Hello UK Caving!!! Our historically regular posts here have been a bit few and far between over the last couple of years, so we’re using this competition as a great excuse to update you all on the ongoing explorations in the longest cave system in Slovenia. The last couple of years have been particularly interesting and enormous fun to be a part of 
Firstly, let's get on to the history of our expedition...
Migovec, in all its glory (Photo by Ben Richards, this one is my laptop background)
History
For a full history of the expedition, and many great tales, we would encourage you to read “the Hollow Mountain series” - here on our website.
52 years ago, in 1974, Migovec was first explored by members of the JSPDT (the local Slovene caving club). For the next 20 years, they spent whatever time they had - often whole weekends without sleep - descending the many shakeholes that are to be found on the plateau. Within this period they pushed their main lead, M16, to over 550m deep, discovering Galaktika. At over 100m tall, and 200m wide Galaktika is still, to this day, the System's largest chamber. Though several hundred meters of M16 were surveyed, few connections were made, and Migovec’s discoveries had little to offer in the world of Slovenian caving.
In 1994, Imperial College Caving Club started looking for somewhere to start an expedition. After visiting the Italian Alps near the Slovenian border the previous year, several young members were curious about the region. Despite permitting and access issues across the Slovenian Alps, the JSPDT welcomed ICCC with open arms with a (now legendary) invitational postcard. This was the start of a great friendship between the two clubs that is as strong as ever today. Over the years we have worked hard to put System Migovec on the map. Now at over 47km, it is officially Slovenia's longest cave!
Further key dates and discoveries are:
1996 - Members of ICCC connected M2, M16, and M18, what we now call “the Old System”. This was the first section to reach >950m deep.
2000 - A surface dig broke through to form Vrtnarija, or “Gardener's World”. In a matter of weeks this was pushed to 400m deep. The following winter, members of the JSPDT found another cave, this time on the cliff face: "Primadona". The Migovec plateau now had three separate systems.
2012 - After many years of targeted exploration in Vrtnarija, a connection was finally made to the Old System. This pushed our system to being the longest cave in Slovenia, beating the well-known Postonjska Jama system, and holding the record ever since.
2015 - Members of the JSPDT connected Primadona to Vrtnarija and the Old System via another cave called Mona Tip.
2020 - Despite a certain virus preventing our expedition, a member of ICCC and some members of the JSPDT found a new cave, north of the mountain "Kuk", which separates the Migovec Plateau from the rest of the mountain chain. This was named Brezo Pod Vhrom Planje, after the nearby peak. This has since been pushed to >300m, and hopes are high that it will connect to the deep sections of the system. Should it do so, the system’s total depth will be pushed to over 1km!!
2022 - the annual summer expedition returns after Covid!
2024, Pol Stoletja - 100 years after the formation of the Triglav national park (within which Migovec is situated), 50 years after the first JSPDT members set foot in the system, and 30 years after the first ICCC members first ventured into the mountain. A truly momentous year! Within, many of the leads from 2023 were pushed. The most notable trip of this year was within the Primadona system, where an unpromising, wet, and chossy lead was pushed to discover "Sparkle Highway". Here, a spacious, broken down, streamway was followed for 200m to a ledge which disappeared into darkness. Many rocks were thrown, and much to the team's surprise, a 95m shaft lay beyond! "My Little Pitch", descending by the following team, is one of the System's tallest pitches. After a year of incredible discoveries, the expedition ended with an enormous anniversary party, attended by many of the expedition's founding members and even the British ambassador to Slovenia!
My Little Pitch (Photo by Ben Richards)
2025, Nova Meja - Following last year's discoveries, a new, deeper camp was needed! Led by the then President (who happened to also study Mechanical Engineering and loves to sew), we began plans for an ambitious new camp. Our hand forced by a scarcity of water sources and no flat surfaces, the club turned to hammocks. Placed at the entrance to Sparkle Highway, the aptly named "Camp Sparkle" was a massive hit amongst the visiting teams. At 650m deep it allowed us to push below -850m in leads beyond the bottom of My Little Pitch, and get a good night’s sleep before the arduous 6h return to the surface.
Sparkle Camp (Photo by Ben Richards)
Despite the new camp, a large number of novices forced interests towards shallower leads. A handful of trips visited the neighbouring Planja, and several teams made use of the previous year's shallower camp to visit the rediscovered "Salome Viados". Originally found in 2006, many teams have tried and failed to find the supposed “enormous chamber” of Salome Viados, causing it to become a myth that few suspected could live up to its supposedly enormous proportions. However, nearly 20 years later a team finally recovered the route in, and found the chamber to be even larger than the survey suggested!
2026 - Polna Moč - This year, we are aiming to once again visit Camp Sparkle, Salome Viados, and explore a number of surface shake holes. Currently ~25 people have signed up, and for many of whom this will be their first ever expedition!
