Markov Spodmol

With all the media coverage of Križna gora and the rising water, I remembered that I had never posted any photographs of Markov Spodmol on the blog, and that Ana and I had once turned back quite quickly because we visited the cave in rainy weather and the water level in the first small lake was already very high.

Markov Spodmol, or the Speleological System of the Underground Rakuljščica, which I have visited four times so far: once for scientific purposes, when I helped my colleague Cyril install a water-level logger in the sump, once for photography, when I helped the photographer as a model Uroš Kunaver, and twice when we also tried to take my wife Ana down to the sump.

In this first pool, the water is usually knee- or waist-deep and you have to wade for about 15 metres. When we went in, we were already swimming at this point and there were only about 20 to 30 centimetres left to the ceiling.

The team that day was Ana, me, Tim and Cyril. Ana and I had doubts about continuing; Tim wanted to go on—at least those 15 metres to the other side, if not all the way—while Cyril was firmly against it.

After some quick but careful thought, we decided that despite the professional hydrogeological knowledge within the team, we did not know the precise flooding dynamics in Markov Spodmol. We did not know how quickly the water had risen, whether it was still rising or how quickly it might continue to rise. So we put our tails between our legs and turned back.

We still took a few photographs on the way out. It was also the only time I took a camera into this cave.

On my other three visits to the cave, I filmed more video than I took photographs. I also recorded the process and the heated "debate" about whether to continue, but it is not for public viewing :) I can only show an excerpt from when we were still pushing onwards.

I posted a short video "story", made when Cyril and I once went to the sump alone to install a logger, on social media: