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Polish cavers in Albania Contributed by Zhalov on Wednesday, April 08 @ 18:37:48 EEST
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 On the 15th of September 2007 the AVEN club expedition began. We set out from the headquarters of our club in Sosnowiec in a group of 7 people. During our 3 day-way we stopped in the Franciscan Monastery in Shkoder, where we had a hospitable reception of brothers Leonard and Vladimir, who helped us a lot in understanding Albania.
Valbony welcomed us with snow. We set up our base in the Rrenxae Brise in the house of Kola Jubani. Despite the snow, we were so determinate that the following day we set off to the mountains after a short negotiations with Kola. The Albanian Alps are specific because of the lack of the trails. Moving is possible only on the old shepherd’s paths, which are mostly overgrown and difficult to follow. Kola showed us paths to reach two interesting areas: summit of the Maja e Briezit with a plateau Gerllata e Briezit located below and the valley of Gropa e Rupes. During our trip to the Gropa e Rupes valley we discovered something, which we couldn’t believed. There had been somebody else exploring the caves. In the Shpella e Haxhise cave we noticed a rope from Topofil. Who and when had come there – Kola didn’t know it. Internet also didn’t give us an answer. In other places which we visited we didn’t find any traces of the human activity. The exploration was started in Gerllata e Briezit, where we had our camp base. Within few days of the surface research we located some caves. Unfortunately all of them were small, not exceeding few hundred meters. My last year’s dreamt Plateau turned out to be a mistake. I decided to end the activity in that area. Going down a group looked in the big opening in the neighboring kettle, which had been noticed during the ascending. It turned out that the opening was stacked with a snow cork. Under it a downgrade and unknown corridor could be seen. The surrounding of the cave was characterized by completely different type of the limestone and the system of layers. It held promise. We had something to start with the following year. Decision to come back to Albania had been made much earlier.
Remembering the last year snow and frost we started the expedition a month earlier. It was a good decision. This year’s weather was the ally during the whole stay in the mountains. Our plan assumed three targets:
- further exploration of the AVL-9 and recognition of glacial kettle located above, between the summits Maja e Grykave te Hapura and Maja e Qetes Arushes.
- recognition of the paths to get to the plateau located between Maja e Qetes Arushes and Maja e Pecmarres plateau.
- recognition of the paths to the upper level of the Gropa e Rupes valley, which were looked out for two years ago.
We started our activity after setting up and supplying the upper camp which was located in the area of AVL-9. Unfortunately the level of snow in the opening was higher significantly, which made the other parts of the cave unavailable to discover. We were able to reach only 10 meters inside the snow cork. The upper route finished after 130 meters with the rocks collapsed. Next few days we dedicated to recognition of the kettle above AVL-9. All sum considered, we discovered 11 caves. Most of them were short, few-hundred meters wells. The most perspective aim was the cave AVL-19, reaching the depth of 45 meters. Unfortunately the snow cork stopped us there.
After reorganization we started the realization of the other two targets of our plan. Divided into two groups we recognized simultaneously paths to get to both areas, which are planned for the next year’s exploration. We had also time for initial recognition of the areas, which contributed to localize 10 new caves. It will provide us with the “work” for the next year.
This year we had also possibility to test a new system of the cave measurement. The system based on the laser technology was designed by our club friends: Jacek Wójcicki and Marek Kozioł. The system consists of range-finder Leica, electronic compass , clinometer called Cave Snaiper and the coadjutant software. Up to 4000 shots may be stored in the device, and then transferred to the palmtop or laptop. It can also draw sketches of the cave in the 3D technique directly on the screen. Cave Snaiper software cooperates with the programs Compass, Auto Cad, Ozi Explorer and Google Maps, which enable to localize routes in the massif. Practically the plan of the cave is ready just after receiving the last shot and transferring data to the program. This modern device is a real revolution in the cave mapping.
Recapitulation
This year we visited Valbony valley for the third time. We still consider to be at the beginning of our way. The activity in Albania is very different from the one in the other European massifs. The basic problem is logistic. Recognition of the paths to the areas of the activity takes a lot of time. Often it is impossible without a guide. All the transports take many hours with poor paths and denivelation up to 1400 meters. Problems with water are common. Despite those difficult conditions our activity become more and more efficient. The amount of the discovered caves increases every year. The effect of this year activity is much better than last year. It is a result of better recognition of the area. Discovered caves fair positive for the following years. This year we continued the exploration of 2006 and 2007 in the valley above the kettle Gropa e Rupes. The valley is on the border with Montenegro where clubs from Poznań and Kielce have carried on exploration since 2007.
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Mariusz Polok – leader
Speleoklub AVEN
Sosnowiec Poland
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