About Us

This Is Where Our Story Begins

When the pumps fell silent in 1968, the Tuna Hästberg mine slowly filled with water and silence. Fifteen years later, the lakes had reached their level, and the place became a closed memory.

Until a group of high school boys in the late 1990s found a small opening in the ground and crawled inside. They carried headlamps, a map, and a promise to each other: nothing is impossible – some things just take a little longer.

What began as a secret adventure soon became a mission. Tunnels were mapped, walls were read like books. The first organised dives in the crystal-clear lakes took place in 2000. On the surface, rubbish was loaded into containers – hundreds of tonnes cleared away to allow history to emerge again.

An association, Baggbodykarna, was founded, and all work was voluntary. Every krona that came in was reinvested into the site. Step by step, not only did knowledge of the mine grow – so did the dream of allowing more people to experience it.

From Secret Playground to Destination

From 2005 onwards, the dream began to take shape. The idea of a visitor destination required structure, safety and a clear compass. In 2009, Äventyrsgruvan was formed as an economic association. The years that followed were dedicated to building a safe experience without taming the environment.

The principle was simple but demanding: adapt the visitor to the mine, not the mine to the visitor.

In 2011, Adventuremine was inaugurated and the first guided tours in the dry sections became reality. At the same time, an internationally recognised diving facility emerged, complete with platforms, warming areas and gas filling for advanced mine diving.

The same belief still applied: nothing is impossible. Some things just take a little longer.

During the 2010s, the experience was refined. Via ferrata routes along rock walls shimmering with iron. Suspension bridges and a zipline over a lake reflecting lights like stars. Clear routines and trained guides – but always with the mine’s raw soul at the centre.

People who never thought of themselves as adventurers became just that, with a rope, a helmet and a guiding hand in the darkness.

The Stage That Made Silence Sing

Then came the idea that first sounded crazy.

A stage. Eighty metres underground.

Three years later, in 2020, it stood there in the Great Hall. Around twenty metres of ceiling height. A view across the large underground lake. Acoustics blending cathedral and open air.

The stage made it possible to let music and storytelling fill the space where ore was once extracted. The world above could now descend and discover that silence can also sing.

The Sauna, the Lake and the Lady of the Mine

A year later, the dream took a new direction. Half a kilometre into the mountain, just half a metre above the mirror-like water surface, a sauna was built from timber from our own forest.

The underground lake below offers around 40 metres of visibility. It is cold enough to take your breath away and pure enough to drink from. There, between heat and icy water, the “Lady of the Mine Sauna Ritual” was created together with Nordic Sauna Stories – an experience that within just one year began attracting guests from all over the world.

The Machine House – What Nearly Died Lives Again

On the surface, another sleeping giant waited. The more than 100-year-old Machine House, abandoned and severely deteriorated after the mine closed in 1968, was finally given a second chance.

With support from the County Administrative Board and the EU, it was restored according to original drawings until it once again stood as a proud reminder of the village’s history.

Today, it is filled with light, music and voices – used for weddings, celebrations and dinners. A place where the mine’s industrial heritage continues to live on, in a new form.

Traditions Grew the Same Way Everything Else Did

Cautiously at first. Then naturally.
Lucia in the mine, where choral singing and candlelight follow the contours of the rock. Walpurgis/Fire Festival, which began small and became a spectacular evening of music, fire and pyrotechnics above and below ground.
Local collaborations became the backbone. Together with choirs, the heritage association and local businesses, we have created something larger than a destination.
It is a community.

Traditions, Community and Determination

From a group of friends to a voluntary association and now an economic association, the spirit remains the same. Income is reinvested into the site and the people around it. Stories and objects are collected. History is preserved and allowed to shape the future.

Today, the operation stands on four pillars:

• Guided tours in 30 km of dry tunnels
• Diving in crystal-clear underground lakes
• Events on an underground stage and in the Machine House
• Sauna rituals in a truly unique location

The path here has not been straight – but it has taken us forward.

Cooperative of the Year in Dalarna 2022. Dalarna’s candidate for the Grand Tourism Award 2023. Nature’s Best Sweden 2024. Travelers’ Choice on Tripadvisor several years in a row. Nomination for Dalarna’s Building Preservation Award for the Machine House.

The awards are honouring. But they are also something more: proof that determination, care and respect for a place can carry far. It all began with a small hole in the ground and a few young people who could not resist looking inside.

It continues with every visitor who takes one step further – down a ladder, into the unknown. A deep breath before the music begins. Adventuremine is proof that dreams have space even where light does not always reach.

Come as you are. Let the mountain carry you. And if something seems impossible – just give it a little more time.

The History of the Mine and Its Workers

Beneath the forests of Tuna Hästberg, iron ore has been mined for at least five centuries – from small hand-dug shafts to one of Bergslagen’s more significant industrial mines.

Around 1918, new deep shafts with lifts and machine houses modernised operations. The mine grew into a vast underground landscape reaching 552 metres deep with miles of tunnels. At its peak, around 150 miners worked underground, and roughly the same number above ground. An entire community grew around the mine.

During the 1960s, ore quality declined and prices fell as demand decreased. In the final years, an open pit was operated for four years, but the ore content was so low that the rock was sold as fill material for road construction.

In total, around 9 million tonnes of rock and ore were extracted before the final blast was fired and the mine fell silent in the summer of 1968. Darkness and silence took over, leaving behind a partially untouched underground world – a time capsule beneath the village.

Baggbodykarna

It began with a group of friends and an illegal entry into the old mine. They were captivated by the darkness, and the next day the first lamp was lit underground.

Soon after, the non-profit association Baggbodykarna was formed. The focus was on what lies beneath the surface – both dry and flooded spaces. Mines, caves and normally inaccessible environments.

The work was not only about exploration but about doing it safely and methodically, while documenting everything discovered. There was no ambition to be extreme. At the start there was neither knowledge nor financial resources – but engagement and determination in abundance.

With technical diving, cave and mine diving, climbing and SRT rope techniques as tools, they went further. As early as 1998, they published material from abandoned underground environments on their own website.

What distinguished Baggbodykarna was long-term thinking. Step by step, they built the conditions required to open projects to more people. In Tuna-Hästberg, this meant permanent guideline systems in the underwater labyrinth, improving safety and structure.

In 2000, the first paid guided tour was conducted. Guests were equipped with homemade headlamps and safety gear. The price was 150 SEK, including a home-cooked meal. The modest income enabled reinvestment and gradual opening of the mine.

After years of exploration and groundwork, the site evolved from an inaccessible mine system into an established destination.

In 2009, all operations and equipment were transferred to Äventyrsgruvan. Members Aron, Daniel, Fredrik, Martin, Nicklas and Tobbe continued the work in the new association.

A special thank you to Baltic Sea Tech Divers (BSTD), an important and humble source of inspiration in the early years.

Our Four Pillars Today

4. Sauna Rituals

The Lady of the Mine sauna ritual: sauna and cold bath half a kilometre inside the mountain, just above the water surface.

Awards, Nominations & Certifications

• Cooperative of the Year in Dalarna 2022 – for value-driven association management and local collaborations.

• Dalarna’s candidate for the Grand Tourism Award 2023 – for transforming an abandoned mine into a sustainable visitor destination.

• Nature’s Best Sweden 2024 – quality certification for sustainable nature tourism.

• Travelers’ Choice (Tripadvisor 2021–2025) – among the top 10% highest-ranked attractions globally based on guest reviews.

• Nomination for Dalarna’s Building Preservation Award 2025 – for careful restoration of the Machine House using traditional techniques and materials.