Primož Jakopin, photo diary

Martinska jama pri Markovščini (Martinska jama near Markovščina)
Sleeping beauty of Matarsko podolje

January 26, 2025, 17 pictures

          Most images are approximately 768 x 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are serial numbers of the original photo files. The excursion was organized by the Karlovice Caving Society (Jamarsko društvo Karlovice, Jože Stražišar and Peter Žnidaršič), with the help of the Dimnice Caving Society, which is the custodian of the cave and holds the key to its door. Vladimir Levašov from the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society made a great contribution to the success of it, as did Jakob Majdič and Matic Prevec from the same society. Samo and Jerneja Milanič, Irena Hren, Jožica Kanižar, Tomaž Jančič and Katja Lavrič Mrvar also participated. The names of the parts of the cave were mostly given by the author.

          Page, texts and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2025, except for the photos VL46 and VL47, which were taken by Vladimir; they are published here with his permission.

 
VL46. The cave is not far from Markovščina and years ago the entrance was situated in a vast grassy bank, dotted with dolines and crisscrossed with paths. Over the years, the meadow has become overgrown, and so have the paths. The shortest route to the cave leads from the main road below the village along a cart track towards the south, until it is soon crossed by another one, towards the east, and which one has to follow. It is getting increasingly grassy, one continues till about the place where another cart track branches off towards the north, to the main road. Here we left the cars, the cave is about 600 meters in a south-southeast direction, past the cave Krčna. The meadow quickly ends, it is followed by a bush, often thorny, where, especially in a cloudy weather, even someone who has been to the cave many times has difficulty finding the way. The journey took close to one an hour, several time consuming small corrections were needed, but at least it was not raining (plenty of it on the way back), it was only drizzling. In the photo: the author was last, as he has been many times before, but he was very happy because he was not carrying the heavy backpack with equipment, just another, half-empty one, and even that Matic took from him some time later.

 
54841. The entrance to the cave is in the southern wall of a shallow and small collapse doline; view from the northern edge: Jožica, Jerneja, Samo, Irena, Matic, Jakob, Vladimir and Jože, with a carbide lamp at his belt and a little flame on his helmet.

 
54859. Katja is taking a picture of Tomaž at the top of the approximately 20-meter drop leading to the lower part of the cave.

 
54842. Tomaž

 
54843. and Katja

 
54844. Matic is descending along the flowstone covered walls

 
54851. A little below the drop is a stalactite passage, and in it Samo, Jerneja and Irena.

     
 
54845 and 54846. Samo, at first as he was and ... then a little closer to a smile

 
54848. The cave is best known for this calcite heap with a thin dripstone obelisk on top

 
54849. A recess left in front of obelisk with sumptuous border

 
54852. The heap with the obelisk is followed by a hall with a collapse at the bottom, which narrows into a passage to the next, larger collapse. In the photo: the passage to the next, larger hall requires climbing between these rocks.

 
54856. A look back and up reveals a curtain of dripstone, behind which a large side balcony is hidden.

 
54853 and 54854. A view back and down over a shelf with a dripstone pan full of water, towards the tunnel which leads to the obelisk. A collage of two almost identical photos. In the first Vladimir nicely lit the background, but the author moved during the several-secon exposure, while in the second one the author was still, but Vladimir turned his lamp a little too much to the left.

 
54858. The ceiling on the right side of the photo required a better treatment, so a shot from a slightly lower position followed. The heap, which in the previous photo was in the middle of the picture at the height of the author's shoulders, is now in the middle of the bottom edge of the picture.

 
VL47. Around the bend, along the path, there is this stalagmite that resembles the Medusa in Lipiška jama.

 
54860. Near the entrance, on return: Peter on his way through the stalagmite labyrinth

Related pages:

• This page in Russian ...
• ... and in Slovenian language

  Lipiška jama, January 22, 2025     Unnamed cave in Matarsko podolje, January 30, 2025  
 

This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin, member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL). Send inquiries and comments to primoz jakopin guest arnes si (insert dots and at sign as appropriate). Page was initiated on January 27, 2025; date of the last change: February 2, 2025.

URL: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2025/PJ20250126_en.php     580