France - Gourneyras June 2009
Participant: Roland Kring, Robin Sporrer, Tim Löffler, Oli Kurtz, Peter Gärtner, Manu Schoch, Marc Große, Tobi Ziegler, Tibor Czuppon
Guests: Manuel Fiore, Christian Pinne, Fred Petzinger
Again we were drawn to the Gourneyras: After we had been there last year and were thrilled by the surroundings and the cave, we packed our gear and headed for the south of France. But this time we came better prepared, had optimized our camping equipment and had the master plan in the bag...
The aim of the project was, on the one hand, to visit the line end of the EKPP and look for a continuation if necessary and, on the other hand, to introduce a few "freshers" to cave diving: We invited Manuel Fiore and Christian Pinne to come along. Both are experienced trimix divers and can handle the required equipment without stress, but in a cave things sometimes look different. For the first experiences the Gourneyras is ideally suited: Sufficiently large dimensions, in the entrance area good line situation and you can see the entrance during the first 70m. And if you don't get the cave fever when diving out towards the light, cave diving is not for you.
But both got their money's worth: A first impression while setting the habitat in the shallow area, then in a second dive the depositing of the deco bottles of Roland & Robin. As a treat there was a "real" cave dive: It went down to 50m and there both could look around the corner. Since we do not consider cave diving as a pure fun event, there were detailed de- and briefings and support during the dives. So much can be said: Both did a good job and could get used to the feeling of diving in a cave. But it was also clear that cave diving requires more than a quick bleach among friends. We had been able to convince Fred to take his photo equipment with him. After all, we wanted to bring home underwater pictures this time.
Already the check of the pool promised good conditions. After the check dive it was clear: The project could be carried out if the weather conditions would remain stable: In the run-up it had rained and there had been some thunderstorms. If such a thunderstorm would fall over the catchment area, the conditions could quickly change. Visibility was around 10m, which is not bad but the lower limit. However, we were optimistic that conditions would continue to improve. The ropeway was quickly set up and we had prepared steel legs to optimize the rope run. Equipment for 12 divers - that's quite a lot! And everything had to be loaded into the ropeway, lowered, unloaded and sorted. Everything that could go into the pool was immediately lowered into the water, where it was grouped into bundles per diver.
On the first day of diving, the habitat was set and deco gases were deposited. In addition, the condition of the line was checked in 3 teams staggered. If necessary, it should be mended immediately. First Tobi and Tibor scooted open to the shaft. This was followed by Manu and Peter, who additionally checked the 100m area.
Tim and Marc then had to turn around before reaching the 80m prong: A clear agreement in our team is that safety has absolute priority - the golden rule of cave diving applies. However, since the line was in excellent condition, we weren't worried about Roland and Robin's dive going up. If there is one thing we know how to do, it is to make fire and barbecue :-)
As we do every evening, we fired up the grill and talked through the schedule and details of the day ahead. The next day was marked by Roland & Robin's pushdive. Coordinated with your schedule, teams were sent into the water in defined time intervals to see if they had already arrived on the deco steps, if they were lacking something, if you could take equipment from them and help them into the Habi and out again. In the meantime, the cable car was also started for 3 hours and what was no longer needed was taken to the top. When darkness fell, we turned on our camping stoves and made ourselves something to eat. When Peter and Tibor brought up the empty reel, it was clear that it must have been worth it! But there were still a few hours of deco before the personal report of the two. When they finally showed up, a lot of tension left the team: everything had gone well and was crowned by a success! Of course, this was celebrated at the campfire...
The next morning brought a lot of work: The remaining equipment had to be transported upstairs and loaded into the respective cars. But since we had enough to talk about, only the arms got long, but never the time. Since everyone was exhausted and wanted to start the journey home the next morning, we went to bed early. The crowning finale of the project was the cleaning - after all, we didn't want to leave anything but exhaled Trimix behind. ? All in all, the six days were an exhausting time, but also a time full of impressions. The team has grown together and has also developed further in diving. Let's see which actions we can report about this year!
