SELAS goes to Voronya

Link to survey data for Voronya 2005

2006-01-09T10:56:00.000+02:00

The survey data have been uploaded to the SELAS website here: Voronya survey data. There was a delay caused by having to go in and manually correct many of the LRUD measurements which did not convert smoothly.

The data are available for download in both .dat format for Compass and .tro format for Visual Topo. Despite the site being almost exclusively in Greek, following the link, you should be able to click on the right file: Voronia - Krubera (tro) or Voronia - Krubera (dat), without needing to read the Greek text.

A .wpt file with the GPS coordinates of the entrance is also available for download in the same place.

Official depth confirmed at -2.140m

2005-11-11T08:12:00.000+02:00

The depth of Krubera-Voronya has been confirmed at -2.140m. The figure was announced to the Greek Caving community at the 8th Panhellenic Speleological Meeting on 29 October by Kostas Adamopoulos, leader of the Greek expedition to Krubera-Voronya which took part in the CAVEX Team exploration during the summer. Kostas' announcement focused on the lessons learned through participation in such an expedition, not least as regards the cross checking of survey data using independent means.

The SELAS site will soon host the survey in electronic form.

More news from Voronya (Oct-2005)

2005-10-12T14:18:00.000+03:00

Kostas writes (after a recent phone conversation with Denis Provalov).

Denis has just returned to Moscow from a mission to Voronya during which the team has accomplished the seemingly impossible. The deed was done by two members of the team (one of whom was Klim - Oleg Klimchouk, one of the leaders of CAVEX) who continued the cave from the sump at -2000m where they had dived during the summer expedition.

When they had come out last July they had mentioned that after the sump, the cave continued another 40m reaching a depth of -2040m, but stopped at another sump…

Diving the second sump at the time seemed pointless, as the team wished to press the known bottom (Gamer Over)… When this chamber was found under water, it seems that the team's thoughts turned again to diving this sump...

Well... they dived and they dived repeatedly. Diving at -2000m they crossed this sump, reached the next one at 40m lower down, dived this sump, continued... found another sump (third), passed this one... found a fourth sump but did not seem to yet see any danger in continuing... they passed this sump and a fifth one too and suddenly, there they were at -2164m (the number is not final)... So CAVEX has again surpassed the myth...

The feat involved passing five sumps in 18 days underground while concurrently de-rigging, surveying and conducting a whole number of other end of season chores, and all this in a cave of depth -2,164 (unconfirmed).

Congratulations!

Voronya - Krubera at the 14th ICS

2005-10-12T14:14:00.000+03:00

Kostas writes:

The announcement made by the CAVEX team concerning the most recent exploration in the deepest yet known cave in the world, served to impress, without a doubt, the delegates of the 14th International Conference of Speleology which took place in Kalamos in August.

The announcement was made on behalf of CAVEX by Denis Provalov and Ilia Zharkov to a completely packed hall. The two Russians detailed the history of the explorations carried out and presented the findings of the recent survey work which was done with three different methods which corrected the depth of the cave from -2,080 to -2,047m (+/- 10m). Members of SELAS took part in the surveying.

The announcement was warmly applauded and that same evening the video if the CAVEX expedition of 2003 was shown. To judge by the amount of interest it generated this was one of the more significant events of the conference. The video itself won the first prize in the multimedia competition.

Day by day account of the expedition

2005-08-09T08:00:00.000+03:00

I have translated Kostas' post to the SELAS forum. I have kept his use of the first person.

Kostas writes:

Voronya - Krubera 2005
Zazarkalye 2005

Sponsor: TNT Greece

Hello to all our readers!

After almost three weeks of waiting and silence, the time has come to write a few words about the expedition and to recount the events which took place...

2-7-2005 to 8-7-2005
Athens - Moscow - Sochi and the…obligatory excursions
The adventure began on the first day and continued until the very last… Due to a typo on our visa, we needed to ease our way through the borders by paying! At Sochi we learnt that the paperwork for crossing into Abkhazia / Georgia was not yet sorted out… we were tied down at the Geographic service and made excursions on every day up to the third day... then the local police relieved the members of the Polish team of some of the weight of their wallets through clear extortion to the tune of 100 euro a head - 300 euro in total. This event made us restrain our movements somewhat and so the days passed and our morale dropped.

It is a fact that to visit Russia you got to have strong nerves and a lot of self-control. You are always going to be a potential victim of extortion, and everyone, especially the police, will try to make money through your presence, often putting you through humiliating and unpleasant circumstances. You have to be aware of how much it is necessary to give and to whom, but the trial and error process of learning is tough... The learning process is especially difficult as very few Russian speak English.

Radio silence!
Everyone figured it out in the end, or heard through others. Three of the four members of the expedition (Elias, Methodios and Kostas) decided in the end on the sixth day to enter Abkhazia. The delay in crossing was delaying the whole of the "Zazarkalye 2005" expedition (Zazarkalye means "Behind the mirror") since we were members of the survey team which could not get started if we could not get to base camp. ...For obvious reasons we decided to put in place a "radio silence" with no news going out to anywhere until our safe return to Greece.

An unprecedented experience... It was one of those moments one never forgets... It was something like a dance in the darkness, since we were all there with linked arms... The "crossing" delivered us from the suspense and the wait.

9-7-2005
Jeep Safari
We decided to concentrate on the expedition and to forget about the return despite knowing that it would be more difficult than getting there... The next afternoon we left the beach and loaded ourselves onto the famous truck which would take us to base camp in the Ortobalagan valley. The route which we would cover in the back of the URAL 6x6 was 32 km and the altitude differential was 2000m... The experience lasted four hours (!!!) and was just as we had imagined it from the descriptions of our friends in the past. The scenery we passed was impressive, while the vehicle would swallow up any unevenness in the road surface like they didn't exist.

Ascending the mountain of Prometheus.
The forests of the Caucasus are very rich in foliage, the mountain heavily forested. We realized that there is a lively economy related to forestry in the region, but despite the activity, the forest does not seem to be suffering. A little beyond a small hamlet of shepherds and woodcutters at about 1400m, the forests withdraw giving their place to the Alpine zone. The Alpine zone is very different to the equivalent zone in Greece in that it is far greener. Small meadows and little lakes coupled with large areas of standing snow characterize the landscape.

The truck stopped when we had reached Ortobalagan. We quickly unloaded our gear and in the dark we said our goodbyes to the driver and the hospitable shepherds who live at the end of the road… Loaded up with part of our things we started to climb into the darkness. In 40 minutes we had climbed the 240m to the valley and looked out onto the base camp. Embraces and satisfaction. We were there, and no helicopter or missing permit would stand in the way of living the stories and reports which we had heard about the cave in question. Those stories we had been hearing with enthusiasm for the past few years from our friends in CAVEX, and now we ere here. With our presence at base camp, we had managed to ensure Greek representation at one of the most significant exploratory events of the millennium.

10-7-2005
Base camp
When we woke the next morning we realized how large base camp is. 35 tents plus the large cookhouse-dining room tent. There was a telecommunications tent also with internet and mobile phone connections. Klim (Oleg Klimchouk) showed us around the tent, but we had already decided that it would not be a good idea to be broadcasting our presence. The large tent (dining room) held one end of the telephone line which disappeared into the depths of Voronya and connected those in the cave with the outside world.

