Abisso del Monte Gaia

Descending into darkness, we find ourselves before the Abisso del Monte Gaia. This isn’t just a hole in the ground. It’s a portal to another world, a world beneath our feet. The Abisso del Monte Gaia, also known as the Abisso del Diavolo (Devil’s Abyss), sits on the eastern slope of Monte Concusso. It’s a mere 1800 meters east-southeast of the church of Basovizza. Don’t let the somewhat ominous name scare you. While it has seen tragedy, the Abisso del Monte Gaia holds a captivating history. Its story begins in 1898 when its existence first came to light. In 1912, an Austrian soldier, driven by a reckless spirit, attempted to descend the abyss using knotted ropes. This daring, but ill-prepared, attempt ended in tragedy. The abyss itself is a marvel of nature. Imagine a rounded entrance, a dolina over 10 meters in diameter. On its south side, bare rock forms natural steps leading down into the earth. This dolina deepens, morphing into a vertical shaft that plunges deep into the earth. The main shaft narrows at 7 meters, resembling a funnel before opening into a vast chasm. Imagine yourself 30 meters down. You’d see where another shaft, P6, merges with the main pozzo (P121). At 90 meters, the walls close in around a natural bridge above a tantalizingly unreachable fissure. Another natural bridge appears ten meters below. Then, at 110 meters, the walls constrict before flaring outwards to the bottom of the shaft, over 120 meters down. A cone of debris slopes down on either side, leading, on the western side, to the cave wall and, on the eastern side, to a gallery over 30 meters long. This gallery descends to the abyss’s deepest point, 125 meters down, before ascending sharply for over 10 meters to a chimney-like bifurcation. The Abisso del Monte Gaia isn’t a single, simple shaft. It’s a complex network. A new branch was discovered in 1981, accessed through a portal 7 meters high and 1.5 meters wide, partially blocked by a natural bridge. This branch boasts a morphology shaped by diaclases, with walls converging upwards. Explorations continued in 1985, with climbers and explorers using pendulums to reach new chimneys and windows, extending the cave’s known length to 210 meters. More was revealed in 1988. An extensive chimney, at the end of the 1981 branch, was fully ascended. It rises a total of 36 meters and at 25 meters up houses a beautifully decorated cavern. The Abisso del Monte Gaia continues to whisper secrets to those who dare to listen, inviting us to explore the mysteries hidden beneath the surface.