Report Team 1
Deepsupport Tobias Ziegler, Tibor Czuppon
After all necessary preparations had been made the day before, a schedule had been set up for the morning of Thursday between the 3 deep support teams as follows. Team 1 (T.Ziegler and T.Czuppon) dove to the deep shaft at about 900m penetration to check the line and visibility in the cave. A start time of 9 o'clock in the morning was discussed. This could be approximately kept with 20 minutes delay.
Team 1, both Open Circuit with 3 Bottommix Stages (TMX 15/55), 3 deco gases (35/35;50/25 and O2) were each equipped with scooter and backupscooter, descended on the TMX 35/35 and deposited the oxygen at 6m in the pool. As the descent continued down the shaft, the 50/25 was deposited on the line at 21m and a gas change was made to the TMX 15/55 at 36m and the stowed TMX 35/35 stage was placed on the line. Base time was taken at the bottom of the shaft at minute 12 and parallel scootering followed the course of the cave. For possible line breaks, two reels with 120m line each had been taken along, but these were not used due to the robust French clothesline laid on the first kilometer of the cave. The cave had except for 2 short passages gigantic passage profiles with widths and heights of partly more than 10-12m, which made a complete illumination now and then not possible. Visibility became even better with increasing penetration and after about 21 minutes on the scooter trigger and after diving through the first deeper cave passage at 70m, the first stage change was made at 55m depth with about m penetration. Afterwards a full and the empty TMX stage was hung up on the line and further it went with now only one stage a little faster toward deep shaft....after further approx.6 Triggerminuten was it now reached. At the end of an approx. 5m wide and up to 3m high corridor a huge room opened up to us, which had a horizontal round washout on its opposite side. Below us over a siphon-like round slope opened a large approx. 6-8m wide hole in which this imposing room plunged further into the depth. The line led here further continuously into the depth, with which our check was completed to fullest satisfaction for the pushdive of Roland and Robin. We made our way back after briefly taking in these impressions without any major incidents, except for a reel that had been released as if by magic and a lamp that had been briefly hung up. We reached the entrance shaft at 45m depth at TG minute 73 and recorded a 61 minute bottom time for our decompression, during which everything went smoothly and we then left the water with a satisfied smile after 218 minutes total dive time.
Dive Manu & Peter
As Deep Support Team 2 we had the task to check the line up to a depth of 100m and to repair it if necessary. Due to the heavy rainfall in the last time (there is an impressive picture of the water masses on www.plongeesout.com) we expected only line fragments. But Tibor and Tobias had certainly already done good preparatory work and due to our rebreathers we were not so limited in time. Therefore we were optimistic that we could reach our goal.
Wildlife: There was one small problem before we started: A family of adder was also enjoying the idyllic pool. Most of the snakes were sunbathing in a distant corner, so divers and snakes didn't actually meet. Only one found our stages really interesting and had to be carefully relocated by hand by Manu.
After the surface checks we lowered to 6m, sorted our equipment, did the necessary checks, and then we drove down the slope to 45m, on the respective depths we parked the deco bottles, and turned out of the cavern area into the cave. Visibility was good, 15m in places in the front area, but sometimes only 10m. Due to the changing impressions, the ride to the shaft was very nice, the "scooter restrictions" were really fun. All in all we had a quite relaxed way, because the stable clothesline was not broken and only some snoopy loops were loose. Trying to wrap this "line" around rocks or ledges just doesn't work out so well with the wire. The shaft itself was the highlight of the dive and since we were well on time, we enjoyed the sight for some time. Then we sank a bit deeper and parked one of our scooters each on a rock plate at about 63m. Thereby we noticed something that brings tears to our eyes: A scooter must have died here. In a crevice lay a piece of PVC disk with a relay on it. As old treasure hunters we could not leave the good part lying and pushed it into the bag.
From the top of the shaft visibility opened up, so that in the deep part we had certainly 20-25m visibility! We followed, still without having to mend, the line to the deepest point of the passage at 100m, put the arm in the dirt ;-), contemplated a few more moments this space and made our way home.