Night and day, there was someone next to the phone recording all movements in the cave. The expedition plan was there along with the diagram showing the whereabouts of all bags in relation to the camps. You could say that this was the centre of operations of the whole expedition. There were about 40 speleologists collected together (including the recent graduates from speleological seminars who were assisting the expedition and building up experience at small depths and in the pot holes in the area).

Acclimatisation descent to -240m
Our schedule had an initial acclimatisation descent to -240m for the first day… with a bag, of course! So, without quite believing our luck, after 16 days of waiting (9 days in January and seven in July) we secured our descenders and began to descend the first pitch (P.57). Unfortunately our satisfaction did not last too long… The ropes were very worn and the rigging not so good. It was necessary to tie off the very worn patches with knots in some places to be able to continue the descent. There were many "new" cavers using this part of the cave and they had accelerated the wear and tear.

The whole of the "river team" was with us on the acclimatisation trip - that is to say the Poles and Alan Walrid, with whom we became quite close. Alan is a very pleasant and very experienced speleologist of about 50 years, and is known world-wide for his book: "Vertical".

The cave was exceptionally cold, and we hadn't brought PVC overalls with us for fear of incurring overweight charges on the airplane. At -240m there is a chamber (Crym) after which begins P.110, known as "Wet Puit". The waters of the waterfall could be heard at the top of the pitch. In general, to this point, the cave does not have any impressively large chambers, but it is not narrow either. There are almost no speleothems at all and the bedding of the rock is very reminiscent of "Gourgouthakas" on Crete.

The return to the surface surprised us. Despite the fact that we were constantly moving, we did not manage to warm ourselves up…The temperature was less than 3 degrees Celsius! On the way up we did some photography with Alan.

11-7-2005
Forwarding gear to the camp at -700m
With two bags each, hanging from the harness, we set off early in the morning for the camp at -700m. Ρ.110 lived up to its name of Wet Puit. Together with us and the remaining "river team" Klim came down too to change the old ropes and correct the rigging on Wet Puit (to take the rope out of the water).

After the Ρ.110 there is a small meander, at the end of which begins the imposing Ρ.150 which is the largest single pitch in Voronya. The pitch has very large dimensions. At its end a meander of 250m length begins. This is one of the most difficult parts of the cave. At the end of this, there is a pitch called "Pti Drou" at the bottom of which is the first camp, which holds six people.

We returned to the surface (without bags) in four hours, something which confirmed that the time we had spent on our preparation was not time wasted.

12-7-2005
Rest and planning of the next moves
A day of rest after two days of continuous action. We talked with Klim and the others about the plan for the survey. We also did various exercises and drills to get our readings synchronized and improve our accuracy (loop closure). Late in the afternoon, Denis Provalov (expedition leader) came with the other foreigners: Mateo and Jacomo from Italy, and Rok, a doctor from Slovenia, all of them friends of ours from an expedition in which SELAS had taken part in 2003. In addition there was an English speleologist, Tony, and a Czech called Zdenek, who had been with us in the winter too. A small council was held and it was decided that we would go in the next day and commence the survey.

13-7-2005
Survey begins
Elias and Methodios had undertaken the section from -500m to -950m, while I would survey from -950m to -1440m (siphon/sump) together with Alan. The next night, Methodios and Elias would sleep at -700m (Camp 1) while Alan and I would sleep at -1200m (Camp 2). We figured that each team would need about two days to complete their share of the survey.

Survey
Given that the cave is a new world record, CAVEX wished to confirm the readings taken by the Ukrainian team. In addition to this, one of the expedition goals (as far as the survey was concerned) was to create a three dimensional map of the complete cave. The Ukrainian team has not produced such a map, they have only surveyed the sections they have explored, not those which were known from the past. In addition to this CAVEX was using a method involving hydrostatic pressure, and were conducting an experiment with measurements taken with SUUNTO altimeters (many measurements taken on many altimeters in various locations in the cave) in which we took part.

Both Alan and I, but also Methodios and Elias were also carrying a bag which held items necessary for the creation of the camps at -1600m and -1950m. So it was surveying with a bag, in one of the coldest caves we had ever visited.

The survey was very tiring and lasted 8 hours the first day. When we reached -1200m we were soaked through and completely frozen. The same fate lay in store for the other survey team which was camping at -700m. Fortunately the camp was very well established and we managed to get our strength back and dry out our laser distos and compasses.

The cave is exceptionally beautiful between -700m and -1200m. Klim had told us that it is a typical example of a cave of the western Caucasus. There were continuous waterfalls of about 30m height and comfortable spaces without too many narrows. It was indeed very beautiful. In the end, the most beautiful ornament of this section is the dynamic and intense presence of water, with its noisy and continuous waterfalls. It seems like a subterranean canyon: all those who have done canyoning can understand what I mean.

The area around Camp 2 has large spaces and is Camp 2 is comfortable as a camp. The only drawbacks are the mud, just outside the entrance to the tent and the noise from the last waterfall about 20m from the tent.

14-7-2005
Second day in Voronya - survey from -1200m to -1300m
When we had rested, we put on our wet clothes and muddied gear once more and set off with Alan (with a heavy heart) to survey the cave from -1200m to -1300m. Our goal should have been to reach -1410m, but the compass had not yet dried well, and I could not make out the readings very easily.

The route from Camp 2 to -1300m is one of the wettest parts of the cave. There are many places where you need to crawl through water and there is quite energetic spray from the waterfall on the pitches coupled with blowing breezes which bring the temperature right down. We ceased surveying at -1300m and continued to carry the bags on to Camp 3 (-1410m).

This is the most comfortable of the camps and is known as "Sandy Beach". It is in a dry side-branch of the cave and so the temperature there is about 5 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, there is no noise from the water, and this makes sleeping more pleasant.

I left my bag and said goodbye to Alan, who would sleep at Sandy Beach, while I would go up to meet Methodios and Elias at Camp 2. I found them there a little later and they recounted their experiences with the survey. We slept only after we had written up our survey readings into the Palm (Auriga) which we had with us.

15-7-2005
Day three in Voronya
According to the initial plan, we were to go to Camp 3 that morning and take our turn to cross through the sump. Methodios set off early for the surface since he did not want to try crossing the sump. As there had been delays in gear being brought down, it was necessary for us to stay there all day without doing anything. At some point our friends the Poles (Artur, Lukas and Peter) came and found us. According to the new instructions which we got from the surface via the phone, we would set off the next day for Camp 3.

16-7-2005
Day four in Voronya - Survey from -1300m to -1440m
We set off early and began to make our way to Sandy Beach. At -1300m Elias and I began to survey. Fortunately the instruments were working properly again.

The bad news...
We reached Camp 3, where we were met by Victor and Andrey. Unfortunately for us, the two Russians who had undertaken to help us cross the sump did not speak very good English... We saw that they were a little ill at ease and asked them why. They told us that the sump was higher than usual and therefore longer than expected (and longer than it had been described to us). There was 8 of us to cross and the air that was available was not enough for the two Russians, three poles, one Englishman and the two Greeks). We had two bottles available: one was a litre, the other two litres. Both were compressed to 100 atmospheres. In addition to all this, the sump, we were told, had zero visibility and was quite narrow…

This new information unsettled us and we began to worry about the safety of the enterprise. We were thinking that things would have been much better for us if Nikos had been there with us, with his suddenly very relevant knowledge and experience of cave diving, to guide us....

