Cavebase Gourneyras August 2009
Teilnhemer: Roland, Robin, Fred, Tobi P., Manu, Peter, Tim, Oli, Chris
After there was more gear than line in July, it was clear that we had to get back to the south of France as soon as possible to finish the Cavebase @ Gourneyras project. Fortunately, enough members from the team had time for the expedition and we found a date on short notice. So the Cavebase set off again towards sun, red wine and cheese.
The advance team was again Manu and Peter, who were already there one day before the rest and used the time for some scouting right away.
Immediately following the scouting, they went to the cave pool. The water level was certainly 1.5m lower than 7 weeks before and the pool appeared green and murky. Out of their Mexico experience, however, this did not frighten the two, as it had been very warm the last few nights, which encouraged algae growth. Manu slipped into her swimsuit, swam to the center of the pool and dove free. And found what she had expected: At 3m water depth there was a thermocline and the algae were gone. There was a clear view through crystal clear water into the entrance area of the cave. Somehow this had something of "Carwash" in Mexico. So it was clear: The project could go ahead!
We had agreed on this procedure, since we could estimate in the meantime from our previous visits the visibility conditions in the cave and we had saved ourselves the risky carrying down of the equipment over extremely impassable terrain.
The rest of the troop joined the advance team later in the afternoon, as half of France was on the highways heading south - around them cars with small children, flippers and water wings. The cars were unloaded together and the cable car was already set up.
We let the evening end with a hearty barbecue. Olli's grill bucket has now repeatedly proven itself and can be recommended! After about half of the meat and sausage mountains were consumed, we were surprised by a powerful thunderstorm, which even extinguished the grill. But as violent as it came, it was over again: After an hour, the coals were glowing again and we continued grilling. Our French neighbors - 4 families with children, who were camping behind the old house, were still celebrating late into the night and dancing around the fire, when we were already fast asleep.
We had further optimized the ropeway by a slide - in Fred slumbers a true carpenter! Thus the barrel slid easily over the edges and spared our forces and the material. In the meantime, the procedures are so well-rehearsed that the transport runs easily from our hands. In the afternoon Jean Marc from the Plongee-Sout visited us, he got a coffee in the camp and we exchanged caving and diving stories. After our well-deserved break he left us again and we agreed to meet again on our next visit to France. We were very happy about his visit, because on the one hand he is a nice person with great caving experience and on the other hand the good relationship to the French cave (diving) scene is a matter of concern for us - we are only guests in France and respect the local groups, which compile and publish information with a lot of work and commitment. And with pleasure we will do our part and share our data!
Besides cave diving, this place, since you are virtually in the wilderness, actually always offers opportunities for nature observation besides har: On this day, a kingfisher fluttered over our heads twice like a blue flash - just a beautiful sight!
Setup and free diving
On the third day, as usual, setup for the pushdive and free diving was the order of the day - both of course coordinated with each other. Manu and Peter unfortunately could not start to their desired goal, because Peter was plagued by a gastrointestinal infection, and the up and down in the back part triggers the growth of the bladder, to which then under circumstances an activated immune system reacts more strongly. So the day was used wisely and a habitat training was scheduled: Chris and Tobi helped Manu and Peter into the habitat, Roland looked at the whole thing from the outside to collect ideas for improvements of the process. Although it was new territory for all four participants, everything went like clockwork and the team had a lot of fun. The experience gained was also discussed at length later on, and we'll probably be a bit faster next time.
In the afternoon we got again nice visitors: Wido from EKPP was on family vacation in the area and used the cloudy day to have a look at the conditions of the caves in the area. His son, at least, was visibly impressed by all the frogmen and actually wanted to stay for a while. Also his wooing away attempt for Oli and Tim was repulsed with friendly emphasis... It CAN'T actually be that the barbecue parties at the EKPP are HOWEVER better...;-)
Pushdive
We started the day in a relaxed way. After Roland and Robin had started, we started the last dives to bring all material to the right place. Manu and Oli brought in the 54m tanks, Tobi and Chris put down the heating tanks at 40m, Peter and Tim brought in the last drink bags and stowed some small crust on the Habi and checked all the deco tanks. Tobi played the lightman for Fred and they took a few more photos. The first dive, during which we looked for the two pushdivers, brought the certainty that they had come back healthy. We got the deco plan of the two written in wetnotes and could plan our cleanup dives for the deep part (Peter and Oli) and the habitat crew (Manu, Oli, Tobi, Fred). The entry and exit into the Habi went like clockwork and the Habitat crew cleaned up the shallow stops right away. The next morning, the habitat was brought to the surface and the rest of the fakes that were attached to the habitat were taken out. In the evening we all sat around the fire and let the day end.
Dismantling
The next day the sun burned down from the sky without any clouds - normally this kind of thing makes you happy when you are on vacation in France, but since we had to bring all the equipment back up today, we would have been happy about some fair weather clouds. But it also went like this.
By sunset, even the last car was packed and we could throw our not insignificant leftovers on the grill. In between, we had to move a little to the side, because a family wanted to go on a donkey hike to the river. Clever thing: You walk leisurely through the valley and let the donkey drag the luggage. After the exhausting day, some of us touched our ears to see if they had grown as well, like our dragging colleagues.
A nice episode: around noon French divers came by and we looked at their equipment with envy: An apnea club made a trip to the Gourneyras to dive there - we had arrived with about 2.5 tons of equipment, the apnea artists with narrow luggage - there the intervertebral disc laughs! With pleasure we drove down your equipment and picnic baskets. Pretty sure they shook their heads over the crazy Germans.
