Cave over Jóreménység

The Cave over Jóreménység is one of the caves located on Vaskapu Hill at the edge of Pilisszentkereszt in the Pilis Mountains, within the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Description

In the Vaskapu Valley, at 290° from the Pilis cave, 150 m away, at an altitude of 582 m above sea level, the Cave over Jóreménység has two entrances facing east. From the branch of the Vaskapu Valley, at 215°, 130 m away, the cave opens in the middle of a 6‑m‑high rock wall. Its entrances are directly above the entrance of the Jóreménység cave. Through a small opening it is also connected to the Jóreménység cave. In front of the rock wall that forms the cave entrances, traces of former research camps (fire‑making and resting places) can still be observed.

The Cave over Jóreménység formed in a tilted layer group of Triassic limestone due to freezing. In the poorly formed cave there is little pea‑stone. The unsealed cave can be entered without permission and with easy climbing. By descending through the upper entrance into a shaft about 3 m deep, one can reach the other entrance, from which a sloping ledge protrudes. The cave has no significance for further research.

Research history

The 1967 book *Pilisszentkereszt Trail Guide* mentions that around the Szoplák Valley cave area, in the Vaskapu Valley, many small cavities hide among the bushes. The 1974 book *Pilisszentkereszt Trail Guide*, in the list of caves of the Pilis and Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), notes that there are Vaskapu Valley caves among the caves of the Pilis and Visegrád Mountains. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, a tourist trail marked with a blue square turns into the Vaskapu Valley beside a forest hut, and after about half a kilometre, a whole series of cavities and small caves can be found in the rocky hillside that runs alongside the trail. These are the Vaskapu Valley caves (rock chambers, rock pits), among which the Pilis cave stands out with its size, dripstones, and interesting shapes.

In December 1989 József Kárpát, Gábor Gyombolai and Marianna Madár surveyed the Jóreménység Cave. On one cross‑section map (A–A') of the Jóreménység Cave, drawn on the basis of the survey, the place where the Jóreménység Cave and the cave above Jóreménység are connected can be seen. On the plan map of the Jóreménység Cave it can also be observed where this cross‑section is located within the Jóreménység Cave. In a manuscript written by József Kárpát in 1990 there is mention of a rock‑like cavity above the entrance of the Jóreménység Cave. The guidebook published in 1991 repeats the part from the 1974 guidebook that describes the Vaskapu‑valley caves, with the difference that, next to the forest hut, the tourist trail marked in red turns into the Vaskapu Valley. The 1996 cave‑day tour guide mentions that among the Vaskapu‑valley caves, stone chambers and rock shafts, the Pilis Cave stands out both for its size, its interesting shapes and its dripstones.

On 5 May 1997 József Regős surveyed the cave, and on 9 May 1997 Sándor Kraus, based on the survey, drew the plan map, longitudinal section map and cross‑section map of the Átjáró Cave above Jóreménység (cave‑registry area 4840). The plan map shows the location of the longitudinal section within the cave. The longitudinal section map shows the location of the cross‑section within the cave. The maps present the cave at a scale of 1:50. The east direction is marked on the map sheet. In Sándor Kraus’s 1997 report it can be read that the cave above Jóreménység, known before 1997, had its map produced in 1997.