There was a further delay to the plan and many discussions (in Russian) which we realised were about the air. It had been decided that a team (Denis and the Italians) would set out from the surface to bring extra bottles with air for the dive. Elias and I set off for more survey while the others took some rest in Camp 3. We reached the sump at -1440m which did indeed look to be narrow. We got back to Sandy Beach, wet again, and got ready for bed. We'd have another look at the situation when the extra air came the next day...

17-7-2005
"No thanks"
We woke early and prepared breakfast in the camp. Suddenly we heard strange noises. We realized that this noise was stones hitting each-other and increased noise from the water on the waterfalls. The phone was dead… we assumed that a storm had taken place on the surface.

Our assumption was proved true about two or three hours later once the telephone line had been restored. We were safe, but Denis' team, which was bringing more air bottles could not enter the cave. They told us that at the surface there was a huge storm in progress with very strong winds.

Late in the evening, after more deliberations (always in Russian) we received the order to cross the sump without waiting for extra air to come down. I do not recall many times in my life when I have been equally disappointed and scared. It was clear that this dive was madness for us. Even to think about going through with it caused us no small amount of fear... A half empty one litre bottle can empty very quickly with a free flow from the regulator. And so we said "No thanks". We had played enough Russian Roulette until that day. The decision not to cross helped us take control of our own safety once again.

The time constraints were very tight, too. We were due to cross back into Russia on 21-7-2005. So our descent had ended at the deepest point ever reached by Greek Speleologists, whether within Greece or elsewhere, at a depth of -1440m. We knew we could have gone deeper, but the bad timing with the sump, which we hadn't planned on, stopped us.

We helped the rest of the team take their bags to the sump and then returned to Camp 2 (-1,200m) together with Peter the Pole who had agreed with our decision and was not proceeding any further.

18-7-2005
Return to the surface
I shared a bag on the way up with Elias. We began at 11:10 and were on the surface at 20:00 including a pause of one hour at -700m. In total 8 hours for 1,200m. Outside, Methodios was waiting for us. We hadn't seen each-other for days. In total, we had spent 128 hours in the cave (5 days), yet another unprecedented experience for us.

19-7-2005
Rest
We spent the first day resting in the tent. I had a cold ever since becoming soaked in Wet Puit… I had a fever of 38 degrees which slowly receded in the late afternoon and left me a little worse for wear. Methodios went back in with Sklyar, a friend from expeditions in Greece and Slovenia, to finish off the survey from -600m to 950m.

On the afternoon of that day, we got news of the accident. A young Russian speleologist, 23 years old called Andrey had fallen about 7 meters as the rope he was rigging the pitch with had no knot at the end… For the time being, we didn't know more. Immediately a team composed of Ukrainians left for the injured caver taking medicines and food with them. Unfortunately they couldn't reach him as he was behind an exceptionally narrow and twisted section of cave.

20-7-2005
Teams are recalled from the bottom
The rescue teams were en-route from Russia. Andrey had broken both legs and his hips and had hurt his spine and shoulder… His pulse and temperature were OK. An effort was made to gather rescue equipment from all Russia, as they had estimated that they would need about four to five days explosives work with three or four petrol driven drills to open the narrow section behind which Andrey was trapped.

All the experienced speleologists were close to the bottom and had started to come up to the surface, while we were having trouble communicating with those who were around us. We felt that they didn't want us in the cave but would rather have us off the mountain sooner rather than later, They didn't want the border crossing and any problems that might bring on their minds, on top of the stress of the rescue. We totally agreed with this - the rescue was the first priority.

21-7-2005
Rescue equipment comes slowly together - Foreign speleologists prepare to leave
Methodios returned after two days in the cave having with him the survey data for about 500m of the cave's depth. We felt satisfaction as we had contributed a great deal to the survey of the cave (from -500 to -1440m - about half the cave).

We all got ready to head off. Poles, Italians, Greeks. We were told the truck would be coming up in the afternoon.

22-7-2005
Return to civilization and crossing the border again
We set off very early in the morning in the well known truck. The same day, we had crossed the borders - it was harder than it had been to get into Abkhazia…

23-7-2005
Return to Moscow
The return to Moscow was uneventful if you exclude the fact that everyone was asking us for money and dragging us into one police station after another saying our registration wasn't good or in order. Fortunately we managed to get back to Moscow paying not one rouble(!!!) It seems we had started to learn our lesson, although the learning process had not been painless...

25-7-2005
Return to Athens
We returned to Athens in Business Class together with our friend Panagiotis Kotronaros, a Greek climber who had recently conquered Everest. He had gone to the summit of the Caucasus, Elbrus (5.164m) with 22 other mountaineers from Greece.

Being back was an emotional experience and a relief! We are lucky to live here in Greece, however much we complain about it. And now, we are certain that we can find in Greece a cave deeper than -2,000m.

Let's try!

For the team,
Kostas

Pictures from Greek team at Voronya-Krubera

2005-08-03T17:35:00.000+03:00

The images below are posted on the photoalbum of SELAS Caving Club, Greece, with Greek descriptions. I have translated the texts below each image. Clicking on the images will take you to the photoalbum and a larger image.

No borders: Methodios' T-shirt was emblazoned with the logo "no borders"... Looks like he knew something we didn't!

Caucasus limestone in this 'stone' the deepest known cave in the world has been channeled out by the water.

Café Greece ...a visit to the "Greek" village of Krasnaya Palianna in Russia

Part of the international team...

Elias with our friends from Italy, the alpinist speleologists Matteo και Jacomo

The Greek team at Voronya

Elias and Methodios at base camp one day before we returned

General view of base camp and part of the Ortobalagan valley. The helicopter can also be made out in the picture

Outside the tent, we stored our gear for it to dry.

The helicopter...

The base-camp "dining-hall"

The URAL 6Χ6 which took the expedition up to Ortobalagan

Some information about the mission to Voronya

2005-08-02T17:31:00.000+03:00

Kostas writes:

• 60 speleologists, most from Russian Federation and the Ukraine.
• Of the 60 participants, 12 were from outside Russia and the Ukraine: Greece (3), Italy (2), Poland (3), Australia (1), Slovenia (1), Czech Republic (1), UK (1)
• The mission lasted from 20 June 2005 until 30 July 2005.
• Location: Western Caucasus, Mount Arabika, in the Abkhazia region of Georgia. The base camp was at an altitude of 2240m.
• The cave (Krubera-Voronya) is the deepest in the world and has a depth of -2080m. It may be deeper still, but exploration is ongoing. The entrance is at an altitude of 2250m.
• The mission involved four Greek speleologists (initially four, only three made it to base camp), members of SELAS Caving Club (www.selas.org):
o Kostas Adamopoulos (Leader of the Greek expedition) +30-6942052053
o Elias Kazais
o Methodios Psomas (of SPOK Crete)
o Nikos Mitsakis

Phone number for more information: Expedition leader: +30-6942052053 or through SELAS +30-2109020171

Some statistics about the Greek Participation in the mission to Voronya

2005-08-02T17:13:00.000+03:00

Kostas writes on the Selas forum:

• The confidence of the team has been strengthened as regards the possibility of discovering a cave of similar depth, greater than -2000m, given that the deepest currently known in Greece is at -1208m.
• Greek participation in one of the most significant explorations of the millennium.
• First ever descent by Greek speleologists to a depth of -1440m.
• The depth of -1440m is equivalent to a cave in the top 12 deepest in the world..
• The Greek team actively participated in the accomplishment of the expedition's objectives by surveying about 900m of the deepest cave in the world - from about 500m to the sump at -1,440m.
• We stayed below -1200m for five days. Until this mission, Greek speleologists had descended and remained at similar depths for very small periods of time (less than an hour)
• The mission to the Voronya is one of the two most significant exploratory attempts which have been ongoing during the last five years the other is Bill Stone's exploration in Mexico.