The way back was as relaxed as the way in and we had time to let our thoughts wander a bit: We both noticed, independently of each other, how pleasant a disciplined and well-rehearsed team is: If communication and procedure are right, then such a dive is actually an "easy dive": As long as you can see in the corner of your eye that your partner's lamp is quiet, everything is fine. If the partners complement each other in such a way that the diver in front gives the diver behind some space on the line and illuminates the continuation, the partner behind can illuminate the piece of line lying directly in front of you. This makes fast progress possible and at the same time you automatically always have the line and the way out referenced. The view from almost 50m high to the entrance area is simply breathtaking every time! We saw Roland and Robin in the back light, how they prepared their habitat. Chris and Manuel already came to meet us to free us from superfluous equipment. After about 300 minutes we were back on the surface and enjoyed the sun.
Burn scars: This beautiful dive was unfortunately overshadowed by a negative event. Just as Manu stuck her head out of the water, she suddenly screamed and ripped the heater plug out of her suit. As we saw later, the connection cable of the heating mat was completely burned through and left a big burn blister. From our experience, we can only warn against the use of such mats for diving, even if they are advertised for that purpose. Apparently they are not up to the stresses of diving. There have been several smaller thermal incidents with these mats, also within the Cavebase, and actually we are all in the process of switching to wires (e.g. Kutu, Fa. Schwarz), but Manu still got it. And that was the most severe thing that has happened to us so far: A two-finger burn that will certainly take some time to heal completely. Whether scars will remain, we have to see then. But Manu was brave, gritted her teeth and still remembered the day beautifully!
Push Dive (Roland & Robin)
TG duration : 862 min
Basic time : 360 min
Max. Depth 100 m
The next morning we got up at 6:30 and filled up our carbohydrate stores in the usual way before longer dives. Roland preferred ravioli this time, Robin ate a plate of macaroni with tomato sauce. We drank again plenty of water and apple juice spritzer and then there was for each still the obligatory tablet Immodium, because bowel movement one does not really want to have during the dive ...
Around 7:30 we were then at the cave pool, Robin was assisted by Manu and Roland by Marc in putting on the double rebreathers in the pool. Before that we briefly checked the heating shirts, plugged the stages with the Trimix 35/35 into the switch block of the primary RB and breathed on the scrubbers for a few minutes. We said goodbye to the team and finally descended into this beautiful cave.
Fred and Oli were already waiting in the cave to take some photos. Visibility conditions were not as good as last time and reached about 15 m in the front part of the cave. In the pre-dive we took a quick look at the habitat fixed on the ceiling in the entrance area and at our stages with the 50/25 that we had put down on 21 m. On 36 m we changed from the Trimix 35/35 to a Trimix15/60 that we wanted to use for the first 1000 m on an average of 60 m until a depth of 75 m. The Trimix15/60 was used for the first 1000 m of the dive. We left the 35/35 on the line at 36 m for later decompression. In addition, we each took 3 more 80 cf Trimixstages with a 110 m gas in the form of a Trimix 12/75 as well as 2 Suex Magnumscooter ADV 42 each. So from now on we were each on the road with 4 x 80 cf Trimixstages and 2 Magnumscooters. We checked the backup rebreather once again and then we were off again.
We scooted quickly in the direction of the shaft and passed our 84 Ah heating tubes as well as our 54 m deco gases with a Trimix 25/45. The illumination of the corridor profile was not quite so easy this time due to the somewhat poorer visibility conditions and we spread out a few meters to the right and left of the line in order to be able to illuminate as large an area of the hall-like corridor as possible. We followed the passage profile and scooted further into the cave and enjoyed the passage dimensions, which are much more impressive in the deeper part beyond the 1000 m mark than in the front part. After about 35 min on the trigger, we finally reached the area of the cave where it drops from the 80 m area to a depth of about 105 m. The floor was visible this time. The bottom was not visible this time and we looked under the ceiling to the right of the line scootering, into a large, mystical-looking, black hole. Absolutely magnificent!
