Cavers Glimpse Berger's Bottom

Gouffre Berger - August 2004

The CSCA organised their third dec-annual expedition to the Gouffre Berger during the 10 day period Wed 11th - Fri 20th Aug for about 40 cavers; some from the CSCA and others from a mixture of UK Caving Clubs, many successfully bottoming the 1100 metre deep Gouffre Berger.

A Lovely Day

The expedition arrived in the Vercor area of France three days early to hot, dry, sunny weather and established a base camp in the village of Autrans. After speaking with the French team that were currently de-rigging the cave, it was established that the weather had been exceptionally dry for quite a while and that the water levels in the cave were low.

The First Rain

Six hours before the CSCAs booking officially began, the heavens opened and the first of the thunderstorms started, successfully flooding the control tent at the cave entrance and forcing the two people manning the entrance to retreat back to the campsite in Autrans. The next day several teams entered the cave to complete the rigging of the 12 pitches to Camp One and found that 'Lake Cadoux' had risen. This forced them to inflate their dinghies before they could proceed.

 

 

 

 

Over the next three days the rigging was completed and the rest of those expedition members that wanted to visit the bottom of the cave did so.

 

 

 

 

Abandoned Kit

On Wednesday the de-riggers managed to enter the cave but the weather was still threatening. They were only able to reach the top of the 17th pitch, 'Abelle's Cascade', due to very high water levels and were forced to leave about 300 metres of rope and associated metalwork on the bottom 11 pitches.

The most important thing was that everyone returned safely. Apart from a few minor cuts and scrapes and some lost gear, the whole expedition was incident free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go to the Gallery Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expedition Participants:

Kirsty Bamber, David Barret, Andy Batty, Mat Bent, Niel Brammer, Chris Densham, Mandie Edgeworth, Amy Finnie, Adi Foot, David Foxton, Biff Frith, Michelle Gigg, Philip Goodwin, Doug Harris, Simon Kay, Simon Latimer, Andrew Latimer, Liz Lawton, David Leniewski, David Loeffler, David Lord, Charlie Milton, David Moore, Pete Morgan, Philip Oakley, David Ottewell, Carmel Ramwell, Paul Reinsch, John Roe, Tom Ross, Bill Sherington, John Southworth, Tanya St Pierre, Will Stewart, Richard Storm, Nigel Strong, Sue Strong, Howard Taylor, John Taylor, Mel Taylor, Paul Thomas, Graham Thomas, Pauline Thomas, Andy Thornton, Sam Townsend, Martin Trippick, Philip Underwood, Colin Wait, Kevin Welch, Steve Whitlock, Ewan Whitmey, Idris Williams, Rhys Williams, Murry Wilson and Dave Wooff.

 

 

 

 

 

The weather remained reasonable for the next few days so therigging continued. Due to unforeseen circumstances the rigging team ran out of maillons at the top of 'Little Monkey', the 24th pitch, and had to retreat back to Camp One in the small hours of Saturday morning. This was a disaster for two of the team, as they had to leave for the UK the next day and would not get another chance on this expedition to descend the last four pitches to the bottom. They exited the cave sombrely after about 28 hours underground.

 

 

Clubs involved:

CSCA Combined Services Caving Association, CRO Cave Rescue Organisation, BDCC Bracknell District Caving Club, MUSC Manchester University Speleological Club, RRCPC Red Rose Caving & Pothole Club, EPC Earby Pothole Club, EPC Eldon Pothole Club, DCRO Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation, SMCC Shepton Mallet, The Scout Association, SWCC South Wales Caving Club, WCC Wessex Cave Club, UWFRA Upper Wharefdale Fell Rescue Association

 

And even More Rain

On Tuesday the last bottoming team was due to enter the cave and start the de-rigging operation. The sky was not looking good as they left the campsite and a few hours later a torrential thunderstorm began, causing the campsite to flood and those remaining there to become very worried about their comrades underground. Much to the relief of all, the de-riggers returned to the campsite shortly after they had left having encountered the bad weather at the cave entrance and deciding against entering.