Translation in progress

2005-08-02T14:34:00.000+03:00

I am currently translating Kostas' day by day account of the Greek Participation in the Voronya exploration of this summer. It may take a day or two.

Those who cannot wait, and can read greek (or can put up with babelfish translations) can direct your browsers to the SELAS forum where you will find the text.

Rescue photos

2005-07-29T11:12:00.000+03:00

The cavex site: CAVEX has put up some good photos of the rescue operation here.

Stretcher on surface!

2005-07-26T17:34:00.000+03:00

As of 14.30 GMT, I have been informed that the stretcher bearing the injured caver is at the surface of the cave.

Congratulations to all involved in the rescue effort!!

Injured caver coming out

2005-07-26T13:51:00.000+03:00

I received word via Kostas that yesterday, 25 July, the injured caver's stretcher began the ascent to the surface at 1400hrs. A flight by rescue helicopter was authorised today at 0600hrs but adverse weather conditions did not allow for it to approach the campsite. Hopefully by tonight the caver will be back at the surface.

The expedition has returned safely

2005-07-26T09:01:00.000+03:00

The team of Greek cavers who went to the Caucasus has returned safely to Greece after a few weeks at Voronya-Krubera. It was not easy to reach the mountain and details of the crossing are not clear. Only three of the four actually went to Ortobalagan in the end.

The three members of the expedition who made it to the mountain surveyed the first ca. 1,000m of the cave spending up to five days at camps inside. They descended to the sump at -1,400m where the sump itself formed a barrier to their continued exploration as the three are not familiar with the cave-diving skills needed to cross through it.

I hope to be presenting more news from the Greek team from SELAS and SPOK caving clubs as I learn it over the next few days, together with some pictures. The three cavers who made it to the mountain are Kostas Adamopoulos, Elias Kazais (SELAS) and Methodios Psomas (SPOK).

On the last few days (22 July 2005), news came of an accident which left a Russian caver wounded after a drop of about 7 to 10 m (broken legs, hips and other injuries). The accident was caused by the absence of a knot at the end of a rope the caver was descending. A camp has been created at the accident spot and efforts were under way to open a narrow passage behind which the accident happened, to allow the rescue team easier access to the caver.

Time is running out

2005-07-08T08:42:00.000+03:00

After today's telephone conversation with both Kostas and Nikos it seems that the wait is getting to the expedition of SELAS Caving Club and while the morale of the expedition was originally very high, a sense of disappointment is beginning to set in. "We are trying everything to get across" Kostas told me earlier.

Time is beginning to become an issue as each day lost in Sochi is one day less action on the mountain - in the mountain. There will come a point where this will have to be taken into account by the team.

Better pre-trip photo uploaded

2005-07-06T16:44:00.000+03:00

I have recently uploaded the following pic to the photo site.

I have put it up on the front page of the SELAS website, replacing the three-man expedition photo which was there.

From left to right are Elias Kazais, Methodios Psomas, Nikos MItsakis and Kostas Adamopoulos.

Still no joy

2005-07-06T09:06:00.000+03:00

I spoke today with the Greek expedition. Spirits are good, especially since it is expected that either today or tomorrow they will be crossing the border. The case of the foreign participants in the mission (those without Russian / CIS passports) has reached presidential level in Abkhazia! Meanwhile, there has been no news coming out of the two Russian language sites which were providing updates: cavex.ru and speleolog.ru.

Crossing the border - or not crossing the border

2005-07-04T15:18:00.000+03:00

So there seems to have been some trouble getting through the border - I received some SMS messages from the expedition on Sunday which said that things were not going to be as easy as they were in January, and the only definite thing one can say about this place is that it is impossible to plan into the future. I have had no more contact since yesterday afternoon.

Expedition has set off

2005-07-04T15:15:00.000+03:00

The four Greek cavers who will be taking part in the international expedition to the world's deepest cave, Krubera-Voronya (-2,080), set off on Saturday for the Caucasus, with the kind support of TNT sponsorship. The four taking part are the members of SELAS caving club, Greece:

Kostas Adamopoulos
Elias Kazais
Nikos Mitsakis
and Methodios Psomas (member of SPOK caving club of Crete)

At the airport, the four were bid a good voyage and successful return by the gathered friends and fellow cavers, the President of the Hellenic Federation of Speleology, Mr. Kostas Zoupis, and the members of SELAS caving club: Kostas Iatrou, Olympia Anagnostopoulou, Niki Hatzilia and myself. Before setting off, Kostas Adamopoulos, leader of the Greek participation in the expedition, received a well-wishing message from Yiannis Zenas.

So - the expedition's set off then. In a few hours the feeling of deja-vu will strengthen as the boys are met by their friend Ilias in Moscow before setting off for the Caucasus.

There are some pictures of the departure at the SELAS photo gallery, but the text is in Greek.

Elias weighs his rucksack - the team has an allowance for only 20 Kg each, not a great amount for both personal and team equipment. At least there is no need for winter gear this time round.

Elias, Methodios and Kostas at the club, making the last adjustments to their gear before setting off for the airport.

Packing… each sack is wrapped in industrial strength cling film so nothing important manages to slip out en-route. Elias is wrapping here.

Here Nikos is packing with the help of Kostas Zoupis, President of the Hellenic Federation of Speleology.

Four for the mountain…

Back lit by a huge window - but nevertheless, the four boys look ready to go with the club flag and sponsorship gear. From left to right, Elias Kazais, Methodios Psomas, Nikos Mitsakis and Kostas Adamopoulos.

There go the bags! We'll see them again in Moscow...

Kostas and Nikos a little while before passport control.

The boys leave later today

2005-07-02T14:38:00.000+03:00

Later today the three cavers from SELAS will set off for Moscow together with one more caver from SPOK club in Crete.

Some of the team are already on the mountain and have already been equipping the camps in the cave. Both the speleolog.ru and cavex.ru sites have almost daily news feeds coming out of them, and a fair number of pictures. This probably means that there is an operational PC up on Ortobalagan somewhere with an internet connection. In an ideal world, the PC up there will also have greek keyboard drivers installed so that the boys could post to the forum at SELAS' site and then I'd take the posts and do them into English.

From what I gather from the posts to the Russian sites, things are going well. Altavista's babelfish translation of the sites is by no means perfect (no doubt things like the lack of the verb 'to be' in the present tense does not help clarity).

Eight more Russians and three Poles arrived today 1 July and the four Greeks are expected to arrive on 3 July. On 30 June Denis Provalov announced that there was much water in the cave, of the icy cold sort that gets under your oversuit at the neck and cuffs. He seems to be enjoying though. There's a whole bunch of pictures here: some of Denis' pictures from 26 June 2005.

