Ed W
Member
Just spent a week looking at some of the lava tubes on Mount Etna. Managed to visit about half a dozen or so of the 200+ that have been recorded. Caves visited were;
Grotta di Ladri, which is signposted (sometimes as Grotta Ladroni) from the road. It is only an 80m walk from the car, but the cave is only about 50m or so long. Many adventure companies take paying guests down here for a pretty uninspiring experience. The cave has some interest however, as it wa smodified in the past to turn it into an ice store. This involved driving a series of shafts into the roof of the cave, and carving steps into the steep entrance slope.
Grotta di Cassone is unbelievably even more conveniently located, possibly the shortest walk from the car of any cave I have ever visited;
The cave consists of about 200m or so of pleasant large passage upflow to a seal and a short unstable choke below the road down flow. Again tourist companies take adventure tours down this cave - bythe coach load! We declined a visit to the nearby Grotta del Coniglio due to the amount of refuse tipped in it by picnickers from the nearby parking spot.
Grotta dei Lamponi is a bit more remote. Requiring about a 1.5 to 2 hour walk in. Either along a forested track, or across the 2003 lavas from Piano Provenzana. This lava flow caused quite a lot of damage;
The walk is worth it, as the cave is a fine braided tube with about 700m of passage. Plans to visit the nearby Grotta dei Inglesi (Cave of the English) and Grotta del Labarinto as the weather broke and we hurried back to avoid the worst of the storm.
After taking the cable car to the top of Etna, we visited a couple of caves on the western side of the mountain. Grott dell'Intralio is named after a small hill and is again located close to the road. Interesting cave, with several branches and a small shrine in one end. Grotta del Santo (aka Grotta San Nicolo), the entrance lies about 800m from the car, and contains a shrine to the local saint (hence the name). Apparently there is nearly a kilometer of passage in this complex cave. Most of the passages are low and there are lots of bats.
The final trip we did is perhaps the best that we saw. Grotta dei Tre Livelli (cave of the three levels) is 304m deep, and 1150m long. Again the entrance is right next to the road, and a 25ft ladder and line is needed for the 6m pitch just inside. A short bit of tat (5-10m) is useful as a handline below the pitch. The cave leads both up and downflow from the bottom of the pitch. Downflow is fine large passage for about 400m to a lava seal, with one low section er route. Upflow leads under teh upper entrance (no exit without tackle) then to a low section followed by a remarkable sttep slope, which is tiring to ascend as the floor is loose scoria. This gets ever steeper until the final seal is reached. This is a fine cave!
Grotta di Ladri, which is signposted (sometimes as Grotta Ladroni) from the road. It is only an 80m walk from the car, but the cave is only about 50m or so long. Many adventure companies take paying guests down here for a pretty uninspiring experience. The cave has some interest however, as it wa smodified in the past to turn it into an ice store. This involved driving a series of shafts into the roof of the cave, and carving steps into the steep entrance slope.
Grotta di Cassone is unbelievably even more conveniently located, possibly the shortest walk from the car of any cave I have ever visited;
The cave consists of about 200m or so of pleasant large passage upflow to a seal and a short unstable choke below the road down flow. Again tourist companies take adventure tours down this cave - bythe coach load! We declined a visit to the nearby Grotta del Coniglio due to the amount of refuse tipped in it by picnickers from the nearby parking spot.
Grotta dei Lamponi is a bit more remote. Requiring about a 1.5 to 2 hour walk in. Either along a forested track, or across the 2003 lavas from Piano Provenzana. This lava flow caused quite a lot of damage;
The walk is worth it, as the cave is a fine braided tube with about 700m of passage. Plans to visit the nearby Grotta dei Inglesi (Cave of the English) and Grotta del Labarinto as the weather broke and we hurried back to avoid the worst of the storm.
After taking the cable car to the top of Etna, we visited a couple of caves on the western side of the mountain. Grott dell'Intralio is named after a small hill and is again located close to the road. Interesting cave, with several branches and a small shrine in one end. Grotta del Santo (aka Grotta San Nicolo), the entrance lies about 800m from the car, and contains a shrine to the local saint (hence the name). Apparently there is nearly a kilometer of passage in this complex cave. Most of the passages are low and there are lots of bats.
The final trip we did is perhaps the best that we saw. Grotta dei Tre Livelli (cave of the three levels) is 304m deep, and 1150m long. Again the entrance is right next to the road, and a 25ft ladder and line is needed for the 6m pitch just inside. A short bit of tat (5-10m) is useful as a handline below the pitch. The cave leads both up and downflow from the bottom of the pitch. Downflow is fine large passage for about 400m to a lava seal, with one low section er route. Upflow leads under teh upper entrance (no exit without tackle) then to a low section followed by a remarkable sttep slope, which is tiring to ascend as the floor is loose scoria. This gets ever steeper until the final seal is reached. This is a fine cave!
