Delago Foxhole

The Delago Foxhole is a cave located in the Pilis Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in Oszoly.

Description

It is a naturally formed, west‑facing entrance situated in the outskirts of Csobánka, at Margit‑liget, at the foot of a two‑metre high rock cliff on a bushy hillside. The entrance of the Delago Foxhole is 30° and 35 metres away from the Delago cave, and 2 metres higher. The 3.2 metre long passage was formed in the upper Triassic compact white thick‑bedded Dachstein limestone. Corrosion dissolution forms can be observed on its walls. Its narrow, fissure‑like passage gradually narrows. The cavity is dry and contains many spiders. It is filled with dry clayey debris and humus. From its end inward, through a narrower section, another one and a half metres can still be seen, but it is of little significance to the cave.

The cave also appears in literature under the names Delago‑rókalyuk (Kárpát 1990), Delagó‑rókaluk (Kraus 1997) and Delagó Rókalyuk (Kárpát 1991).

Research history

In the 1967 book *Pilisszék* (Piliss Guide) it was reported that, on the western side facing Oszoly Csobánka, among the forest‑surrounded limestone rocks, several insignificant cavities are present. 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 the Oszoly and the Oszoly‑side’s eight smaller‑to‑larger cavities during a camp organized in Kevélyek.

In the book Pilis guidebook published in 1974, in the list of caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), it is mentioned that there are the Oszoly caves between the caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, there are about a dozen small caves among the Oszoly rocks rising above Csobánka. These were mapped and regularly explored by the Speleology Cave Research Group. 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.

Its entrance was opened in 1990. In 1990 József Kárpát drew an overview map on which the geographical location of the Oszoly climbing school caves can be observed. The geographical location of the Delago Rabbit Hole is shown on this map. The guidebook published in 1991 repeats the description from the 1974 guidebook that generally presents the Oszoly caves. The 1991 compilation written by József Kárpát mentions that the Delagó Rabbit Hole (Csobánka) is 2 m long and has no depth. The 1996 cave day tour guide repeats the description found in the 1991 guidebook that generally presents the Oszoly caves.

On June 6, 1997, based on József Kárpát's 1990 Oszoly overview map, Sándor Kraus drew a site plan showing the geographic location of the caves in the D part of the Oszoly rock groups. The geographic position of the Delagó-rook caves can be seen on the drawing. In Sándor Kraus's 1997 report it is readable that the Delagó-rook caves, known before 1997, already had a map before 1997. The 1997 site plan was included in the report. The book *Magyar hegyisport és turista enciklopédia* published in 2005 mentions that in the Oszoly forest rock blocks and small cave openings alternate sporadically. At the KvVM Cave and Geological Department there is a floor‑plan map depicting the cave with a cross‑section, drawn at a scale of 1:100. The map does not show the creator's name nor the date of its creation.