As at 26 June, and after three days in the cave, camp 700 has been established, connection to the first camp is secured, the ropes to 1050 have been replaced and three bags of rubbish have been taken to the surface. Meanwhile two twos have become well acclimatized and are carrying out further work in the cave. Much of the rope is right in the water flow and need re-routing or re-rigging with deviations to take it out of the water's stream or waterfalls. Traps have been set in the potential outlets of the cave to check where the water flows. Food in the camps is the modules prepared for the January expedition which were left on the mountain for safekeeping when the expedition came down. The food is still in perfect condition and very tasty.

The aims of the expedition according to a posting of 19 June, are:

1. Search for the deepest underground river of the planet
2. comprehensive studies regarding the precise depth of the cave:
- complete survey
- two more bullets which I could not translate
3. dyeing of the stream of cave with the arrangement of traps at all sources / springs in the Gagrinskeyeo region, including the submarine sources / springs.

I'll try and keep up to the extent that babelfish will allow.

From a recent press release

2005-06-30T13:25:00.000+03:00

Greek speleological expedition to the deepest cave in the world
(2/7/2005 to 25/7/2005)

This coming Saturday, 2 July 2005, a Greek speleological expedition will set off to take part in exploration of the deepest known cave on the planet, the cave Voronya-Krubera. This very deep cave is in the western Caucasus in Abkhazia. The cave's entrance is at a height of 2,300m and the vertical height of the cave reaches the record figure of -2,080m. The cave was explored just this last October (2004) and the aims of the present international expedition which begins in July is the continuation of the exploration to greater depth and the recalculation of the cave's depth using measuring equipment of great accuracy.

Descent into the cave is extremely difficult and is carried out with many overnight stops in underground camps. The Greek cavers will remain below ground for about two weeks. The descent is made at some times through narrow passages at other times through huge well-like shafts which end in a final chamber 2 kilometres under the surface of the ground. All the members of the Greek team will need to dive through one of the cave's underground lakes (sumps) in order to reach the deepest place on earth.

The participation of the Greek team is the result of many years of collaboration of the Greek Caving Club SELAS (member of the Hellenic Speleological Federation) with cavers from Russia, the Ukraine and France, and is possible thanks to the sponsorship of the international courier company TNT which is covering the whole of the cost of the Greek expedition. In 2004, Greeks conquered the highest point on earth, Everest. Let's hope that the Greek cavers' attempt to conquer the deepest point on earth will have the same fortune and bring Greece another superlative achievement.

The members of the expedition are:
Kostas Adamopoulos
Nikos Mitsakis
Elias Kazais
Methodios Psomas

Training has started

2005-05-15T14:52:00.000+03:00

Photos of yesterday's training visit to Chaos - a 50m doline near Athens available at:

the SELAS photo album

On Saturday 14 May 2005 the members of the expedition to Voronya (-2,080) completed a number of descents and ascents of the doline "Chaos" in Aghios Konstantinos, east Attika. In all, the three members of SELAS who will be taking part in the expedition completed about 1,000m of descent and ascent (with repetitions).

Elias got there first and had to wait about an hour… sorry.

From left to right, Nikos Mitsakis, Iota Kafetzi and Nontas Emmanouil arriving at "Chaos"

From left to right, Kostas Adamopoulos (caspex), Elias Kazais and Nikos MItsakis, members of SELAS who will be participating in the expedition to Voronya (-2,080m)

Despite having wet the rope before descent, the heat of the day and the high temperatures achieved by the descender resulted in some serious burns to the rope's sheath. It is possible to see a small part of melted rope on the descender's workings. We'll have to check all the ropes before the next use.

Here, Nikos is about half way down the descent. The total descent is about 45 to 50 meters and it was a very hot day. The cavers descended and ascended many times with small breaks for adjustments to the equipment. Everything has to be perfect for the descent into the world's biggest cave, and the countdown has already started again.

Summer return planned

2005-05-10T08:55:00.000+03:00

They say that when the horse you are riding on throws you, you got to get back in the saddle to show it who's the boss.

While this cannot be the case with a mountain - the mountain remains the undoubted boss always - the boys from SELAS are getting their bags packed again and getting their sponsors back on-side. First of July they set off again and I'll be here, ready to channel the news as it comes in.

As before, the mission is being organised by Oleg Klimchuk and Denis Provalov of CAVEX.

I hope the wait was worth it...

2005-04-05T09:00:00.000+03:00

What follows is my own faithful re-telling, condensation, beautification, distortion and fanciful reconstruction of the events of early January 2005 over in Abkhazia. I was not involved in the mission beyond the provision of moral support to the three boys from SELAS taking part thanks to the kind sponsorship of TNT. I have heard the story a few times since the travellers returned; the story has had some time to mellow and condense in my memory, some parts growing vaguer, some more fantastically specific in my mind's eye as the imagination adds detail not present in the original telling. Any and all factual errors are my own. None of the photographs are. If you are unhappy about something, let me know and I will correct it. If you are unhappy about a photo attribution or label, let me know and I will correct it.

So, there they were on the morning of 3 January, the Monday after new years, getting ready to get on a plane, with friends and well wishers come to see them off. Kostas Zoupis, president of the Hellenic Speleological Federation (FHS).

Nikos and Niki wrap up a rucksack for travel

The three arrived that evening in an already dark Moscow, where they were met by Ilia Zharkov of CAVEX, the organizers of the expedition, who put the three Greeks up for the night and fed them traditional Russian fare, on arrival.

Kostas and Elias enjoy supper at Ilias’ place

The evening was spent in sightseeing around Moscow: Kremlin walls, red square, mausoleum, St. Basil's basilica with the groovy domes, and that building at the far end of the square which is built like a climbers’ playground - tough to keep Elias with the others.

Building on the edge of red square, lit by streetlights at night

Early the next day - Tuesday 4 January, the boys met up with more members of the team, and went to the other of Moscow’s two airports for the flight down to Sochi, just this side of the border with Abkhazia. The plan was to group up in Sochi with the rest of the team going down by train, and then cross into Abkhazia, by night when there would be less traffic crossing at the same time.

So the border was approached after nightfall, the gear loaded up onto a wheeled cart thing and carried across the no man's land to the vans waiting to carry the team on to the refuge (Base of the expedition) across the border.

Assorted caving gear, crossing the no man’s land to Abkhazia, the vans in which the expedition was ferried around

The next day the rain started. It was Wednesday 5 January, the whole team from five countries was gathered in a refuge used by cavers in Lapsta, where provision had been made for sleeping the whole team. Lapsta is a seaside town, smallish and probably typical of Abkhazia. Most of the locals go about their business armed, not unlike Crete some years ago or certain parts of the island today. The roads are potholed and in bad repair, something not surprising given the recent history of the region. The former tourist infrastructure is falling apart, but architecturally looks back to former glories, both imperial and Soviet.

"Rain, rain go away, come again another day"

Across the way from the refuge, sits the train station and beyond, the black sea, which in the former days would gather visitors from all over the Russias and the Soviet Union. Now, the town does not do much in tourism, save the cavers coming for the Arabika Massif.

