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From the editors

It is our honour to present the special publication entitled "Polish caving 1997-2001". It is issued on the occasion of 13^th International Speleological Congress. The main target of the publication is to describe the main achievements of Polish caving that have been done throughout last five years.
There were many expeditions abroad. The Austrian Alps were traditionally the goal of numerous Polish teams. The most spectacular was linking PL-2 to Lamprechtsofen. In the effect Lamprechtsofen became the deepest cave in the world (see article by Ciszewski). Besides the Poles explored the Hohe Tauern and the Hoher Göll (see articles by Ciszewski and Recielski, Rysiecki and Wierzbowski and Bartoszewski). Some achievements were also done in the Tennengebirge. In the eastern part of the massif cavers from Żagań and Gorzów found several caves (see article by Furtak). The team of AKG Kraków (leader Marcin Krajewski) explored the southern part of the Tennengebirge massif in 1997. They pushed down Schnee Maria Höhle from -817 to -935 m. The Poles (team of STJ KW Kraków) explored also the Steinernes Meer massif in 1997. The interesting exploration results were also yielded by expeditions to the Picos de Europa (see article by Jędrzejczak). Besides Polish cavers carried out exploration in the karst massifs of the Julian Alps (see articles by Kozioł and by Tomaszek & Tomaszek).
There was also some exploration activity outside Europe. In spring 2001 a Polish team explored Imalfol Tem cave in Papua New Guinea (see article by Kuśpiel). The cavers of Speleoklub Częstochowa visited the Bolkar Mountains in Turkey in summer 1997. They deepened caves Pl-5 to -160 m, and Pl-3 to -235 m. Both caves were discovered by Poles in 1995. A Polish team explored also several small caves in Java island in 1999.
The cavers from Speleoklub "Bobry" Żagań and Speleoklub Gorzów "collect" the deepest pitches of the world. They visited Sotano del Barro (Mexico) in 1997, Vrtglavica (Slovenia) in 1998, Brezno pod Velbom (Slovenia) in 1999 and 2000 as well as Patkov Gušt (Croatia) in 1999.
Many small groups went to large cave systems for training. In 1998 Gouffre Berger was visited in cooperation with some French cavers. Besides, numerous teams chose as their target some caves in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania (see photos at the back cover), the Ukraine, Slovenia, France as well as Sardinia and the Canary Islands.
The most spectacular exploration in Poland was achieved in Jaskinia Wielka Śnieżna - the deepest and longest Polish cave (see articles by Mateja and Wierzbowski and by Bolek).
One can find inside this issue, besides the above mentioned articles concerning Polish achievements, the article written by Gajewska discussing the organizational structure of Polish caving. Moreover, the distribution of caves in Poland and the latest exploration results are characterized (see articles by Michał Gradziński and Wojciech W. Wiśniewski).

Note: The names of Polish caves were not translated to avoid confusion. The often repeated word "jaskinia" means cave.

Front cover: Galeriowy Korytarz, Jaskinia Zimna, the Western Tatra Mts. Photo by S. Kotarba.
Back cover : beatiful pictures from romania by S. Kotarba