GURU gSANG PHUG 1
28.676100,83.594400
Description
NOTE 1: The vertical cavers expected a pothole cave and were frustrated when an inclined cave gallery was meant, which, though being not only the largest of the caves at this site but the Guru gGsang Phug proper, they did not enter anyhow because they declared that this easy 3 m free-climb up requires a »short ladder to get into it« (COWARD 1971c: 68-69). It is here, where stones rolling down across the inlined ramp forming the cave floor do take a more or less "long time" --depending on how many stalgmites they hit on the bumpy, 25 m long way down to the entrance. NOTE 2: If I am not mistaken, the »slate engraved with the Buddha« (RUBINSTEIN 1986b: 14) is one of the two slabs of schist engraved with a slate pencil (stylus). One slab depicts Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava and the other shows the magic religious formula om mani peme hum in Tibetan characters.
The bottom half of the cave passage seems to be filled with secondary calcite deposits. To enter the inner cave, one has to climb up three metres. The solitary, half-tube passage starts 10 m wide and 3 m high and continues ascending at an angle of 50° for a distance of 25 m to a calcite choke. The entire surface of the cave walls and the cave floor is covered with secondary calcite deposits. Where the cave closes down at the top of the only passage, a small calcite pillar attracts pious visitors who had in March 1993 not only brought two engraved slabs of schist, one showing Guru Padmasambhava and the other the Tibeten characters om mani peme hum, but also had left and minor ritual paraphernalia (used butter lamps, burned incense, small-change coins). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971a: The British Karst Research Expedition to the Himalaya 1970 (edited 1971 by WALTHAM) learned from one of the caves (no names mentioned) located at an unidentified (COWARD 1971a: 35) somewhere »south of Tukche near Larjung … that stones take a "long time" to reach the bottom« (note 1). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971b: »One cave [Guru gSang Phug Meditation Cave] needed a short ladder to get into it [ha! ha! ha!], and [another cave, i.e. –>Gur Gsang Phug Stream Cave] led to a 50 foot [an estimated 15 m] long decorated stream passage …« (COWARD 1971c: 68-69). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1986: »Following a small trail to the right of Guru Sangee One [i.e. –>Guru gSang Phug "Stream Cave"], we come to Guru Sangee Two. From here, the trail leads further to the waterfall. Guru Sangee Two is a sloped (about twenty-five degree) flat-floored tube with an offset apex. It is about one hundred feet long and twenty five feet wide. Again everything is coated with a thick, gray [coloured] flowstone. There is no stream here, but from the ceiling a constant rain falls. The floor is cemented over mud piles. There are no real stalagmites or stalactites more than a few centimeters long, but there are, hanging from the ceiling, pendulums of cemented mud with occasional cobble stones sticking out. In the back of the cave is a large column. Next to it, laid out on a board, was an apple, some oil lamps, incense and a rupee [coin]. Set behind the board, wrapped in a decaying praying scarf [kata], was a slate engraved with the Buddha [note 2]« (RUBINSTEIN 1986b: 14). CAVE LIFE: MARTENS, J (1982: Opiliones aus dem Nepal-Himalaya V: Gyantinae, Arachnida) provides taxonomical descriptions of daddy-long-legs (Arachnida: Phalangiidae: Opiliones) including Gyoides rivorum n. sp. (pages 336-339), of which three paratypes (2 male, 1 female) had been collected on »10.XI.1969« (probably 10th November 1969) from a location called »Gurushangmu Höhle, 2930 m asl« --most likely the –>Guru gSang Phug "Meditation Cave" (mere guesswork).
Documents
Bibliography 24/07/2016- Coward, Julian M H 1971a, 1971c.
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1935: Sangs rgyas bZangs po (born 1894, s.a. Fols. 50b/1-55a/3) visited the site (EHRHARD 1998: 7).1938, autumn: Sangs rgyas bZangs po (s.a. Fols. 50b/1-55a/3) visited the site again (EHRHARD 1998: 8). 1969.11.10: Jochen MARTENS (1981 published 1982: 336-3391970, late October: Members of the British Karst Research Expedition to the Himalaya 1970 attempted to visit (WALTHAM 1971f: 59) but refrained from clambering the easy 3 m free-climb up to the cave entrance proper, which was inexplicably declared to need »a short ladder to get into it.« 1993 March 17: H. D. Gebauer and Georg Bäumler, unaware of needing a ladder, climed up and entered, mapped, explored and photographed.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | GURU gSANG PHUG 3: dry cave | ||
| 0.0 | GURU gSANG PHUG 4: dwar | ||
| 0.0 | GURU gSANG PHUG 2: stream cave | ||
| 0.0 | GURU gSANG PHUG 5: tufa cave | ||
| 1.2 | KOKETHANTI (Cave at) | ||
| 3.4 | GHHOUBRA GOMPA | ||
| 5.0 | CHUKSANG CAVE | ||
| 5.0 | GOMPA U | ||
| 5.0 | PYUNG KYU U |