Excelsior Cave

The Excelsior rock cavity is a cave located in the Pilis Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in the Oszoly area. Rock climbers regularly use it for bivouac. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

In the outskirts of Csobánka, under the Oszoly Excelsior wall, 5 m from the K. Gy. fissure, the cave is situated with a 2 m wide and 1.5 m high entrance facing south. Its entrance is very easy to find because it is next to the path leading to the Óra wall.

The cave formed in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone, whose loose limestone debris fills it. In the completely horizontal passage floor, a frozen, corrosion cavity, spherical dissolution forms can be observed. It is an excellent bivouac site for 3–4 persons, often used, but shows no signs of damage except for a few scribbles. It is probably kept clean by the climbers who practice and bivouac there.

In 1974 the cave was first called Excelsior rock cavity in the literature. In the literature it also occurs as Bivak-cave (Neidenbach, Pusztay 2005), Bivak-hole (Kraus 1997), Bivak-hole (Kordos 1971), E. 1. cave (Kordos 1984), E.1. cave (Kordos 1971), E.1.-cave (Kordos 1975), Excelsior-cave (Kordos 1981), Excelsior-wall rock cavity (Bertalan 1976), Excelsior wall rock cavity (Kordos 1971), Excelsior-wall cavity (Kraus 1997), Excelsior rock cavity at the rock (Kraus 1997), Excelsior rock cavity at the rock (Kordos 1971), Excelsior rock cavity (Kordos 1971), Excelsior-cavity (Kárpát 1990) and O.II. (Kordos 1971).

Research history

According to the 1929 Tourist Magazine, it is highly recommended that everyone who visits Oszoly on a half‑day hike, or the Delago cave, or uses the small opening next to the Excelsior wall for sleeping or shelter, should do so. The latter was also prepared at that time by three members of the MTE Climbing and Caving Section, namely Árpád Czeglédy, László Czeglédy and Elemér Nagy. In 1943 István Venkovits surveyed the cave with a lost point, and also drew a floor plan map and a length‑section map, which were produced at a scale of 1:25. In the 1967 book Pilis guidebook, it was reported that on the Ny‑i side facing Oszoly Csobánka, among the forest‑surrounded limestone rocks, several insignificant cavities can be found.

In 1968 László Kordos made a colour slide on which the cave is recorded. In 1969 Sándor Dunai surveyed the cave with fixed points and a mining compass. Based on the survey László Kordos produced a 1:100 scale floor‑plan map with a cross‑section and a longitudinal‑section map. According to the survey the cave is 3.2 m long and 1.8 m deep. According to the communiqué published in the 1969 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin, in August 1969 the Speleology Cave Research Group placed fixed points in the Kevélyek during a camp, in the Oszoly and in the eight smaller‑larger chambers of the Oszoly side. In 1970 László Kordos and Péter Welker examined the cave’s climate with an Assmann‑type aspirating psychrometer.

The Speleology Cave Research Group’s 1970 report contains a detailed description of the cave and its research history. The report states that at the Oszoly collapse, under the Excelsior wall, about 5 m from the K. Gy. fissure is the entrance of the Bivak‑hole (E.1. cave, Excelsior rock cavity, cave at the Excelsior rock, Excelsior wall rock cavity, O.II.). The completely dry cave consists of a single flat chamber. The cave’s upper part formed in Triassic, white, compact, thick‑bedded Dachstein limestone, probably due to thermal water. Its infill is loess and decayed limestone debris. In 1929 Elemér Nagy mentioned the way to it. The new rock‑climbing site, the Excelsior wall, was named by Árpád Czeglédy, László Czeglédy and Elemér Nagy.

The cavity beneath it was enlarged, made suitable for bivouac, and was probably designated E.1. In 1943 the TTE speleologists excavated and mapped it. In 1969 István Szenthe, and in 1970 members of the Speleology Cave Exploration Group examined it. Rock climbers regularly use it for bivouac. No equipment is required to view the cave. At the end of the manuscript section describing the cave, seven literary works mentioning the cave are listed. The annex to the report 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 and Visegrád Mountains are the Oszoly caves and the Excelsior rock cavity. According to the section describing the Pilis Mountains caves, there are about a dozen small caves among the Oszoly rocks rising above Csobánka. These were mapped and regularly explored by the Speleology Cave Exploration Group. Most of these small caves are not very spectacular, but they should be mentioned because some of them provide excellent bivouac possibilities in the Oszoly rock walls regularly visited by tourists, especially rock climbers, and near them. The Excelsior rock cavity was mapped by the TTE speleologists in 1943. The rock cavity is located under the Excelsior wall of the Oszoly collapse, consists of a single chamber and is regularly used for bivouac.

The part of the 1970 report concerning the cave, together with the maps contained in the report, was published in the 1975 MKBT Report. In the compilation, Excelsior rock cavity, E.1.-cave, cave at Excelsior rock, Bivouac-hole and Excelsior wall rock cavity are the name variants.