Lapsta train station and the Black Sea in the background

The sea on the other side of the station acts as a reminder. Water entering the caves up on the valley of Ortobalagan, eventually comes out into the sea, some 2,200m lower, and a little bit more over to the west.

So, without any means of getting up to Ortobalagan to start the descent into Krubera-Voronya, it was a good opportunity to pool the equipment and organize it. The group had rope and gear for more than 2,000m descent, equipment for camps, food, communications equipment, survey equipment, etc. gathered from five countries.

The bad weather gave the team a chance to organize themselves a little better for the trip up to Ortobalagan

In terms of communications, there were two laptops to be taken up to Ortobalagan with mobile phone connection to the internet and a big antenna for the mobile to be able to reach the outside world, and some photovoltaic cells to be able to recharge batteries and keep the power flowing.

It was meant to be through this laptop that I would be getting my information during the two weeks to put up onto this site.

After the group equipment was put into place, the individual gear had to be sorted out in the refuge. It was an odd unpacking - the hope was that it would only be one night in Lapsta, but at the same time, there was a chance that the team would have to get used to the refuge.

Kostas and Nikos unpack essentials for one night's sleep only…

After the organisation and unpacking, the team went on an expedition to showcaves in the area - something karstic had to be seen, despite the weather!

Seats and benches blur into one large seating space as the expedition members try to break the world record for cavers in a van.

The trip set off in the crowded vans and went to “Novoafonskaya” where they had the opportunity to walk through the largest chambers in the world, and even ride a train that had been installed in the cave system.

Large chamber in the Novoafonskaya system which houses the largest chambers yet found.

Kostas, Elias and the rest of the expedition enjoy an evening meal after a day of waiting.

After the day's preparation, visits to show caves and evening meal with copious vodka and other nourishing stuff, the time had come for sleep, and so, with the unfavourable weather being unpredictable - without any way of telling whether the next day would be the day the trip up the mountain would start, the boys went to bed. It was 5 January 2005.

The train station by night.

Waking up on Thursday 6 January, there was no improvement in the weather, meaning that the expedition had to make tourist visits to more sights in the area. A visit was made to a large fish-farm, much of which is now in disrepair and unused, although there were some fish there to be seen.

Disused fish farms of Abkhazia.

The group also visited Matritska karstic springs which were popular with cave divers from all over the former Soviet Union, some of whom lost their lives in them.

Nikos and Kostas listen to the history of the exploration of the springs in the area.

And another day ended in supper down in Lapsta. The weather was expected to clear the next day, meaning that the helicopter would be able to fly the expedition up to Ortobalagan.

Supper on Thursday - a second day finished, still at sea-level.

Map of the area, showing where the expedition was housed in Lapsta (KatafigioA), Ortobalagan and some of the areas and showcaves visited while waiting for the weather to allow the helicopter to fly. Suchumi us on the coast at the bottom edge of the map. Click view image for larger image.

On the morning of Friday 7 January 2005, the news came to the refuge that the weather was now good enough to attempt the flight up to the mountain. The helicopter was in Suchumi, the team further up the coast in Lapsta. The plan was to ship half the team up to Ortobalagan from Suchumi first and come back to Lapsta for the rest of the team and the gear, which would have been assembled and waiting on the beach at Lapsta, where the helicopter could land.

The day started with the first team cramming themselves and the gear into the van for Suchumi.

The first group packs into the van for Suchumi.

Equipment and gear are packed into the van for travel to Suchumi and later to Ortobalagan.

So the expedition had split into two parts, one, with more than a metric ton of gear composed of about 14 people were travelling to Suchumi, while the second team piled their own gear onto a designated part of the beach to wait for the helicopter to come back and pick them up.

Nikos and Elias in full winter mountain footwear, on a sunny beach by the Black sea.

Second team’s gear sits on the beach, waiting for the helicopter to return from Ortobalagan.

It was a strange sight on the beach, not only on account of the many languages being spoken - or not being spoken - but mainly due to the fact that it was quite a warm day for January, and a dozen or so people had come out to the beach wearing heavy mountain gear (i.e. plastic boots etc).

Half-team photo with SELAS and expeditions flags.

After the gear was stacked and ready, the opportunity came for the group photos before setting off. The first team meanwhile had reached the heliport in Suchumi, and has begun to load up their gear onto the helicopter, a de-commissioned military helicopter which was well built and redundantly over spec as was the norm then.

The fateful helicopter waits for people to be loaded up before commencing for the mountain.

It was planned to be a short trip, maybe half an hour, then twenty minutes down to Lapsta beach to pick up the other half of the expedition and another twenty minutes up again to allow the expedition to commence in earnest.

Cavers take their places in the helicopter.

Just as the team on the ground were sitting in their mountain gear and tightening straps and tying up shoelaces, so too, on board the same process was going on.

Last minute mountain checks on board.

The helicopter was large and the ride calm and uneventful, allowing many aerial photographs to be taken.

Enjoying the view on the way up to the mountain

A view of the coast from the helicopter

The highest peak of Arabika from the cockpit

The Valley of Ortobalagan from the cockpit - the last in-flight image.

The second team remained on the beach sunning themselves before setting off for the darkness of -2,000m, oblivious to the events on the mountain.

Waiting for the helicopter in the sun on Lapsta beach

The first news of any problem came via a mobile phone call made to those on the beach. The beach party were told that there had been a small problem on landing with the helicopter, and that the other helicopter couldn’t come to pick up the beach party presently.

News of the accident, very much understated, arrives at the beach.

The reconstruction of the events which I have understood, filtered like most of this report through Russian into Greek via English involves the following sequence of events:

Ortobalagan was spotted from afar and a suitable landing spot indicated to the pilot, who proceeded to make a bee-line for the spot which both kicked up a lot of the powdery snow, and resulted in the slight knocking of the rear propeller on the side of the mountain. The helicopter began to spin on its own axis, without the benefit of the rear propeller. There was a second collision, during which a section of the tail (rear) door opened which caused three members of the team to fall to the snow below, while the helicopter continued to spin about five to ten metres above the plain. One of those finding himself prematurely on the snow recalls seeing the helicopter rotating on itself above him as he lay face up in the snow. The helicopter finally hit the ground and came to rest on its left side in the snow after a long slue (spinning out a few times).

The helicopter lies on its left side, part of the tail missing.

Wreckage and people scattered over the plain.

Evacuation of everyone from the helicopter.

Evacuation of the equipment from the helicopter.

Evacuation of the equipment from the helicopter.

Evacuation of the helicopter.

Thankfully, there were no casualties. The three falling from a height had their falls cushioned by the soft and powdery snow but were nevertheless the more seriously hurt of those on board. The pilot was also amongst those with the heavier injuries, having unintentionally “exited” the cockpit through the windscreen on landing. First aid was administered to all wounded and arrangements were made to have those most badly hurt taken back to Suchumi with the other helicopter.

Administering first aid.

Scenes from Ortobalagan.

Scenes from Ortobalagan.

Arrangements being made for the wounded to be flown out.

Cockpit interior, after… arrival.

Scenes from Ortobalagan.

Scenes from Ortobalagan.

Helicopter windscreen.

Not long after the accident the back-up helicopter came to the site to pick up the wounded.

Evacuation of wounded.

Evacuation of wounded.

Evacuation helicopter arrives.

Powdery snow raised by evacuation helicopter.

