Exploration photos with my flashlights

I post photos from my explorations every now and then on other sites and thought maybe someone here might like them too, so I’ll post some here every now and then (only the flashlight illuminated ones of course).

Update 25th April, 2018
I finally got to see the end of the tunnel above an ice fall in the same abandoned mine as the photos below. After ice climbing we armed ourselves with wading pants and trudged on in through the muck roughly 1 km before it came to and end.

A little video clip I put together shows whats involved to get to the tunnel entrance.

Update 10th April, 2018
No new photos, just added a few I have posted in other threads before.

Update 2nd March, 2018
Last Saturday I went down into my favorite abandoned mine again. The objective was to climb an ice fall up to a long tunnel I have not been to the end to, but the ice hadn’t formed thick enough to climb safely so we spent some time looking for photos. I found a few, and these two are the best. In the first photo I used three different lights, the second photo I used one. All lights used are 5000K MT-G2 lights.


The ice fall is forming nicely though, water is running and it’s cold down there, so we’ll return maybe next week. Should be good to go by then.

Update 03/27/2017
The objective with yesterdays mine excursion was to catch a photo I’ve had on my mind for a while. Not totally satisfied, but it’s a lot of work for a photo so another attempt will have to wait.

Update 02/20/2017
The abandoned mine in the two photos below is water filled from about 60 meters depth. In the winter it freezes so I just had to try this:

Update 02/19/2017
Two newer ones… Both with my BMF SRK (Supfire M6 with 3 x MT-G2):


OP from 07/29/2015:

My girlfriend was away and my usual exploration buddy was busy, so I went on a solo trip down into an abandoned mine I’ve had my eye on for a while. 160 meters of rope didn’t get me anywhere near the bottom, but was enough to see what was down there being alone and all. I didn’t get my triple XHP70 or triple XPL-His ready for this trip. I’ll be back, armed with more lights, more rope and a few buddies…

I used MT-G2s for these photos, my M6 triple helped back-light me a little while I held my ZY-T08. The MT-G2s blended in nicely with the daylight on the first picture, but on the second I’d have liked a little cooler. I’m anxious to try out my triple XHP70 down here when it’s done.


Edit:
I had a helmet cam on me, so I put together a short clip together. The camera is pretty crap in dark places and lights didn’t help due to the mist.

I put it on youtube also, but is blocked on mobile devices because of the music: http://youtu.be/X7CYayyw3LQ

Older posts

Two oldies but goldies:

Post from 09/12/2015 (abandoned underground factory):

AWESOME! Where is this??

Nice!

Sweden. It’s a few hours drive (depending on how fast you drive) from Stockholm.

Amazing. My kind of exploration

Caving all alone? Ever seen 127 hours? Hope you did not descend on that rope, just used it to go back to the entrance of the cave.

Those pics are very nice!

You were solo…so how did you take the pics? Do you have some remote switch setup?

No, the guy in the photo was also solo...so they were both solo....

Very cool. Thank you so much for sharing. You're one brave (maybe a bit crazy) dude.

Yeah, seen it. Of coarse I prefer company, but I have never let being without stop me. There will always be people to do things solo, be it climbing, sailing cross Atlantic, rowing the Tasman sea… You can see it another way, if I screw up the rigging I won’t be killing anyone else.

Why wouldn’t I? It’s a 9mm static caving rope designed for SRT usage. Why wouldn’t I use the rope for what it’s designed for?

Thanks. This is the remote I use: http://www.pixelhk.com/Proshow.aspx?id=299 Much better than the last one I had which was IR (had to point the remote at the camera). Got a light weight tripod with me for the camera.

Most people go with crazy… But I’m no noob and take extreme care when rigging. 60 meters down I got the slightest contact point of rubbing on the rope and I was heading back up, but found a way to make a re-belay and sacrificed my gloves to protect the rope. None would have really been needed, but everything that can be done to protect the rope I do for piece of mind.

Are there used anchor points or are you the first hammering the bolts in the rock? Do you not use a second static rope for backup ? Are you using an ascender or do you “freeclimb”?
Well you seem to know what you’re doing so keep it up. Pictures look brilliant btw.

Very nice pics. Thanks for sharing! :slight_smile:

I used trees at the top with a bunch of rope protectors until the rope was hanging free. The rubbing point I solved by making a very tight re-belay on thick metal installations from when the mine was active. Of coarse these things can’t be trusted so the re-belay was very tight, making minimal drop if it should have failed.

No backup. SRT (Single Rope Technique) is all about using the single rope to get the furthest. I have used backups before, but in this case it really was not practical.

Ascenders. I use the so called “frog rig”. Here’s a little info on it: http://caves.org/section/vertical/nh/46/srt.html

Thanks! Will do. I know my limits and wouldn’t go deeper without buddies. This was more of a peek to see what it looks like down there… Now I know, and my photos immediately grabbed the attention of my other buddies and got them all on board :slight_smile:

Will post a few every now and then… only ones where flashlights have been used for lighting of coarse :slight_smile:

Added a short video clip from helmet cam to the OP.

How long will it be do you think before the Chinese are using these pictures along side an SK68 with the words ‘AA’ and ‘2000 lumens’ in the product description?

Marc :wink:

Really awesome, there is nothing like the human figure as a size reference when taking photos in such huge places.

Thanks for sharing. Not being a climber I understand gravity gives you a easy trip down but what about going up?

The photos are very nice and I like your adventurous spirit! I say keep’em coming!

amazing pics.
makes me want to go do that type of stuff now!