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ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORTS 
1995 Report


JANUARY
* Explo:  Searching in the valley of Pont-le-Pr?re, where we localised the "E14" and worked in it for some weekends.
* Searching the left bank of the Aisne at the other side of Grotte Nys : negative.
* Helping Bibiche in his new gallery near the entrance of the Weron.
* Working in the E13, above the lake.
* Caves :  Trou Ozer at Malmedy: A very interesting cave formed in conglomerate (particularly the new Series).
* Because of the big floods the chamber of the E13 is totaly inundated. So instead of the E13 Paul and Rudi did the Ronsombeux (also half flooded) and the Trou Eug?e, a fine cave.

FEBRUARY
* Explo:  Digging in the Grande Evasion (Trou de l'Eglise).
* Failed diving in the E13 by Dirk Roelandt
* Gallery Bibiche (Weron) and some other work in the Number Two (Trou Bernard).
* Caves :  Grotte de Ham, Four ?Chaux , Abime des Ruines en Grotte de Monceau All this caves done in one day.
* An oldie : Abime de la Chawresse in very wet conditions (so no surveying) by Jaak and Paul. A few weeks later Annette, Peter and Flip did the Chawresse again (Réso B).
* Abime de Lesves : short trip because the big pit was flooded.
* Other :  Hard work in the nature reserve in the region of Hamme (cutting willows). In the evening muskrat on the menu...
* Some of our members visited the "Puits Naturels" at Doornik.

MARCH
Explo : * Putting fixed anchors in the E13.
* Gallery Bibiche in the Weron : digging (2 x).
* Again a failed trip in the Chawresse (Chem. de l'Espoir).
* Surveying of the Grotte Joseph.
* Caves :  Oh my God, a guided tour in the Haquin (5 guys)
* Abime de Beaumont with our new members M & M.
* Great three-day caving trip in the Doubs with Folaven and the Pourpevelle . And we didn't camp in the mud but we stayed in a luxurious appartment.
* We visited  (guided tour) the Try de la Couronne, a beautiful cave.
* Others :  Great fun but a not a lot of  people at our Avalon Party.
* One of our members Marc C. is leaving Belgium for one and a half year and goes to Indonesia.

APRIL
* Explo :  The beginning of a lot of trouble !! P & A started working in a small crack at the end of the Réseau Noir (Weron) and ended up in a collapse with possibilities in every direction.
* Rudi and Paul had the best day of their lives when a week later they discovered more than 300 m of galleries : the birth of the Réseau Nord (Weron). But it is dangerous there because of the many unstable regions like the Danger Zone. Another week later, after a long day of surveying, the Réseau Nord becomes even biger. A beautiful chamber "Salle Paul" was found which forms the upper level of the new Series. The next weekend they bypassed the Danger Zone. The Réseau Nord is already over  400 m in length. The survey shows that the Dellieux is only 18 m away, but then everything turns North...
* Digging continues in the endless Grande Evasion (Eglise) and in the E14 (Bomal).
* Prospection of two days in the regions of Hamoir, Sy, Filon and the valley of the xxx. Especially the last one is interesting.
* Caves :  Small but beautiful : Abime de la Nansnioule.
* And again the Doubs, this time we stay on a camping. We do the "Rivière de la Baume" and the Gouffre de la Legarde.
* Patrick and Jaak went to England together with Cueva. They did the Ogof Draenen and O.F.D. (Wales)
* And at last we did the Laide Fosse.

MAY
* Explo :  Of course we did the Weron. The survey was finished and we found some small continuations and made some connections.
* Caves :  We stayed ten days in the Causses (Gorges du Tarn, France). Beautiful weather and caves : Castelbouc 4, Baume Layrou (just a small part), Coutal, Aven de Los Peyros, Aven de Offraous. We also visited the Aven de Dargilan (commercial).
* Others :  It took several weekends to construct a gate in the Grotte Strauss. Good work !

JUNE
* Explo :  Long days surveying and working in the Weron. Interesting spot under the 5 m ladder .
* Caves :  Réseau de Fresnes (Lucienne) with a lot of water and a lot of fun.
* Annette and Pierre took some kids and cousins in the St. Anne.
* Derigging in E13 was not possible because of the wrong key. So the Trou Sans Nom was done, also some prospection in the valley of the xxx.

JULY
* Explo :  We got permission from Richard Grebeude to try to find the connection between the Weron-Dellieux in the Dellieux. Our first trip ended rather dramatic because a big thunderstorm at 18 o'clock inundated the entrance of the cave and Bibiche en Joël where locked up inside. A big rescue with a lot of press-people was the result.
* But we went on, and after two weekends working in a crevice at the rear of the Dellieux we found a small chamber with a narrow continuation (Salle Ice-Tea)
* First weekend in the valley of xxx.
* Caves :  Puits aux Lampes and Grotte du Fayt.
* Our annual traversée of the Bretaye : exciting and impressive. Joël and Flip got their baptism of fire.
* Others :  Paul and Patrick rebuilded the entrance of the Dellieux : a drainage of 20 cm was made to avoid future floods.
* And like Marc Cools, Flip also dissapeared also for a long time, he painted his caving helmet in blue and went to Bosni?as a NATO-soldier.