Last year, with multiple trips focused on the old/new lead "Salome Viados", many (many) new leads were discovered both on the way, and within the final chamber. These are going to be a major project to push on the expedition, as they are close to the cliff-side of the mountain, which in turn has been theorised to have a higher possibility of deeper leads (hopefully pushing us past 1km deep!!). Going up and down here may prove very successful…
In addition, a lead found in 2024, just above the current Sparkle camp, is both ongoing and very accessible. The primary aim here is to push two fronts - one a beautiful waterfall and lake, the other a small downwards squeeze, with both fronts within 100m of the current camp. Both leads appear to follow a new waterway, almost completely ignored last year.
Finally, multiple surface leads are very promising, including a new dig half-way up the mountain, a going, un-bolted cave near the mountain of Kuk, and the slowly-going but ever exciting lead of Planja.
How the expedition runs
As one of few UK student clubs to still run their own expedition to the same location each year, we rely heavily on both external funding from the Ghar Parau Foundation, and some internal funding from our own student's union. We consistently have one of the highest proportions of undergraduate student cavers of any international caving expedition, and while we’re of course always excited to discover new cave, our primary aim is always to train the next generation of expeditionary caving leaders. Keeping the price of the expedition as low as possible is therefore one of our main focusses, and support to individuals from the Alex Pitcher award, as well as historical support from UK Caving has directly helped keep expeditionary caving as accessible as possible to students.
As part of this mission we are always welcoming cavers from other universities - in recent years we have welcomed cavers from Bangor, Sheffield, UCL, KCL, Nottingham, SOAS (and others I’ve forgotten about!). We even have a caver from OUCC who loves our expedition so much they’ve now moved to Tolmin! This year we are excited to welcome cavers from Durham on their first ever caving expedition. Do get in touch if you’re interested in being involved in 2027
The Union Minibus
We usually spend the whole academic year planning the expedition or at the very least just talking about how much fun we had and what we want to get done on the next one.
At the end of our summer term (usually the last week of June), we set off in a union minibus from London, packed full with 9 people and mind-bending volumes of kit. We then undertake the ~27 hour drive across most of Europe, eventually arriving at about noon the next day. Here, we unpack the minibus at the bottom of the mountain in the village townhall, and begin the walk up to the top. Throughout the expedition, we set up our "bivi" at the top of the plateau, with solar-panels for power, 6 rain-collecting barrels, and many many tarps. This year, we are running the expedition from the 27th June to the 2nd August.
All in all, the expedition continues to be great fun, 53 years since its beginnings, and with countless leads left to explore both deep and shallow! Rope from UKCaving would go towards the exploration of our lead by Sparkle camp, “Loosely Horsey” and the many leads around Salome Viados.
Sadly, this survey is very hard to incorporate due to being over 48km in length and 1km in depth! Green is the older M2-M16-M18 system, Yellow is the newer Vrtnrija sytem, and Pink is the newest Primadona system.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next post here in this thread of ICCC's Slovenia Expedition 2026: Polna Moč!
Firstly, let's get on to the history of our expedition...
Migovec, in all its glory (Photo by Ben Richards, this one is my laptop background)
History
For a full history of the expedition, and many great tales, we would encourage you to read “the Hollow Mountain series” - here on our website.
52 years ago, in 1974, Migovec was first explored by members of the JSPDT (the local Slovene caving club). For the next 20 years, they spent whatever time they had - often whole weekends without sleep - descending the many shakeholes that are to be found on the plateau. Within this period they pushed their main lead, M16, to over 550m deep, discovering Galaktika. At over 100m tall, and 200m wide Galaktika is still, to this day, the System's largest chamber. Though several hundred meters of M16 were surveyed, few connections were made, and Migovec’s discoveries had little to offer in the world of Slovenian caving.
In 1994, Imperial College Caving Club started looking for somewhere to start an expedition. After visiting the Italian Alps near the Slovenian border the previous year, several young members were curious about the region. Despite permitting and access issues across the Slovenian Alps, the JSPDT welcomed ICCC with open arms with a (now legendary) invitational postcard. This was the start of a great friendship between the two clubs that is as strong as ever today. Over the years we have worked hard to put System Migovec on the map. Now at over 47km, it is officially Slovenia's longest cave!
Further key dates and discoveries are:
1996 - Members of ICCC connected M2, M16, and M18, what we now call “the Old System”. This was the first section to reach >950m deep.
2000 - A surface dig broke through to form Vrtnarija, or “Gardener's World”. In a matter of weeks this was pushed to 400m deep. The following winter, members of the JSPDT found another cave, this time on the cliff face: "Primadona". The Migovec plateau now had three separate systems.
2012 - After many years of targeted exploration in Vrtnarija, a connection was finally made to the Old System. This pushed our system to being the longest cave in Slovenia, beating the well-known Postonjska Jama system, and holding the record ever since.
2015 - Members of the JSPDT connected Primadona to Vrtnarija and the Old System via another cave called Mona Tip.
2020 - Despite a certain virus preventing our expedition, a member of ICCC and some members of the JSPDT found a new cave, north of the mountain "Kuk", which separates the Migovec Plateau from the rest of the mountain chain. This was named Brezo Pod Vhrom Planje, after the nearby peak. This has since been pushed to >300m, and hopes are high that it will connect to the deep sections of the system. Should it do so, the system’s total depth will be pushed to over 1km!!
2022 - the annual summer expedition returns after Covid!
