Scheukofen

Scheukofen
Location:	Salzburg , Austria
Height :	740 m above sea level A.
Geographic ; location:	47 ° 31 '38.9 " N , 13 ° 9' 25.4" E Coordinates: 47 ° 31 '38.9 " N , 13 ° 9' 25.4" E
Cadastral number:	1335/4
Overall length:	1400 m
Level difference:	120 m

The Scheukofen is one of the longest known caves in the Hagen Mountains in the state of Salzburg , Austria .

It is about 1400 m long and has a total height difference of 120 m. The approximately 20 m wide and 5 m high entrance portal is located at an altitude of 740 m above sea level near Sulzau south of the Lueg Pass . When the flood is extremely strong, a torrent rises from the cave portal.

The Scheukofen is a specially protected cave according to the Salzburg Nature Conservation Act.

Surname

The name “Scheuk-Ofen” probably comes from “shy” (“scare away”) and then referred to the uncanny that a cave conveyed to people in earlier times. Oven is another name for rock formations. In Salzburg some caves have “oven” instead of “cave” in their name.

History and exploration

In earlier centuries the cave was often visited by treasure hunters, some of whom had to lose their lives, as oral tradition among the locals tells us, and skeleton finds were also shown until the end of the 19th century. The first dated visits were made at the beginning of the 19th century by Franz Michael Vierthaler , on August 28, 1801 Archduke Johann visited the cave. The Scheukofen has been a popular destination for cave tourists for several decades, which is why the cave is one of the most heavily polluted with civilization garbage. The rich sintered jewelry that existed earlier has also been largely destroyed.

The Scheukofen lies on the layer boundary between dolomite and Dachstein limestone . Due to this promising location, the Salzburg cave explorers tried again and again to wrest further secrets from the Scheukofen. When attempting to dive the Großer See , a siphon lake , which for a long time formed an end point of the cave, two cave divers from the Salzburg Association for Speleology, Leopold Wiener and Günther Hackl, died on April 12, 1975. As a result, a powerful suction system was installed in order to be able to cross the "Great Lake" safely in the future. After about 600 m of new ground, however, it was over again. For security reasons, the cave in front of the Great Lake was cordoned off. However, since this was repeatedly broken open by unauthorized persons, the Salzburg Cave Association was forced to dismantle the suction system. The part of the Scheukofens on the other side of the large lake is now one of the "specially protected" caves and may no longer be entered without permission from the state government.

Web links

Scheukofen. In: troglophil. Retrieved November 16, 2014 (images).

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Erwin Angermayer-Rebenberg: On the history of speleology and cave research in Salzburg . 1950, p. 190–191 ( online [PDF; accessed November 16, 2014]).
↑ Franz Lindenmayr: The Scheukofen accident - 25 years ago ... "Report from a trip to the Scheukofen / Hagen Mountains on April 12, 1975". In: Man and Cave. 2000, archived from the original on June 4, 2008 ; accessed on June 28, 2012 (Austrian German).

[Angermayer-1] A ^b Erwin Angermayer-Rebenberg: On the history of speleology and cave research in Salzburg . 1950, p. 190–191 ( online [PDF; accessed November 16, 2014]).

[Lindenmayr-2] Franz Lindenmayr: The Scheukofen accident - 25 years ago ... "Report from a trip to the Scheukofen / Hagen Mountains on April 12, 1975". In: Man and Cave. 2000, archived from the original on June 4, 2008 ; accessed on June 28, 2012 (Austrian German).