Raggejavreraige

Raggejavreraige is a cave located above the Hellemofjord (Tysfjord, Nordland) in northern Norway. It is the deepest cave in Scandinavia and the only deep cave north of the Arctic Circle.

Regional Setting

Generally the area is a vast plateau exceeding 700 m elevation above sea level that is incised by a steep-walled fjord. Within the impermeable rock are three two-dimensional stripes of marble that run from the top of the plateau to below sea level (the fjord is 450 m deep), and continue on the other side. Raggejavreraige is located on the south side of the fjord within the westernmost stripe. In places the cave occupies the entire width of the marble, which does not exceed 30 m.

Road access ends at the Arctic village of Drag (via Bodø), from which scheduled boat service is taken to the settlement of Musken. Accommodation at the local school and arrangements for trailhead drop-off and pickup by motor-boat can be arranged here. A stiff hike on a good trail gains 600 m of elevation to the upper entrance area.

Cave Description

Surface water atop the plateau sinks where it encounters the marble, but the accessible entrance to “RJR” is some 100 m away, a short distance above the shallow valley floor. This entrance is not particularly distinctive, but it’s strong, inward draught erases any doubt as to its identity. The cave consists of about 2 kilometres of passages that alternate between steep rifts or shafts and horizontal or low-slope passages. RJR’s dominant feature is the 152 m Storstupet (“Big Shaft”). All of the water falls down a parallel shaft only a few metres away; the Ulvgangen (“Wolf Walk”) traverse across the cascades at the mouth of this wet shaft to the dry Storstupet. A pulldown descent of Storstupet is complicated by its low angle (about 80 degrees), and many teams prefer to detackle this pitch from above. Halfway down Storstupet is a window connecting back with the wet shaft, so descending cavers can enjoy all of the sound and fury of the wet shaft in relative comfort. All of the water from the parallel shaft sinks into the floor at its bottom, and is not seen again in the cave.

RJR’s other major shaft is the impressive, 100 m Litlestupet (Little Shaft), reduced to 30 m by a partial bypass known as Knivgangen (Razor Passage). Unlike Storstupet, Litlestupet is dry, quiet and freehanging.

As there are three entrances, cavers conducting a through-trip from the upper entrance at 582 m above sealevel can exit the Mistral exit (80 m above sealevel) or the lowest exit (in a cliff a mere 3 m above sealevel).

Exploration

Norwegian geologist Steinar Foslie visited the RJR area in the late 1930s, and noted the presence of sinking streams resurging at sea level. In 1968 British caver David Heap of the Kendal Cave Club and Ulv Holbye (after whom Ulvgangen is named) led a school party to about –180 m partway down Storstupet, which was descended the next year by a KCC party on winch, completing exploration of most of the cave. The connection with the two lower entrances was made by a British team in 1979.

Doubts about the accuracy of the cave survey (stated depth was anywhere between 575 m and 630 m) led to a resurvey of most of the cave by Stein-Eric Lauritzen and others in 1991, which corrected the depth of the cave to 580 m (entrances at 582 m, 80 m and 3 m above sealevel, with the low point of the survey at 2 m above sealevel). The cave is known to resurge below sealevel.

References

*Heap, D. "Report of the British Speleological Expedition to Arctic Norway 1969, Incorporating the Work of 1968 Hulme School Expedition". Kendal Caving Club, 1969.
*Lauritzen, S-E et al "A New Survey of Raggejavre-Raigi and the Hellemofjord Karst, Norway ". Cave Science/BCRA vol 18 no 3 December 1991