CME Expedition 4

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001, 003, 004.
Type: Shelter.
Status: Abandoned.

When exploring, sometimes you poke around for a while, only hitting dead ends and locked doors. Yet once in a while, Lady Luck works her magic and you manage to find a way in. This was to be one of those occations, and we struck gold! Bigtime...

Having packed flashlights, camera and gear, I fired up the cavemobile and set out to pick up Caveman 003 and 004. It was a bright and sunny evening and we had little expectations about what we might find at the designated location. Once we got there, we geared up and snooped around until we managed to find the main entrance. These were the usual type, double blast proof doors, but with no way of entering. They didn't seem to be locked from the outside though, but still, they wouldn't budge. We decided to take some pictures before we carried on.

Got To Know It To Find It

Main Entrance

Air Intakes

Communication & Cables

Lock

Still, we weren't quite ready to give up. As mentioned in other reports, a location like this usually has more than one way in or out. Due to the fact that this place was heavily overgrown and clearly abandoned, we had to fight our way through branches and debris. Then we found it (...) The secondary entry point, and it was open!!

The Second Entry

I'll just let the pictures of what happened next, do the rest of the talking..

Beyond The Doorway

Inside

One Of The Halls

Mens Room

Vintage Toilets

Sink & Hose

Instruments & Panels

Further Into The Mountain

Inside The Cave

Cave

Blocked Emergency Exit?

Our first complete success! We'll be back for another look, taking some more pictures. There are still unexplored parts and corners of this complex...

-Caveman 001-

CME Expedition 3

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001.
Type: Shelter.
Status: Active / In Use.

Had a little spare time one evening, so went out for a stroll, bringing the camera along. The mission was checking out the outside of what could possibly be the largest shelter complex we have in this city. I know for a fact that this must be big, because a couple of years ago I walked by when they were doing some sort of work in there. The doors were open, and they had this little excavator just inside the blast proof doors. I went over to ask the two guys that were working there if I could have a look just beyond the doorway, but got turned away for lack of security clearance (!) But what I did manage to do was notice that beyond the doors, the tunnel ran as far into the mountain as my eyes could see and there were plenty of doorways leading off to either side. One of those working there could see I was just a curious guy and let me know that amongst other things, this shelter is connected to the train tunnel mentioned in Expedition 1. There are all sorts of rumors about these tunnels and what the complex contains. Most likely there is a whole lot of telecommunications equipement in here. But one thing is clear..they're enormous. As an interesting side note, during a national guard exercise about 10 years ago I walked past and they had guards stationed at all the entrances to this place, and there are quite a few scattered throughout the city. Enough talk..lets get down to business..

Main Entrance

Blast Proof Doors

Turbines

These turbines are huge. It's difficult to get an idea of the size and scale from the pictures. From time to time they start up, make a whole lot of noise and blow out hot air. This supports the rumors that there might be cables, telecomequipment and other stuff that would need cooling down there.

No Parking

Side Entrance

Side Door

Modern Lock

Another Way In?

After rummaging around for a while I found something that could prove to be interesting. There is no telling what could be down here, who knows, there might be a secondary emergency hatch somewhere. There are often more than one way into these places.But as can be seen from the last picture, exploring needs to wait for another time, equipped with better footwear, flashlights and fellow cavemen..

Before heading home I decided to swing by another one of the entrances to this complex, situated relatively close by. I'll let the pictures speak for them selves. There might be several expeditions around this area to find more entrances and trying to find the extent of this complex..

-Caveman 001-

Another Entrance

Down Into The Darkness

CME Expedition 2

Location: Skien, Norway
Members: 001, 002.
Type: Shelter
Status: Active / In Use.

On my way to check out another of Skien's shelters, I picked up Caveman 002, who came along for the ride. As usual, location is need to know info. This one appears to have been decomissioned at some point in time, although it is still in use. Rumor has it that the shelter was sold to a pistol club for use as a shooting range, but I haven't been able to confirm this. Whoever took over, rebuilt the entrance, putting an outer casing on the original door, and the signs identifying this as a shelter have been removed. I still remember these from back when I was a young Caveboy. Looking into what likely seems to be the emergency exit, there haven't been any changes for at least the last 20 years. This could indicate that whoever took over only utilised a portion of the complex. By a stroke of luck, both Caveman 004 and I have been inside a tiny section of this shelter. But, first things first...

Rebuilt Entrance

No Parking

Hatch Above Entrance

 I mentioned that Caveman 004 and I both have been inside. Back in the day when we were just cavechildren, we played alot around in this area. The local fire department used to run fire drills, evacuation drills or whatever down here and one time they happened to forget locking this hatch. We were quite exited to enter. Once inside we fumbled around on our hands and knees in the darkness for a while, right up until we turned our heads to the ceiling and noticed spiders the size of bulldogs! Thinking back now, they probably weren't all that big, but at the time they seemed huge and they were all over! Anyway..we got out in a hell of a hurry! It's a damn shame though, would love to see the inside of that hatch again, who knows..it might have been intended as a secondary escape route, and would thus have provided a way in.  

Possibly The Emergency Exit?

Water Tanks?

Taking a look through the mesh wire, covering what I presume is the emergency exit, reveals that tunnels run further into the darkness, and storage of what looks like watertanks covered in plastic.

Ventilation System?

Just outside this shelter we find this air intake/exhaust? It might be connected to the shelter in one way or another. There is also the possibility that it is connected to the sewer systems that run underneath the area, seeing as there is a sewage treatment facility close by. Taking a closer look reveals mesh wire on the inside of the tube. Have seen this been used on bunkers to prevent grenades from being dropped into the air intake, but i'm just speculating here.. This shelter holds sort of a special place for me, since I spent most of my childhood living in the area, speculating about how large of a shelter we might be talking about here..

-Caveman 001-

CME Expedition 1

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001.
Type: Shelter.
Status: Active / In Use.

Headed out on a solomission to check out one of Skien city's bomb shelters. Did a little research before I headed out, and it turns out this is still in use in one way or another. There are quite a few of these shelters around. They are remnants of the cold war era, when we were still afraid of being nuked by the Soviet Union. Not very likely to happen today, thus a lot of these shelters have been decomissioned. Some are still in use as part of the civil preparedness program, some have been sold off, but there are a few that seems to have been just closed, locked up and forgotten. I went to check out the status of one. Specific location is given on a need to know basis. The interesting thing about this one is that it might possibly be connected to the train tunnel which runs underneath parts of the city center. But hey, one expedition at a time, right? Here we go...

Main Entrance

   

Duck & Cover

Blast Proof Doors

Burnt Out Air Intakes

Locked

Rusty Gates

Emergency Exit

Air Intake, Lights On

A Look Throught the Air Intake

From the looks of things, this place is still in use, judging by the lights being on inside the emergency exit. No obvious way into this place. Taking a peek through the air intake by the emergency exit reveals white walls, no sign of moisture, and steep stairs heading down into the ground to the right. Strange how the emergency exit is so well kept on the inside, while the main entrance showed no sign of maintainance. A wild guess is that the emergency exit is still in use as a secondary emergency exit from the train tunnels, while the former bomb shelter part of the system is left disused. Anyway, thinking about the underground world that lies hidden just behind these doors gives me thrills.

 -Caveman 001-