Adventurous tour

Cave explorers venture into a wondrous underworld

Deep underground, a wondrous universe opened up to the courageous cave explorers.(Bild: Andreas Gremmel)

Andreas Gremmel and his team have reached new depths while exploring the Trockenes Loch cave in the Pielach Valley. In the process, they discovered a wildly rushing underground canyon.

Year after year, the "underworld explorers" led by speleologist Andreas Gremmel venture further into the world of stalactites and stalagmites. "We were once again able to penetrate even further into the belly of Mother Earth - where we had to turn back on our last expedition last year due to unsuitable equipment," says the team leader, describing the daring but ultimately meticulously planned four-day adventure in literally the furthest corner of the Pielach Valley near Frankenfels - a place that is actually drained by a tributary stream, the Natters.

The intrepid team at the cave entrance(Bild: Andreas Gremmel)

Overwhelmed by the dimensions
"We started where we had to turn back last year because we were overwhelmed by the dimensions that we unexpectedly came across," explain Gremmel, Benjamin Pretterhofer and the ladies in the group, Alexandra Forst and Liliane Kukacka. The reward for the intrepidity of climbing up with ropes tested by alpinists: Sintered lakes and a huge hall with lots of stalactites! We spent the night - with the benevolence of the guardian of this special universe, Friedrich Graf Hardegg - in hammocks behind two diving sites. And completely isolated from the outside world on the earth's surface.

Incentive for further tours
As in the previous year, the explorers were left in breathless amazement. The large dome, from which a waterfall rushes down into the otherwise silent depths, constantly reveals new natural wonders. "The wildly rushing canyon that has now been explored, which presumably runs all the way under the Ötscher massif, is a further incentive," Gremmel exults.