hike to natural window Prestreljenik and then descended to the valley.

It seems that visits to Skalarjevo brezno will continue. I can only hope that the timeline until the next trip won’t once again be measured in years. This time, the ones roaming through the passages of the Kanin cave system were Nina Mrak, Jure Merčun – Mrki, and Peter Gedei.

Caves - Peter Gedei Cave Photography

The first 500 meters of the cave Skalarjevo brezno

This year’s Kanin camp was perfect for a return visit to the Skalarjevo brezno. 2025-08

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