This was a commercial cave that had been intersected by a mine. It was fairly vertical, traversed by the ubiquitous stainless steel walkways, and had some nice formations. It also had cell service all the way to the bottom! (Nodes mounted on the ceilings)
And a cave map!
I failed to make a writeup about this cave, so only two pics to share.
Formations.
Obligatory entrance shot.
This commercial cave is located in the center of the town of Samcheok. The provide helmets, but if you bring your own, they let you use them!
Walking down the entrance at Cheongok Cave in Samcheok.
They had a pretty cool 3D map of the cave!
You can visit the Korean Tourism website for this cave here:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=789931
We found this little cave while looking at other caves on the river in Yeongwol. We did not have the opportunity to return and dive it, and Chrissy was less than optimistic.
Jason looking into the sump.
A closer look- It wasn't huge.
My kind of caving crew.
Gosugul is located further to the southwest in the Gangwon province and is another commercial cave. To get here, it is recommended that you have a car, as the bus/train situation is sparse. We visited this on a weekend we were looking at other caves on the river, and found that there is also a large cave museum located here, which apparently, had been developed by the professor we were caving with every month!
The crew on the huge walkway to the cave entrance.
You can visit the Korean Tourist website for this cave here:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264275
Though I don't have any pictures, Dae Gaeum Cave is located across the valley from Hwanseon Gul Cave. The two caves are completely different from each other- where the Hwanseon is a large, mostly dry cave, Dae Gaeum is a smaller, almost completely filled with flowing water cave. The Korean stainless steel walkways follow the waterways up to the largest and best looking sump I saw in Korea, perhaps 50 feet wide, and appeared to be 20-30 feet deep. There was a large line running into the sump, and I heard rumor that there was 1500 meters of passage beyond the sump, but that is unconfirmed. Visiting Dae Gaeum is a little more difficult, as it is not geared towards non-Korean speaking tourists. Despite this, it is fairly easy to get a ticket to the tram (the little tram drives right into the cave, there is no other way in.)
Photo stolen from the Korean Tourism Website.
You can visit the Korean Tourism website for this cave here:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=789825
Hwanseon Cave is a large commercial cave near the eastern town of Samcheok. We have not had the chance to see anything off trail, but the main part of the commercial cave is very impressive!
A view of one of the back rooms in the cave. The stainless steel walkways are everywhere!
A waterfall from the stream that is pumped through the cave. It might have been natural at one time.
The girls ogle the formations in Hwanseon.
The girls at the entrance, looking out.
A lead in Hwanseon Cave!
You can visit the Korean Tourism Website for this cave here:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264551
This cave was formed along a vertical fissure- most of the Koreans could not manage the wierd stemming off-width that had to be traversed to reach the end of the cave, (Once again, Chrissy blew their minds by leading it.) This was the only cave we visited that had a sump that looked interesting that had obviously not been dove.
The entrance ladder (!) and the only wide passage leading to the narrow fissure crack which was the rest of the cave.
It got narrow, and vertical. Here the crew is almost on top of each other.
Chrissy leads the offwidth (unroped) about 30 vertical feet up to a ledge which led back down to the sump. Minds Blown.
On our first Korean cave trip, and our last, we saw these endangered copper wing bats.
The sump. About 3 feet wide, but 30 feet long and who knows how deep. This was at the bottom of a 50 foot rope drop.
Obligatory entrance shot.
This cave had a quite steep climb up to the entrance, and then went in a couple of directions- it was nice to have a little climbing in the cave, and the Koreans were continuously amazed that Chrissy could climb up things.
The crew walking down a typical passage in the cave.
Everyone smoked after the climb up to the entrance.
Chrissy and the crew look at the terminal pool in the cave. (It didn't go.)
Chrissy blowing everyone's minds by leading the crew up some awkward stemming moves.
Cave Map! (Printed on vinyl, hung between trees outside the cave!)
Obligatory entrance photo.
This was a smallish cave formed in shale. The cave had a surprising tube shape, despite it forming in shale. We did not explore far, due to many bats, and it being during a hibernation period.
Chrissy and I running to try to get a little survey in, the Koreans were antsy to leave.
Our Korean crew at the entrance. Despite the rain, and short cave, everyone was having fun.