2024, Pol Stoletja - 100 years after the formation of the Triglav national park (within which Migovec is situated), 50 years after the first JSPDT members set foot in the system, and 30 years after the first ICCC members first ventured into the mountain. A truly momentous year! Within, many of the leads from 2023 were pushed. The most notable trip of this year was within the Primadona system, where an unpromising, wet, and chossy lead was pushed to discover "Sparkle Highway". Here, a spacious, broken down, streamway was followed for 200m to a ledge which disappeared into darkness. Many rocks were thrown, and much to the team's surprise, a 95m shaft lay beyond! "My Little Pitch", descending by the following team, is one of the System's tallest pitches. After a year of incredible discoveries, the expedition ended with an enormous anniversary party, attended by many of the expedition's founding members and even the British ambassador to Slovenia!
My Little Pitch (Photo by Ben Richards)
2025, Nova Meja - Following last year's discoveries, a new, deeper camp was needed! Led by the then President (who happened to also study Mechanical Engineering and loves to sew), we began plans for an ambitious new camp. Our hand forced by a scarcity of water sources and no flat surfaces, the club turned to hammocks. Placed at the entrance to Sparkle Highway, the aptly named "Camp Sparkle" was a massive hit amongst the visiting teams. At 650m deep it allowed us to push below -850m in leads beyond the bottom of My Little Pitch, and get a good night’s sleep before the arduous 6h return to the surface.
Sparkle Camp (Photo by Ben Richards)
Despite the new camp, a large number of novices forced interests towards shallower leads. A handful of trips visited the neighbouring Planja, and several teams made use of the previous year's shallower camp to visit the rediscovered "Salome Viados". Originally found in 2006, many teams have tried and failed to find the supposed “enormous chamber” of Salome Viados, causing it to become a myth that few suspected could live up to its supposedly enormous proportions. However, nearly 20 years later a team finally recovered the route in, and found the chamber to be even larger than the survey suggested!
2026 - Polna Moč - This year, we are aiming to once again visit Camp Sparkle, Salome Viados, and explore a number of surface shake holes. Currently ~25 people have signed up, and for many of whom this will be their first ever expedition!
Last year, with multiple trips focused on the old/new lead "Salome Viados", many (many) new leads were discovered both on the way, and within the final chamber. These are going to be a major project to push on the expedition, as they are close to the cliff-side of the mountain, which in turn has been theorised to have a higher possibility of deeper leads (hopefully pushing us past 1km deep!!). Going up and down here may prove very successful…
In addition, a lead found in 2024, just above the current Sparkle camp, is both ongoing and very accessible. The primary aim here is to push two fronts - one a beautiful waterfall and lake, the other a small downwards squeeze, with both fronts within 100m of the current camp. Both leads appear to follow a new waterway, almost completely ignored last year.
Finally, multiple surface leads are very promising, including a new dig half-way up the mountain, a going, un-bolted cave near the mountain of Kuk, and the slowly-going but ever exciting lead of Planja.
How the expedition runs
As one of few UK student clubs to still run their own expedition to the same location each year, we rely heavily on both external funding from the Ghar Parau Foundation, and some internal funding from our own student's union. We consistently have one of the highest proportions of undergraduate student cavers of any international caving expedition, and while we’re of course always excited to discover new cave, our primary aim is always to train the next generation of expeditionary caving leaders. Keeping the price of the expedition as low as possible is therefore one of our main focusses, and support to individuals from the Alex Pitcher award, as well as historical support from UK Caving has directly helped keep expeditionary caving as accessible as possible to students.
As part of this mission we are always welcoming cavers from other universities - in recent years we have welcomed cavers from Bangor, Sheffield, UCL, KCL, Nottingham, SOAS (and others I’ve forgotten about!). We even have a caver from OUCC who loves our expedition so much they’ve now moved to Tolmin! This year we are excited to welcome cavers from Durham on their first ever caving expedition. Do get in touch if you’re interested in being involved in 2027
The Union Minibus
We usually spend the whole academic year planning the expedition or at the very least just talking about how much fun we had and what we want to get done on the next one.
At the end of our summer term (usually the last week of June), we set off in a union minibus from London, packed full with 9 people and mind-bending volumes of kit. We then undertake the ~27 hour drive across most of Europe, eventually arriving at about noon the next day. Here, we unpack the minibus at the bottom of the mountain in the village townhall, and begin the walk up to the top. Throughout the expedition, we set up our "bivi" at the top of the plateau, with solar-panels for power, 6 rain-collecting barrels, and many many tarps. This year, we are running the expedition from the 27th June to the 2nd August.
All in all, the expedition continues to be great fun, 53 years since its beginnings, and with countless leads left to explore both deep and shallow! Rope from UKCaving would go towards the exploration of our lead by Sparkle camp, “Loosely Horsey” and the many leads around Salome Viados.
Sadly, this survey is very hard to incorporate due to being over 48km in length and 1km in depth! Green is the older M2-M16-M18 system, Yellow is the newer Vrtnrija sytem, and Pink is the newest Primadona system.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next post here in this thread of ICCC's Slovenia Expedition 2026: Polna Moč!
