Nordic countries offer a few but wonderful opportunities for cave divers. There are plenty of mines with crystal clear waters, but the mostly granite ground is not suitable for natural caves to form.
In the region of Rana in Norway, there are about 200 known caves. Most of them are not appropriate for diving, either because of being dry, too small or too remote. But the area hosts two beautiful exceptions - Plura and Litjåga.
These caves are hidden beneath the Scandes, a mountain range that originated some 400 million years ago when Greenland crashed into Scandinavia. This violent collision created an enormous mountain range, higher than the current Himalayas, reaching from Scotland to the Svalbard islands.
Plura is the most dived cave in Scandinavia. It's beautiful formations of marble, and pristine waters are the reason for divers to return to the arctic circle year after year.
Despite Plura's popularity as a diving destination, the connection between Plura and the nearby Steinugleflåget cave remained a mystery for tens of years. Part of the challenge was the difficult access to Steinugleflåget cave, requiring over 100 meters of vertical climbing in a dry cave just to access the head pool.
In our presentation, we will show footage from the project connecting Plura and Steinugleflåget, one the deepest dived traverses in the world. We will also discuss the making of a film Diving into the Unknown, a documentary about the recovery of two divers who lost their lives in the deep section of the cave.
We will also show footage from Litjåga. Norwegian explorations had taken the line to the sump three, a total distance of about 1.4 kilometers from the entrance. In 2015 a Finnish team dived to the end of the cave, trying to find a way further.
And last but not least, we will introduce Bjurälven, a cave situated on the Swedish side of the Scandes. Swedish lead expedition has explored the cave system over the years. Bjurälven presents the challenges of arctic diving, as the cave is accessible only in the dead of winter.
For more information, visit diversoftehdark.com, youtube.com/user/DiversOfTheDark or facebook.com/diversofthedark
For Diving Into the Unknown movie trailer, see http://divingintotheunknown.com/en
Presenters Antti Apunen and Janne Suhonen are the founding members and representatives of Divers of the Dark team.
