Csúcs-hegyi Cave

Csúcs-hegyi Cave is one of the caves located on Csúcs Hill in the Pilis Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, known to locals for a long time. It also appears in tourist guidebooks.

Description

It is situated on the edge of Csobánka, on the north‑western side of the abandoned limestone quarry of Csúcs Hill, at the northern, Oszoly side of the quarry’s rim, where the spectacular oval‑shaped natural horizontal entrance is located. From the memorial plaque of József Berda in the quarry, one must go north and ascend the small path along the quarry’s edge to reach the cave entrance. The 20‑metre‑long, 6‑metre‑deep passage is a filled, drip‑stone cave block formed in upper Triassic, compact, white, thick‑bedded dachstein limestone. It is probably of karst origin and inactive.

Behind the entrance, after a steep short entrance section, the cave continues upward in a narrow, clayey passage and downward in a dome chamber. The lower dome chamber can be reached by easy climbing, where a large amount of moonmilk can be observed on the walls. In the upper, moderately narrow, clayey passage, dripstone formations can be found. Only basic caving equipment is required for exploring the cave, as the difficulty of the climbs inside does not even require rope protection.

It occurs in literature as Berda-barlang (Kraus 1997), Berda barlang (Kucsera 1993), Csucs-hegyi-barlang (Kordos 1975), Csucshegyi barlang (Kordos 1971), Csucshegyi sziklaüreg (Kordos 1971), Csucshegyi /Spitzberg/ barlang (Kordos 1971), Csucshegyi (Spitzberg)-barlang (Kordos 1975), Csucshegy oldalában lévő barlang (Kordos 1971), Csúcshegyi-barlang (Kordos 1980), Csúcshegyi barlang (Kordos 1971), Csúcshegyi sziklaüreg (Kordos 1984), Tábor-barlang (Kordos 1975) and Tábor barlang (Kordos 1971) names as well. In 1974 the cave was first called Csúcs-hegyi-barlang in the literature.

Research history

The cave explorers of the Nature Lovers Tourist Association, led by István Venkovits, examined it between 1943 and 1949. In 1943 István Venkovits surveyed and produced a plan view cave map and a longitudinal section cave map, which were edited at a scale of 1:100. According to the survey the cave is 17 metres long and 7 metres deep. In 1969 István Szenthe carried out measurements in it. In that year László Kordos and Erzsébet Wehovszky surveyed it, and then László Kordos drew its plan map, longitudinal section map, as well as four cross‑sections, which were edited at a scale of 1:100. According to the survey it is 22 m long and 7 m deep.

In August 1969 the Szabó József Geological Technical School Cave Exploration Group discovered, during a camp organized in the Kevélyek, a cave of about 20 m length that was previously unknown to them and is not mentioned by name. In the autumn of 1969 László Kordos made a colour slide showing the cave entrance. On 22 March 1970 László Kordos examined the cave’s dripping water and the water collected in a pool. In 1970 Kordos László and Péter Welker performed climatological measurements in it on three occasions. The Speleology Cave Exploration Group’s 1970 report states that its lower part is filled with rock debris, the upper part is very clayey. Dripstones occur as coatings and stalactites, mostly in a stuck condition. Locals often visit it. The report’s annex includes the 1943 maps drawn by László Kordos and the maps made in 1969.

In the book *Pilis útikalauz* published in 1974, in the list of caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), it is mentioned that among the caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains are the caves of Mount Csúcs. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, the Cave of Mount Csúcs is 22 m long and 7 m deep. The part of the 1970 report concerning the cave was published in the 1975 report of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) together with the maps included in the report. The publication contains a site plan on which the geographical locations of Mount Csúcs and the Osvoly caves can be seen. The drawing shows the geographical location of the Cave of Mount Csúcs. In the manuscript written by Károly Bertalan and completed in 1976, it is stated that the Cave of Mount Csúcs located in the Kevély group in Csobánka, in the Pilis Mountains, has the additional names Csúcshegyi cave, Csúcshegyi rock cavity and Tábor cave. Its entrance is located about 40–50 m above the footpath on the edge of the limestone mine of the Eastern Carpathians on Mount Csúcs, between Osvoly and Kevély.

The non‑operational stone mine on the side facing Osvoly has an oval entrance. The cave is 22 m long and 7 m deep. After a short, steep section it continues downward in a dome‑shaped chamber, and upward in a narrow, muddy passage, a drip‑stone cave passage filled with mud and rock debris. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on two literary works. In the study published in the 1975–1980 report on Karst and Cave Research there is a schematic map showing the geographical locations of the caves of the Kevély group examined from a hydrochemical point of view. The map shows the geographical location of the Cave of Mount Csúcs.

The study mentions that the Csúcshegyi Cave (Csobánka) is a cavity formed in Dachstein limestone, which is 22 m long. Brown clay filling is found in its narrow passage that slopes downward. Both samples were taken from the clay pit in this latter part of the cave and from drip sites on March 3 1970, after meltwater. At the time and place of sampling the air temperature was 5.2 °C. The cave’s drip water is harder than that of the puddle it feeds, in which limestone dissolution is visible. It was made public in the 1981 issue of Karst and Cave, 1–2 semester, that the cave’s cadastral number is 4820/16.