Delago Cave

Delago Cave is a cave located in the Pilis Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in the area of Oszoly. It is a comfortably walkable, spacious cave suitable for bivouac. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

It lies in the outskirts of Csobánka, on the Margit ridge. From the Delago passage, visible from a distance on the Oszoly rock wall, one must walk 55 meters north along the path that runs at the foot of the wall, then ascend about 15 meters in elevation on the spur that branches upward, where the naturally formed entrance facing northwest is located. The entrance of Delago-Rókalyuk is 30° away, 35 meters distant, and 2 meters higher than the Delago Cave entrance.

It formed in Upper Triassic thick-bedded white massive Dachstein limestone, probably due to thermal water. The 17‑meter long, inclined, spacious corridor ends in a collapse‑filled dome that opens to the surface. In the corridor, spherical‑ear‑like dissolution forms can be observed. It is filled with clay, collapse material and rock debris. The completely dry, impressive, beautifully formed cave is suitable for bivouac. Frosted surfaces are found on the cave wall, and in winter ice stalactite formations are common in the cave. The cave is probably kept clean by the rock climbers who practice and bivouac there. It can be entered in street clothing.

The cave occurs in the literature under the names Delago passage (Kordos 1975), Delago passage (Bertalan 1976), Delago Cave (Kordos 1971), cave at Delago rock (Kordos 1971), Delagó passage (Kraus 1997), Delagó Cave (Kárpát 1991), E. 2. (Nagy 1929), E.2‑cave (Kordos 1975), E.2 cave (Kordos 1971), E. 2 cave (Bertalan 1976) and E. 2. cave (Kordos 1984). In 1974 the cave was first called Delago Cave in the literature.

Research History

According to the 1929 issue of Turisták Lapja, in 1928 or 1929 three members of the MTE Ski and Rock Climbing Section—named Árpád Czeglédy, László Czeglédy and Elemér Nagy—excavated and enlarged a small cave in the first large mass of the rock group located from the Oszoly Óra toward the Orr, which had previously been only inconveniently accessible. In doing so they established a suitable Oszoly shelter and refuge. The three members named the cave E. 2. cave. It was strongly recommended that anyone visiting Oszoly on a half‑day hike use this cave, or the small passage next to the Excelsior wall, for sleeping or shelter. Because of the described size, this can only be Delago Cave.

From 1934 to 1944 the speleologists of the Nature Lovers Tourist Association excavated and surveyed it. István Venkovits excavated its humus, clay fill and found recent rodent bones in the sediment. In 1942 István Venkovits surveyed it with lost points. On 28 March 1943 István Venkovits drew its floor plan map and longitudinal section map, which were compiled at a scale of 1:50. The cave is 10 m long and 5 m deep. In the 1967 book *Pilis Travel Guide* it was reported that on the north side facing Oszoly Csobánka, among the forest‑surrounded limestone rocks, several insignificant cavities are found. According to the notice published in the 1969 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin, in August 1969 the Speleology Cave Research Group placed fixed points in Oszoly and in the eight smaller‑larger cavities on the Oszoly side during a camp organized in Kevélyek.

The 1970 report of the Speleology Cave Research Group contains a detailed description of the cave and its research history. The report states that from the Oszoly Delago wall eastward, a minute, hard‑to‑notice, wide entrance is located about a minute’s walk from the tourist trail marked at Margitliget, at an elevation of 35–40 m. The probably karstic cave consists of a chamber that narrows inward and ends in a small drop. At the entrance a nice Megalodus cross‑section can be observed in the rock. Dripping is constant in the middle and rear parts of the cave. It is a frequent bivouac site. The report’s appendix includes the 1943 maps drawn by László Kordos.

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 Oszoly caves and the Delago cave. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, there are a dozen small caves among the Oszoly rocks rising above Csobánka. These were mapped and regularly explored by the Szpeleológia Barlangkutató Csoport. Most of these small caves are not very spectacular, but they must be mentioned because some of them provide excellent bivouac possibilities in the Oszoly rock walls regularly visited by tourists, especially rock climbers, and in their vicinity. The entrance of the 10 m long Delago cave is located east of the Delago wall, above the marked tourist trail in the Margitliget area. In the 1930s the TTE cave explorers surveyed the cave, whose chamber is still often used today for bivouac.

The 1975 MKBT Report published the 1970 report’s section on caves together with the maps contained in the report. The Delago cave (E.2.-cave Nagy E. 1929; cave at Delago rock Szenthe I. 1969; Delago passage Bertalan K. 1970) opens east from the Oszoly Delago wall, about 1 minute from the marked tourist trail in the Margitliget area, at a height of 35–40 m. It consists of one chamber that narrows inward and then ends in a small drop. It was formed in Dachstein limestone, which at the entrance contains beautiful Megalodus sp. traces.