Helping to evacuate the wounded through the powder.

The route to medical help.

After the evacuation of the wounded, the remaining members of the first team proceeded to inform those on the beach what was happening, and to prepare themselves for a night on the mountain, while it was decided whether or not to go ahead with the expedition as planned.

Meanwhile back at the crash site.

Dusk comes t o Ortobalagan.

The beach party returned to the refuge and waited for the next day and the opportunity to ride up and join the rest of the expedition, and so came the morning of Saturday 8 January.

Nikos and Elias hope to go up today.

All the preparations of the previous day were still in place and ready to be implemented. The Lapsta half of the expedition did not know the extent of the damage to the first helicopter, nor did they have any idea of the condition of the wounded who had been taken to Suchumi. The atmosphere was one of temporal uncertainty - there was no question of whether the expedition would continue, but at what time.

Kostas and the bags in Lapsta.

The time in Lapsta was spent in the refuge, waiting for news concerning the next steps. It was the perfect opportunity for the foreigners, and possibly even for those from neighbouring countries to become acquainted with the local food specialities.

Kostas in the refuge’s kitchen where the Lapsta team spent most of the day waiting.

Local speciality food.

Local speciality food.

Local speciality food.

On the morning of 9 January, the situation was no clearer for the Lapsta team. Those on the mountain were up there, some were in Suchumi recovering from a crash the extent of which was not known in Lapsta. A decision would have to be made today about the go/no-go status of the expedition.

Bivouac and tent arrangements on Ortobalagan.

An assessment was made of the damage which had been done to the chiefly electronic equipment. The computer which would have been used for contact with the outside world was lost to the crash.

Laptop no more.

Temporary base camp established.

View over the bivouac towards the sea.

Tail section quite a distance from the main hull.

There was still some work which could be done on the mountain, so the initial period of uncertainty was not a totally wasted time. The rigging gear could be taken some distance into the cave, either for use if the expedition was to proceed, or for safekeeping if the expedition was to be postponed for the summer.

Someone got to go caving!

Expedition bivouac on Ortobalagan.

Communications “mast” at bivouac.

Communication attempts with the laptop.

Mobile phone with external aerial.

During the stay on the mountain, it happened to be the birthday of one of the expedition leaders Oleg Klimchouk. Judging by the sparklers, some sort of celebration had not been unplanned.

Sparklers for Oleg’s birthday.

Meanwhile - and still no more knowledgeable about the situation, the Lapsta team did some more karst-tourism. The Blue Lake is a karstic feature near Bzip river which was deemed worth a visit.

Blue Lake beside Bzip river.

Kostas and Nikos on an “island” in the Blue Lake.

By the time the 9 January was finished, it had been decided by the expedition organisers to call off the current attempt to visit the cave and to come back in the summer. All that remained was the return of those on the mountain to sea-level.

Sundown on 9 January on the mountain.

The smaller helicopter which had ferried the wounded out came back to take the expedition back to Lapsta. They had visited the spring, but had not managed to drink from its waters...

Boarding the helicopter.

The Lapsta team were informed of the situation and went back to the beach to greet their friends as they returned.

Going to the beach.

The expedition re-united.

And so, two days later, Lapsta train station was the backdrop for the parade of cavers. Then, only few days before, they had come through and with high spirits and anticipation. Now, they were returning without having accomplished what they set out to do, frustrated but they were both relieved and happy that no one was very badly wounded and determined to return for another try later this year.

Cavers descend to the platforms in Lapsta station.

Train in Lapsta.

Nikos and Elias, about to set off for Russia again.

Caving gear piled waiting for the return journey.

Crossing the border back into Russia in daylight allowed a glimpse of the normal day to day border traffic - in this case, people coming and going with oranges for sale in Russia.

Border crossing.

And finally, the expedition was met in Athens, by Kostas Zoupis, president of the Hellenic Federation of Speleology (FHS).

Back in Athens.

There is talk of going back in July 2005. If this is the case, I will re-start the blog accordingly. If not, I may add to it whenever there is something noteworthy happening, regardless whether it is in Abkhazia or not.

Coming soon...

2005-03-24T17:30:00.000+02:00

So this took a whole lot longer than I imagined... but stay tuned because the rest of the story will be with us soon.

(including various food delicacies of the caucusus)

(and maybe some caves)

Click on the title - the big green letters at the top for the most recent page...

Down-time

2005-01-25T10:04:00.000+02:00

The blog is now up and running again. Please follow the link to the starting page. The blog will remain down for a while - apologies. It will be back as soon as possible.

More news in Cyrillic, Greek team arrives back in Greece

2005-01-12T13:19:00.000+02:00

Over at:Спортсмены-спелеологи попали в авиакатастрофу в Абхазии there is mention of the accident as more news comes out.

The title roughly translates to "Athletic Speleologists run into air disaster in Abkhazia". I am not going to even try to do all the Russian into English. I don't know enough. The article says that there were between 13 and 25 people on board.

Meanwhile, the Greeks touched down in Athens airport, Eleftherios Venizelos, about ten minutes ago. I'll be able to get a fully updated version of their experiences up after meeting them, hopefully later today.

Cyrillic visitors

2005-01-12T11:36:00.000+02:00

I have noticed a lot of "hits" from .ru and .ua, people who might be concerned about friends, family, acquaintances. There are updates in Russian at the speleolog site: Зазеркалье 2005. From what my rusty 2 years at night classes a long time ago at the Pushkin Institute can tell, it has details about train times for returning from Adler.

STOP PRESS

2005-01-10T13:49:00.000+02:00

News just in (and I haven't finished translating all the previous posts yet):

The mission has been postponed due to one of the helicopters crashing while attempting a landing in the valley close to the cave's entrance. The helicopter was carrying the mission's leaders and the Czech team. None of the Greeks were harmed, although it is not clear whether any were on board.

(re-posted with fuller translation at 15:15 EET)

The mission to Voronya has been put on hold until July. The first helicopter which was carrying the mission leaders and the Czech team crashed last Thursday during the approach procedure in the valley of Ortobalagan, very close to the entrance of Voronya at an altitude of 2200m. Only yesterday (9 January 2005) did the heavily injured return to our base at Adler and from there leave immediately for Moscow. This morning a different helicopter collected the gear and the last members of the mission from the mountain. All the Greek members of the mission are well and are beginning the return journey tomorrow.

The above is translated from a text message SMS received this morning. Let's hope for a swift healing process for the injured.

If the weather holds...

2005-01-09T17:35:00.000+02:00

A text message was received on the morning of Thursday 7 January 2005 that the weather is good and the ascent would probably be made during the day by helicopter.

Crossing the border! - 5 January message

2005-01-08T23:46:00.000+02:00

The following message was posted on 5 January to the SELAS forum:

...We've crossed the borders!!!

...last night at about 12 midnight after a very lengthy process we crossed the borders into Abkhazia!!!

The day was very tiring, seeing as we'd travelled from Moscow to Sochi by air. The situation in Sochi is very diffrent to what we had seen in Moscow. Untidiness and lack of organisation everywhere...

At the airport, Denis Provalov the leader of the mission was waiting for us. We then went by van for food to a village called Khosta, which is on the Black Sea. There we met some Czech speleologist friends. The local food was very good and also quite invigourating. Vodka flowed freely, and the mood was beautiful.

