*Click the thumbnail to watch “Sneak Mission To Modern Nuclear Bunker Complex”*

I try to record as much as possible during adventures, but there are moments in between the frames that I do not capture. Whether it is because of technical issues, the spontaneity of the situation or legal reasons, some events escape the final version of the video. I feel like these “uncaptured moments” should still be shared, so with this series of posts I will try to bring them to light.

With this video, I want to focus on 4 moments that went uncaptured: the dog escape, which I didn’t manage to record during the 1st bunker attempt; the 3rd bunker entrance hunt, which took a lot longer than was shown in video; the 2nd attempt at entering the final bunker and what happened after we escaped; the context behind the 1st rooftop mission and how we got inside the building.

Dog Escape

*The clip shown above occurs in the video at 0:59 in the video*

Penco warned me about a dog protecting the territory, but said that it “doesn’t come up to the bunker”. My first reaction to that statement was confusion - “why would a guard dog not be able to climb a hill?”. Regardless, I choose to take his word and proceeded towards the bunker entrance.

Once we got to the bunker, I did notice the dog at the bottom and, sure enough, it was looking at us, but not climbing up or barking. I was still nervous about it and told Penco to keep an eye on the dog as I inspected the entrance hatch. As soon as I pulled my head out and looked at the spot where I saw the dog last, I noticed the dog wasn’t there.

*The clip shown above occurs in the video at 1:06 in the video*

Rapidly tossing my eyes along the territory, I saw that the dog was already half way up the hill towards us and immediately told Penco that we should move. As we started calmly walking away from the bunker the dog increased it’s pace and soon enough it became a chase.

The fence we had to hop over to escape was bendy and had barbed wire. I quickly noticed a tree that was close to the fence, with a branch hanging over it. After I jumped over the fence, I turned around and saw Penco climbing the tree. The dog’s teeth were a few centimetres away from his foot, as he pushed off the tree and jumped to safety.

Entrance Hunt

*The clip shown above occurs at 4:01 in the video*

We had the coordinates of the 3rd bunker, but not the exact way to enter it. The first thing we tried after we jumped the fence was the office building. It was all sealed with visible alarm sensors, so we moved on. Next we tried the main bunker entrance, but all the huge hermetic doors were locked tight.

With the obvious entrances out of the way, it was time to look for the emergency exits. Even though it was dark, we were still paranoid about walking back and forth through the territory as the security car was patrolling randomly. The first two alternative entrance we tried were shown in the video - the vent and the cable tunnel. When those failed, we split up and tried to cover as much ground as possible looking for a hidden way in.

*The clip shown above occurs in the video at 6:24 in the video*

Penco tried every door he could find around and I was going through the bushes looking for hatches. This process took at least 2 hours as we couldn’t use any lights as to not let ourselves be spotted. We refused to believe that the 3 meter, one-way ventilation drop in was the only way to enter.

Finally, I heard Penco whisper to me “come here” and we both moved the overgrown hatch to the side, revealing the long ladder down to the bunker. It seemed like the people who last visited this bunker (or the owners) did not want anyone to find this entrance, so they covered the hatch with dirt and leaves to hide it.

Second Attempt

*The clip shown above occurs at 9:08 in the video*

We should have expected the bunker to have a working alarm system. What threw us off was the room we first entered - the alarm sensor there didn’t work. As we ignorantly went further into the complex, we dismissed the possibility of a working sensor until we noticed one too late.

Knowing that the security could rush over any minute, we scrambled to leave the bunker and the territory. As we approached the fence, the adrenaline faded and we realized that we didn’t want to leave failing to explore the bunker. The idea of going back in so soon after we triggered the alarm was nerve-wracking, so we sat on the fence and waited.

*The clip shown above occurs at 9:48 in the video*

The alarm shut off after about 10 minutes. To our surprise, we did not see a security car driving up to inspect the area. After a cold and tense 30 minutes of waiting we reluctantly decided to go back in. We knew if we would trigger the alarm again, it would definitely get the attention of security and the mission would be ruined.

We came back to the hatch and opened it with no lights. Inside the bunker we took every precaution we could to not trigger the sensors. In the end, we pulled it off!

Rooftop Mission

*The clip shown above occurs at 18:06 in the video*

I first met Penco through Instagram. He sent me a couple cool locations and invited me to explore with him in Slovakia. After a few months, I gave him a message and we decided to finally meet up and explore.

The meeting spots was not far from the tallest building in the country. As we met and started chatting, I asked if this building is doable, he said “it was a couple weeks ago, but now I am not sure”. Walking around the building my optimism faded as I saw that the exterior construction was finished and the front entrance has a working lobby with a guard monitoring the premises.

*The clip shown above occurs at 20:19 in the video*

In desperation, I had the idea to just walk in the lobby and past the guard to see if my confident stride alone could fool him into thinking I belong there. Slowly walking towards the lobby, I suddenly spotted an open emergency exit. The gap in the door was barely visible and the door itself was propped up from closing by a piece of cardboard.

That was all we needed. I quickly shifted focus, notified Penco and a few seconds later we were in! Now all we had to do was navigate the maze of overlapping stairways and avoid the underpaid workers on a late shift to get to the roof. I knew that was a good time to start recording.

PHOTOS

Finally, here are some phone photos I took during the missions. While most of the photos are from events shown in the video, some are of the moments I didn’t get a chance to film.