Our line that we laid down the shaft in October was still intact and amazingly after the heavy winter rains, not broken. We deposited a stage with the 75 m Trimix (15/60) at the head of the shaft at 78 m and changed to the first of the three 110 m Trimixstages (Trimix 12/75) and checked our backup rebreathers again. We then scooted down the giant shaft quickly, reaching a maximum depth of 100 m this time with a slightly higher water level, and the bottom was around 105 m. The existing line of the EKPP of Reinhard and Micha, which we had patched again and again in the previous year, as well as the new line laid by us, was surprisingly still intact here. Since we already knew the course of the further passage profile from our TG in October 08, we made relatively quick progress here and stayed on the triggers of the scooter and positioned ourselves as often as possible next to each other in order to illuminate the passage dimension as best as possible.
The cave rises after the 100 m place again on a depth of 80 m, around immediately thereafter on 95 m to fall off then again rapidly on a depth of about 70 m again to rise. Here, after about 50 min of trigger time, we switched scooters through and pulled the previous scooter as a backup. The passage profile of the cave drops again to about 92m. Here we scooted about 10 min in the 90 m area and looked at some places of possible passage continuations, which we had marked last time. After that the profile of the cave rises again progressively from 90 m to 50 m. We grin at each other cheekily at 90 m, look up with shining eyes and then each of us knows what comes now: On the trigger and quickly up there! :-) I have to laugh my head off every time Roland in Bavarian dialect and with Trimix distorted voice in the loops of the Rebreather his joy exclaims such as: "Full cool the hole!" and I then accordingly with a small Hessian singing interlude to keep the mood at the peak.
After the passage profile rises to 50 m, the cave initially runs for about 200 m in this depth range. After 95 min in the dive we reach our marker from October 08. I smile because this time we were about 80 min faster at this point than last time and the line situation (search for passage continuation, mend line, lay new line) cost us a lot of time back then (see report October 2008). The gas consumption was also significantly lower this time, so that we were now able to relax at our former end point. Here the line was broken without any line continuation. I connected the reel to the mainline and Roland scooted ahead, illuminated the gear profile and looked for the continuation. We continued to follow the passage profile and the passage dimensions were now much smaller than in the previous sections in the cave and amounted to about 4 x 5 m and in some places smaller with only 2 x 3 m, only to widen again in diameters shortly afterwards.
The perlocation worsened in some places the otherwise excellent visibility in the passage considerably. Expecting the cave to drop into the 90 m range according to the known depth profile, we were amazed to find that we had been scouting in the 60-65 m range for quite some time without the depth profile dropping any further. The reel was in the meantime well half unwound and we had 250 m of new line laid. In the meantime we changed the reels and Roland scooted with the reel in his hand further into the cave and I scooted ahead and illuminated the passage profile and looked where it went further. It was clear to us that this passage does not lead to the line end of Michael and Reinhard (EKPP) and here no man was ever before. Always a crazy cool feeling to know that we were the first people here :-)
Unfortunately, it came what had to come: Roland signaled me that the reel is unwound and we have no more line! What have we cursed! Roland fixed the end of the line at a prominent rocky outcrop. I scooted about 100m further and reached a prominent place where the passage seems to divide and one has the impression the cave would drop to the right in the further course again and rise over the left side. The course of the passage continues! Roland followed and was still cursing that we ran out of rope. We had intentionally taken only one reel with 500m of line because we couldn't guess that the cave had another and such a long passage. The one 500m reel was actually only intended to mend destroyed and torn line.
It was no use! We shook our heads and turned around, changed the scooters before and scooted out of the passage into the known part of the Gourneyras. Now we started looking for the line end of Michael and Reinhard again and reached the 90 m area near the line end of them in minute 220 in the dive. Here, the cave looked like a dead end and formed a large entrenchment hall. Loose line fragments showed the way up. We exchanged briefly and Roland dives slowly, looking around, up into the 30-40 m range in the direction of the ceiling and looks for passage continuations, while I search down in the 90 m range also systematically for passage continuations and now and then knot and mend line and still sacrifice one of my spools, because the line to connect is too short and I am missing about 20 m line. When I am finished, I want to Roland also upward, as this comes to me already from above and signals, here it goes no further! I tell him the same and we turn around. Thus we extended in the first attempt in this part of the cave the end of the cave documented so far by the EKPP in the Gourneyras around 485 m on altogether for the time being about 2450 meters.