The only member of the team missing was Peter Hartley, a British speleologist living in America. As soon as he joined the group, we all went together to the borders.

The Abkhazians received us very hospitably in an "eyaero", a cavers' refuge with capacity for about 100 people. Oleg Klimchouk, the second in command of the mission was waiting for us there.

The weather was rainy all night, but fortunately this morning the sun made an appearance, an occurance which gives us hope that the flight with the helicopter may take place tomorrow morning (...possibly) .

The day today has so far been given over to relaxed preparations by all the 27 members of the mission. It is impressive to see that there are cavers from all parts of Russia, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, the UK and naturally, Greece!!!Generally speaking, the mission is dominated by men, with only two Russian lady-cavers.

Will the weather hold? If yes, then tomorrow we will be at the entrance to the cave at a height of about 2200m. Fortunately there will be internet access from the top of the mountain so we'll be able to send our news to the forum (when we are not in the cave itself).

PS.: We'd like to thank Mr. Yianni Zena for his warm wishes.

Arrival in Moscow - 4 January message

2005-01-08T23:28:00.000+02:00

The following message was posted on the forum website by Kostas on 4 January:

..So! we finally got to Moscow! We managed not to pay any excess luggage costs at the airport leaving Greece. With us at the airport were the President of the Hellenic Speleological Federation, Kostas Zoupis with his son Asteri. In addition, Niki Hatzilia and Kostas Iatrou were also with us from early on.

At the airport of the frozen and snowed-uder Moscow, we were picked up by Ilia Zharkov who put us up at his house.

He re-confirmed that the team's mission would be the surveying of the cave from -1440m to -2080m and possibly into the old side route which leads to -1710m.

All that troubles us now is the border crossing into George and the weather conditions in the area.

Will everything be OK for us to cross the borders as planned? Will the helicopter be able to fly, or will the weather be bad and we'll get stuck in Sochi.

We're setting off soon for the airport and we'll be leaving beautiful Moscow behind - we're flying for Sochi in 3 hours.

In one or two days, we'll know.

P.S.: We'd like to thank Iakovos Karakostanoglou and Stelios Varipatis for their wishes communicated to us by phone.

Picture

2005-01-08T23:14:00.000+02:00

The picture is up on the forum website (check the link above and scroll down, until further notice). I am on a boat coming back to Greece and will be in a position to have everything up and running again before Tuesday. The picture was posted on 2 January on the forum with the following text:

This afternoon we got together at SELAS for the final details and to get the gear together. We are enthusiastic and waiting for our departure tomorrow at 13.10 with Aeroflot for Moscow. In Moscow we will meet Ilia Zharkov a member of the CAVEX-Team and we'll be spending the night in Moscow. On Tuesday afternoon we'll be flying to Sochi, on the southern borders of the Russian Federation (borders with Georgia). It is possible that on Wednesday, if the weather is suitably clement, we might board the two helicopters with which to approach the entrance to Voronya. Before saying our goodbyes to the club, we took a photo:

We would like to thank again our sponsor, TNT, and all those who have helped us prepare for the mission.

In the picture left to right are: Kostas Adamopoulos, Ilias Kazais and Nikos Mitsakis.

The boys have set off

2005-01-03T20:17:00.000+02:00

There should be a picture here of the three members of the Hellenic Speleological Athletic Club (SELAS) moments before they set off for the airport to go and join the mission to Voronya - currently the deepest cave in the world.

Unfortunately, due to computer snafus, I don't have the picture, which is a pity, as I am sure it shows the newly crafted SELAS flag and a whole bunch of TNT kit, seeing as they are sponspring the SELAS participation.

Given that I am in the middle of the Adriatic, and the boys are probaly on the edge of the Euxine already, that picture will probably have to wait until the 12th.

Apologies to those reading.

Posting plans

2004-12-31T15:50:00.000+02:00

The boys will set off on 3 January. I will not be near a computer until 10 January, although I hope to be in telephone contact with the mission before then.

The earliest I will be able to post news on the mission will be 10 January 2005, and probaly 12 January by the time I have translated into English from Greek.

Have a good new year, and check back for news of the mission.

Special thanks, also to:

2004-12-31T15:36:00.000+02:00

The members of the mission would also like to thank:

SELAS, for the support provided as rigging gear.

The Hellenic Federation of Speleology and its president Kostas Zoupis for support in the search for sponsorship.

Special thanks also go to Peter Stavropoulos for the concession of his surveying kit (with laser rangefinder)...

...and our regular benefactor, the doctor Kostas Iatrou for covering the purchase of photographic equipment and consumables for the mission.

A word about our sponsor

2004-12-31T15:34:00.000+02:00

The mission has been kindly sponsored by TNT. Without their support, the mission would have been almost impossible to execute.

Info about the SELAS mission

2004-12-31T13:51:00.000+02:00

The following information is a translation of the posts on the SELAS forum about the mission to survey the lowest sections of the deepest cave in the world: Voronya-Krubera (-2,080m).

Last October, a new section was discovered in Voronya - Krubera, in the Western Caucasus, in Russia [sic] at an altitude of 2300m. This new section led the Russian and Ukranian cavers to the as yet unattained depth of -2080m, which is not only a world record but a desire of the world caving community for many years. The leader of the Russian mission, D.Provalov invited a three-man team from the Speleological Hellenic Athletic Club to take part in a planned mission aiming to survey the cave from -1440 to -2080.

The invitation came after very positive previous cooperation between Greek and Russian cavers, both within Greece and abroad. The invitation is a great honour for us, not only for the members of the team but for all Greek cavers, given that we are being asked to explore and survey this very large cave. The mission will be manned by 25 people and will take place between 2 and 20 January 2005.

The Greek participants in the expedition will be: K.Adamopoulos, N.Mitsakis and I.Kazais, all three of whom are members of Selas.

A brief history of exploration at Voronya

2004-12-31T13:44:00.000+02:00

A brief history of exploration at Voronya was sent to SELAS by e-mail from Oleg Klimchuk, Denis Provalov. SELAS is very fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in the surveying of the cave early in 2005. The text linked to above, is in English.

How the story started

2004-12-31T11:13:00.000+02:00

Back in mid November, I go to the club, like every wednesday, and find Ilias talking about helicopters, avalanches and snow in the Caucasus. It all seemed like a perfect re-telling of the mission to Voronya that had made it the deepest in the world, a few years back. It turns out that we had had contact from a Russian team planning to go on down in early 2005. The message from Denis Provalov has been reproduced on the SELAS forum.

From that day on, the three boys going on the mission: Kostas Adamopoulos, Nikos Mitsakis and Ilias Kazais began the preparations for the mission. It was exciting for a relative beginner like myself to be present during the planning and preparations of such a mission.

Going to Voronya...

2004-12-30T13:33:00.000+02:00

Voronya (so called on account of the ravens at the entrance) is officially called Krubera and is found in the Arabika Massif of the Caucasus. There are plenty of sites having information in various languages, and I'll get a list of links made up as soon as possible.

Purpose of the blog is to chart the mission being conducted with the participation of three boys from SELAS, the Speleological Hellenic Athletic Club. The plan is to map the recent advances made in the cave, especially from about -1400 to the bottom (currently at -2080).

The participation of SELAS is kindly sponsored by TNT.