AUGUST
* Explo :  The E9 (Chantoir de Pont-le-Pr?re) is finished, also derigging of the E13.
* Delllieux : After digging in the Salle Ice-Tea we found some 25 m of new galleries. A rough map showed us we were only 5 m away from the Weron !!!
* Two Avalonners (Koen and Jaak) joined an international caving expedition in the Picos (Spain) and reached -1253 m in their Sima del Madejuno.
* Caves :  Two weeks in the Chartreuse (France), especially caving in the Dent de Crolles and also in the Gouffre de la Saint-Jean and Gouffre du Chevreau. Beautiful region but inconstant weather.

SEPTEMBER
Explo : * We made sound contact between the Weron and the Delllieux. Soon we were working at both sides of the narrow cleft. Another two extra weekends were necessary to break through the 7 m long obstacle. So, on 17/9/95, Paul, Annette, Rudi en Joël did the first through-trip Weron-Delllieux . The system Weron-Delllieux measures more than 2700 m and is now in the top 6 of the Belgian longest caves. But there is still a lot of work to do !!!
* the xxx- team (especialy Herman, Mich & Patrick) continued working and had already a 20 m cave.
* Herman helped Jaak in the Fosse aux Renards (Cueva-dig).
* Rudi and Paul worked in the Trou Dury.
* Caves :  visit of the GRSC (Xhaard & Co) in the E13 (Grotte aux Contrastes) and Grotte Strauss.
* Others :  Speleological days at Hotton : with Système de Bretaye.

OCTOBER
* Explo :  the xxx-team began working on a new place 10 meter from their old dig and began to dig a pit in the riverbed... It took more than one weekend in very unstable conditions.
* In the Weron, Rudi, Annette and Joël climbed the big aven in the Réseau Nord. They found a big chamber. After 10 hours caving they crawled out of the cave, exhausted.
* Koen and Paul surveyed the Trou sans Nom in the valley of the Pont-le-Pr?re and visited afterwards the dig of Bibiche in the Trou d'Haquin.
* Caves :  Nice caving trip in the Trou des Manants, a very beautiful cave in the region of Tilff. We also searched the Chantoir Auguste Donnay (we even found some 5 m).
* And after 10 years waiting we visited at last the Fontaine de Rivire, guided by Jean Godissart, a fine guy. A very impressive cave with the most beautiful lake ever seen ! The same day we visited the "pit" at the xxx. Paul went with care through a tight gap and saw that it was O.K.... A strong draught was blowing....

NOVEMBER
Explo: * The indefatigable xxx-team (H+P+M) had succes !! They discovered a network of fractures and ended in a small chamber with a boulder-collapse. Paul had the honour to risk his neck and removed the obstacle. An ultra-muddy passage led to a rift filled with water. A nice fossil chamber was also discovered. But this was only the beginning...
* The next three weeks a big attack followed . After some attempts to climb above the water a passage was found to a higher and fossil level. Like in a dream hundreds meters of big galleries where discovered. Some of them where exceptionally well decorated ("e.g. La Chambre"). The cave went right in the mountain and gave us hope for a big continuation. But we knew from the geological map that after 300 m we would reach a big fault. This could mean the beginning or the end !!
* Meanwhile we reinforced the entrance with three metal drums. But this did not solve our biggest problem : The entrance is situated under the water level of the river. From the moment the xxx began to flow it would be over and out!!
* Caves :  Avalon and Cueva had big fun in the Yorkshire Dales in England, there they did a classic selection of potholes.
* The love between both clubs was so big that afterwards in Belgium they continued caving together : Trou Manto-St. Etienne, Grotte Veronika, and an attempt to traverse theVeronika Chawresse (of course a failure... because the young wolves wouldn't believe us when we said that the connection between both caves was collapsed).
Others : A meeting about digging at Villers-Ste. Gertrude.

DECEMBER
Explo : * We baptised our new cave the "Grotte des Emotions" because it gave us a lot of emotions. We discovered the beautiful Salle Limace, with a pit which continued in a big chamber filled with blocks and that ended in the water. The incredible Salle des Douze, with gours never seen in Belgium and a continuation somewhere else which ended in the roots: the surface was not far away. And we descended a pit which came out in a long gallery with traces of flooding. It ended at a sump.
* With the Molephone we located the position of the gallery-with-the-roots. Three digging days (on the surface) later we had our new so wanted upper entrance !!
* Rudi and Paul had again the day of their lives when they got passed the sump in the semi-active gallery (the water had descended 60 cm). They followed a big gallery for 50 m which ended in an enourmous gallery (15 m x 15 m) where at the bottom the underground Xxx flowed : we had the "Main Drain" (which was located in the predicted fault). They did not explore the new gallery completely because it was already very late. They regretted this decision for a long time : the next weekend the lower level of the cave flooded and this for a very long time...
The cave was now already more than 1250 m long...
* The construction of a gate was complex, took us several weekends and  will be continued next year.
* Caves : Guided tour of Jarl in the Trou de L'Eglise.
* Others : Jaak motivated the two clubs, Cueva and Avalon, to finish the last details in the Grotte aux Contrastes : closure of the Salle du Dilemme + derigging. Thanks Cueva !

CONCLUSION
1995 was an exceptional year. We did, just like in former years, a lot of work. We were caving several times abroad and also in Belgium we did our best. The climax were of course the two big discoveries. First the Réseau Nord in the Weron, which gave us the so wanted connection with the Dellieux, and second the formidable Grotte des Emotions, where exploration has just begun. Those two discoveries are the finest proof that there are still a lot of possibilities in Belgium when you believe in it and are willing to work hard. And indeed we worked hard : the first team worked 18 weekends in the Weron-Dellieux and the second team (the xxx-team) worked indefatigable the same amount of weekends in "their" cave.

 

 

 
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