The end is open due to lack of line. We will be back!
On the way back we exchanged the scooters again and after 290 minutes in the TG we reached the discarded stages with the 75m gas at the head of the shaft about 1000 meters before the exit. Here we switched back to the stage with the Trimix 15/60 and after some deep stops we finally scooted towards the exit. About 700 m into the cave my ears finally stopped working and I couldn't equalize the pressure. The cave drops here from the 60 m range briefly on 70 m to run on afterwards in the 55-60 m range and on half a distance one has with approx. 350 m again a rise on 40 m and a renewed drop of the depth profile on approx. 60m. I had managed the pressure equalization between 50 and 100 m depth a few times a bit hesitantly during the ascents and descents beyond the 1000 m mark, but now I just couldn't manage the pressure equalization. I signaled my ear problem to Roland and positioned myself a good 15 m above the line on the ceiling and pulled my nasivin squeeze bottle out of my leg pocket to deliver a few strokes of nasivin right and left into my nose after switching from rebreather to open circuit. Roland already took a comfortable position and watched the whole thing relaxed :-) After 2-3 minutes the pressure equalization succeeded and we scooted further out of the cave.
After 360 minutes we finally reached our stages with the 54 m gas (25/45) and plugged this into the switch block of our rebreather and stayed here for 5 minutes after the gas change and put away our remaining stages. At 51 m we took our 84 Ah heating tanks and plugged them into the suit passage of our Trockis and switched on the heating. From 39 m we already started with gas breaks with the Trimix 15/60 to preserve the lungs for the following decompression and to increase the decompression quality. Sustained high oxygen partial pressures lead to swelling of the interstitial lung tissue and thus reduce diffusion and gas exchange, which is necessary for good decompression.
We decompressed to the top and during the 36 m deco stop Tibor and Peter already met us and asked us if everything was okay and if we needed anything. We write to the two that we have found a gear continuation, 485 m of line newly laid, thirsty and we would like to have something to drink, the back hurts, but otherwise everything is okay and we need next time more, definitely more line! The two of them take the scooters and no longer needed Stages - which we had already clipped to the leash - upstairs and go on their way. We kept one trimix stage each for the deeper gas breaks we were doing on the rebreathers and decompressed further up. We wrote Tibor & Peter the planned deco procedure in the wetnotes, so that all involved can plan exactly when we will arrive at which deco stage and when we want to enter the habitat and communicated that the habitat crew should arrive about 15 min before the end of the 12m stop. At the deco we then decided to cut the 15m stop by about 20% and the 12m stop by about 1/3 of the originally planned deco time.
In between Fred and Tibor came by every now and then and checked us out. 15 minutes before the end of the 12m deco stage the habitat crew arrived and prepared everything. At minute 660 we were ready to enter the habitat at 9.5 m and performed a 15 min gas break on the Trimix 17/55 that was placed at the habitat. Robin was first this time and climbed into the habitat after he was helped out of the double rebreather by Tobi Z., Manu S., and Marc and the weight belt was put on. Tim was on standby as a belay diver with his long pants clipped off. Roland was next. This time it worked like clockwork and after less than 5 minutes we were both sitting in the habitat. Horny and perfectly coordinated team!
When we were both sitting in the habitat, we first ended the gas break and switched to the O2. Gas breaks now took place in the habitat in the ratio 12:8 (O2: Breakgas). In the habitat we ate a 300 g bar of milk chocolate (thanks Tim!), tuna with corn and applesauce and plenty of liquid. Next time there's definitely something warm to eat! We stayed 180 min in the Habitat and discussed the TG and reviewed everything again. Every now and then we exchanged information with the others outside in the wetnotes and agreed on a time to leave the habitat.
Before leaving the habitat we did a 15 minute gas break on the trimix and one by one, first Robin, then Roland with the help of Manu S., Marc, Oli, Tim and Fred (did I forget anyone ?) left the habitat and after a slow ascent, escorted by one diver each, surfaced in the pool at minute 862.
