Lëpushë is a settlement in the former Kelmend municipality, Shkodër County, in northern Albania. It is a remote area with just one road through, and is skirted all around by the boarder with Montenegro. It is situated at roughly 1,300m altitude and has deep snow from October through April. The increasingly excellent accommodation at the Alpini Hotel is gratefully used.
The Eldon Pothole Club first had a recognisance to the area in 2009 and have organised a return trip almost every year since. The exploration has concentrated on a high karst area to the south with peaks reaching over 2,500m in altitude. The ascent each morning is strenuous so it is only fitting that the caves are also extremely demanding. Typically vertical in nature and with many spacious shafts, any horizontal development is generally very tight and awkward. At least they are mostly clean. The deepest to date is Madhe Ben which was concluded in 2011 at a depth of 435m at a sump.
So far exploration in all caves has been stopped either due to snow plugs (near the entrance), too tight rifts, or sumps. All sumps are still above valley floor and may well hide exciting secrets beyond, especially as all known resurgences are far away and much lower. Although the tight nature of the known horizontal, vadose development suggests the sumps may well be on the small side.
This 2019 expedition team of 5 was to concentrate efforts in an area with a number of caves already reaching a good depth, predominantly Dragon Cave, and to hopefully give a few new leads for future trips.
The report can be found here: