Vaskapui Bivak Cave

The Vaskapui Bivak Cave is one of the caves located in Pilisszentkereszt in the Pilis Mountains of the Danube–Ipoly National Park. The cave is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

The Vaskapui Bivak Cave is located in the outskirts of Pilisszentkereszt, in a specially protected area. The 16 m long cave is situated 10 m east of the Great Rock Gate of the Vaskapu rock. The cave, formed in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone under phreatic conditions, has two entrances, but the passage between the entrances is blocked by an impassable stalactite narrowing. The cave’s almost horizontal, comfortably walkable corridor is decorated with corrosion microforms and cold-water pea stones. The cave is completely dry, filled with leaf litter, humus and a small amount of rock debris. The cave provides a comfortable bivouac place for 3–5 people, which is regularly used by rock climbers who often visit the area. The easily accessible cave can be entered without a permit using basic caving equipment.

In 1990 the cave was first called Vaskapui Bivak Cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Bivak Cave (Kraus 1997) and Vaskapui Fox‑hole (Kárpát 1990).

Research History

In the book published in 1913 titled Pilisszentkereszt and its surroundings it is written that at the base of the larger gate of Vaskapu there is a cavity widening inward, which could serve as good shelter against weather conditions (perhaps even at night). In the 1931 issue of Turisták Lapja, in a study written by Imre Gábor Bekey, it is mentioned that after the excavation of the Csévi Cave, further prehistoric research in the other caves of the Pilis Mountains no longer seemed reasonable. This is not the case for the small cave under the two openings of Vaskapu, because it is only a cave of geographical interest. According to the manuscript written by Ottokár Kadić and completed in 1952, a narrow, winding fox‑hole leads from the interior of the great gate of Vaskapu into the mountain.

The 1967 publication titled Pilis útikalauz mentions that at the base of the larger opening of the Vaskapu rock gate there is a small side chamber. The 1974 book also titled Pilis útikalauz repeats the reference to Vaskapui Bivak Cave found in the 1967 guide. The manuscript compiled by Bertalan Károly and completed in 1976 states that at the foot of the lower gate of Vaskapu in Pilisszentkereszt there is a small cave. In December 1989 József Kárpát, Gábor Gyombolai and Marianna Madár measured the cave, and using the survey the floor plan map and cross‑section map of Vaskapui Bivak Cave were produced. The maps present the cave at a scale of 1:100. The floor‑plan map shows the location of the cross‑section within the cave. The map indicates the east‑west direction.

According to the manuscript written by József Kárpát in 1990, the entrance of Vaskapui Bivak Cave (Pilisszentkereszt) is located 10 m to the D direction from the Great Rock Gate (Vaskapu), at the foot of a roughly 20 m high rock wall. The practically horizontal cave is 8 m long. It was formed in Dachstein limestone and consists of a right‑angled, comfortably walkable passage that turns to the right, whose walls are decorated with cold‑water‑origin pea‑stones and corrosion‑origin micro‑forms. The completely dry cave is filled with sand, humus and some rock debris. At the entrance of the cave a debris‑filled side chamber opens. Approximately 3–5 people can comfortably camp (bivouac) in it. The manuscript includes the maps of Vaskapui Bivak Cave made in 1989.

The Vaskapui Róka-lyuk (Pilisszentkereszt) has not been described until now. At the foot of the pillar of the Nagy-sziklakapu D this cave has its entrance, which is 1 m high and 0.6 m wide. It narrows into a slightly winding, 2.5 m long passage. The formation‑free, dry cavity is filled with leaf litter, humus and some rock debris. Its end approaches the end point of the Vaskapui Bivak cave, but passage is impossible because of the constriction in the stalactite and the filling.

The guidebook that appeared in 1991 repeats the reference to the Vaskapui Bivak cave found in the 1974 guidebook. In the compilation written by József Kárpát in 1991 it is mentioned that the Vaskapui Bivak cave (Pilisszentkereszt) is 8 m long and 0 m deep, and the Vaskapui Róka-lyuk (Pilisszentkereszt) is 3 m long and 0 m deep. On 4 May 1997 József Regős supplemented the floor‑plan map drawn in 1989.

In 1997 Sándor Kraus drew a site map showing the geographical location of the Vaskapu caves. The map shows the geographical location of the Vaskapui Bivak cave (Bivak cave). In Kraus’s 1997 report it reads that before 1997 there was already a map of the known, non‑independent and endangered Vaskapui Bivak cave. The 1997 site map was included in the report. The 2005 publication titled *Magyar hegyisport és turista enciklopédia* mentions that the Hungarian Mountaineering Instructors Association placed a small copper plate in memory of Álmos Elsik at a ledge crossing the middle of the climbing route that runs along the edge of the wall, to the left of the Bivak cave, in the Vaskapu rock‑climbing school in the Pilis Mountains.