The day of departure should still hold an adventure for us: We tried to get a spare tire for one of our cars in Montpellier. The attempt to cheat the garage came to nothing, they were probably a little worried about the increasingly annoyed crowd in front of the door - but that's another story that has nothing to do with diving and is better told another time. Only so much: They have refused to take money at the end and were glad when they were rid of us again. And we honestly also...
Again, it was an exhausting project. But the effort was worth it for us - we got what we could out of the cave. We learned and got our money's worth. And we were certainly able to switch off in our heads, even though we arrived home physically exhausted. Even if the cave seems to be over for us with our equipment - we will surely come back. The impressions at this wonderful spot are too strong for that!
Push TG Report Gourneyras 04.08.2009 ( Robin & Roland )
Since we had to turn around the last time (see report June 09) on open stretch in the cave due to lack of line (485m newly laid), we were accordingly better prepared this time and had in the pre-planning a total of 4 exploration reels with 500m line each as well as a corresponding scooter logistics, which would allow us a total penetration of about 4500 - 5000m.
In addition, we decided to carry an additional (fifth) trimix stage with a Trimix 17/60 to be prepared in case the cave becomes shallower further on. The O2 drop is a disadvantage that is bought by the use of PSCRs and must be covered by other gases.
Of course, a reasonable TG pre-planning also includes clear definitions of limits - hard limits that immediately lead to termination, as well as soft ones that are evaluated together depending on the situation. By "escalating" the amount of equipment and gas, one can shift these criteria in such a way that one has considerable leeway in this regard. Since we did not know how the further depth profile of the cave runs we planned 3 deep Trimixstages 12/75, well knowing that 2 Stages are loosely sufficient for the deep range on the double RB.After we had descended with the 35/35 and exchanged it for the Trimix-Stages deposited by the team before and had taken up our scooters, the reflector already fell out of the lamp head after 100m - first we made stupid faces, and then laughed. So back again and exchanged the reflector. Also the waiting team had to hold their bellies...
Arrived at the 54m point we put down our argonstages and changed to our 3l argon bottles at the backpack - since it was already our 3rd visit to the Gourneyras we enjoyed our "flight" to the beginning of our new line. Overall, visibility was good by Gourneyras standards - but not peaky (i.e. visibility at about 15m).
Description of the passage
The new passage has smooth walls and a light yellow color, which is actually untypical for the Gourneyras. Also the zigzag course, every 15-20m the cave changes its direction by at least 60 degrees, does not correspond to the character of the main passage. We could make our tieoffs well at protruding peaks or holes in the rock.
After following our line for a good 120m, we encounter a vertical cleft that continues to 35m water depth. At our last visit we thought at first that we had reached the end here: At that time I hung a scooter in the line and followed the increasingly narrow crevasse (direction of the crevasse along the corridor) down to 35m water depth. The crevasse becomes so narrow there that you can only get through standing up and I turned around. When we picked up the scooter again, we discovered a continuation of the passage: Behind the shaft you have to swim through an oval window with a width of about 6m and a height of 1.5m, before you can follow the cave with the typical round profile of this part with a width of about 3m and a height of 5m. These dimensions do not allow relaxed scootering side by side, so we scooted in single file. We didn't find any flow facets or scours in this passage and we didn't see any sand or clay deposits either. Occasionally we see corrosive forms washed out of the soft limestone. The passage remains at a depth of about 60m except for the last 150m, varying only by 2-3m. The last one hundred meters the passage then rises to a water depth of 35m. Overall, the overall course seems to be in a rightward arc, but unfortunately we do not have exact data.
Arrived at the end of our old line, we tied our reel into the line and continued. But the disappointment was huge: After only (this time measured) 82m, just behind the corner where Robin had turned the last time, there was a big block (diameter about 3m) in the way, which seemed to make passing with our big gear impossible! For 40 minutes we looked at and discussed the situation of the various fallen blocks at this point, whether it would not be possible to move on: But even after putting down the argon bottle it would have become so narrow that we gave up the maneuver because of the risk of getting stuck or damaging the Tocki. Which hurt twice, because you could clearly see the passage continuation in clear water behind the narrow passage, which is maybe max. 1.5m long in total. The passage slowly descends again towards the typical 60m area and runs straight as far as we could see. So the cave definitely doesn't end here! Still on the spot, I thought about converting the RB's (e.g. sidemount).
The team "found" us during one of the regular checkdives on the deco at 35m and, staggered as we decompressed up to the habitat, brought our gear already to the surface. We were also brought a spare heater tank, as one of ours was not working, despite the pre-dive check. When entering the habitat, after the training on the last day, everyone knew which moves to do and in which order. And so the action went smoothly and without a hitch.
The team had also brought our reels up with them, and could figure out that we had not laid much new line. The question we asked ourselves was whether disappointed faces would await us at the water's surface. A question we discussed at length in the habitat. But as we found out to our delight, the joy that we were back safe and sound and that this end of the line is relatively safe for us for the time being outweighed the disappointment - whoever still ties a line there has really earned it!
After the obligatory break swimming in the pool we had something warm to eat from the gasoline stove. We ended the day at the campfire and started the next day some time after cockcrow.
Roland
Plan
We drew a map of the course of the passage from Roland's memory and the data of the dive computer as well as the reel previously provided with distance markers. The profile corresponds quite well to the actual course. The map shows the character of the course without claiming high accuracy (except for the total length).
Overview
Thanks to the kind permission of Reinhard Buchaly, we have been able to draw "our" course into the plan and profile of the EKPP.
Plan and profile
In this sense,
Your Cavebase
Gallery