Once again it was the middle of the night. As soon as we were up and had put the RBs on the pensioner tables, the habitat crew already disposed of the habitat from the cave and it floated in the pool. Besides that, the cave was quickly cleared of the remaining stages and other equipment and the cave was as pristine as before. We had planned this time with a shortened decompression time of about 8 hours and in the end we extended our basic time from last time by 1 hour and shortened the decompression by 1 hour. We again assumed a full saturation profile.
Thanks to all participants for the support! You were all great, respect and appreciation!
Robin & Roland
From a newbie's point of view
After I got the chance to participate with the Cavebase in a project at the Gourneyras, my vacation destination for July 2009 was fixed, France I come. Robin was so nice to take me and my still quite sparse equipment in his bus. In the night from 8. to 9.06.2009 we started. During the 10 hours drive I had enough time to ask the poor guy about cave diving and what to expect: ) Thanks again! But what was surely worse than my curiosity was the question if the weather will hold and the project can start!? (as it turned out Peter meant it well with us)
Day 1.
Hardly arrived at the destination, I knew that it was the right decision to go with. The panorama is overwhelming! After the rest of the team arrived, we got right down to business. We were going to use the rest of the day to set up and test the zip line. Since the division of who had to do what had been decided for quite some time, we were able to get started right away. A few scratches, abrasions and mosquito bites later, the habitat started its journey towards the cave pool. The huge amount of equipment gave us an idea of what was waiting for us the next day.
Day 2.
After a short refreshment in the cold Vis, we were off. I thought that it would be exhausting, but I underestimated the whole thing. However, it must be mentioned here that through the excellent cooperation and organization everything ran smoothly "praise be the MENSCHEKETT" : ) and the fun of it all, not a second came too short! "Shut up, carry bottles!" : )
After all the equipment was at the pool, it was time to set the habitat. Robin, Oli, Tibor and I took on the task. After some initial difficulties (the habitat was a bit different from the last one), we found an ideal place and set the drying chamber for the guys. About my gas consumption (Ean 32) during this action I would rather not talk now : ) In order to use the remaining time, the habitat was immediately equipped with the necessary oxygen bottles and break gases.
Day 3.
Today dives were planned by Tobi and Tibor, Manu and Peter as well as Tim and Marc. The goal was besides brilliant dives the mending of the line, if necessary. Chris, Robin and I brought some more equipment, like scooters, BMX-stages, heating tanks for the pushdive the next day into the cave. Furthermore Chris and I supported Manu and Peter a bit during their deco and took the scooters and the empty stages from them.
Day 4.
Pushdive! After Roland and Robin had descended, the rest of the team decided without further ado to bring equipment that was no longer needed back up via the ropeway. No sooner said than done! Now there was enough time for Tobi and Tibor, Manu and Oli as well as Tim, Chris, Marc and me to go diving.
At this point again many thanks to Tim for the guiding. As gases we used o2, ean 50 and a BM Stage as well as D12 with 18/45. After the dives the ropeway was started again. Now Tibor and Peter dived down for the first check, but there was still no trace of Roland and Robin. Now came the tough part of the day, waiting ......and waiting...........even after the guys had successfully returned and were hanging in the deco, the waiting continued : )
Around 10 pm Manu, Oli, Marc, Tibor and Tobi, Roland and Robin helped to get into the habitat. Now 3 h left and we will find out what they achieved. Tibor and I, packed in the fancy waders were waiting for the guys at their pensioner tables around 1 o'clock to support them in putting down the double RBs.
Exhausted, happy, satisfied and successful we all returned to camp.
Day 5.
Nothing exciting to tell, all the stuff had to go back up : )
Day 6.
Journey home.............: ( In general I would like to thank the whole team again! I felt welcome and totally integrated from the first minute. Despite the tough organization and partly high effort one thing did not come too short, the fun of diving! I would almost like to be able to say that everyone got their money's worth and no one really had to take a back seat. This was especially important, without losing sight of the goal!
Greetings Manu F.
In this sense,
Your Cavebase
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