In August 2006 we
organized the 10th expedition in the Anialarra mountains. In 2005
we had finally broken through the boulder choke on which the cave
ends at a depth of -648m, and where the river disappears.
Obviously, the 2006 goal
was to find that river back!
The
Anialarra System
Murphy
strikes again...
The First team (Bart, Erik VDB, Paul) went down for 4 days. The
first evening in the underground camp was a ?Murphy?s Law evening?,
spent repairing all kind of stuff such as the Coleman stove, the
Ryobi drill and the tents. The next day we explored in the Galerie
Spirou. A 25 m pit was descended but became too narrow. Some 100 m
of new passage were surveyed in Spirou, but ending in a boulder
choke.
The third
day we went to the farthest point reached in 2005, Galerie Lagaffe.
There we worked all day to open the entrance of a narrow but well
ventilated pit. Finally we managed to get in, but 13 m lower the
passage was strictly impenetrable for at least 4 m. Damned!
We
searched Galerie Lagaffe for a few hours, only to conclude that the
very strong air draw that we were following, disappeared near the
end of the gallery, probably in narrow cracks in the floor. To
conclude the day, we went down a big pit in Galerie Azrael.
Unfortunately, it was only 37 m deep and ended there.
The
fourth day we went out of the cave.
Salle Gargamel
A big black hole?
Because
Mark had to leave us sooner than planned, I was obliged to go down
again after just one day of rest. The trip down was problematic,
Mark slipped in the river and hurt his left foot badly.
Nevertheless, we arrived in the camp near 17:00 and decided to
head off to Puits des Daltons, a series of very narrow pits but with
a very strong air draw, where Mark and Eric B had down a lot of work
last year. The 4th pit ended at a very narrow crack,
just inched wide and that for several meters! Using the Ryobi
hammer drill and other stuff we managed (after 4 hours of work) to
make the crack wide enough to take a look at the end, and we saw a
big black hole! A deep pit for sure, and very wide. Anyway we
didn?t have any rope left, so going down would be something for
tomorrow. It was way after midnight when we got into our sleeping
bags, but our dreams were sweet!
The next
day we worked for a few hours to make the passage more comfortable
and then I went down the pit: Puits Lucky Luke. It cuts through a
big gallery, only 5 meters down in the pit I was hanging in the
middle of it, and I couldn?t reach it. The pit went further down
for another 15 m but there was no way on at the bottom. A couple of
hours later, after acrobatic climbing and rigging, we were standing
in the gallery. The air draw was strong and promising. We followed
this ?Galerie J?ome? till a nice room (Salle Barabas) but were
finally stopped by a boulder choke. We surveyed on the way out, and
noticed several other promising leads. But time ran out so we
returned to the camp.
The Puits Lucky Luke
Nearly
dead?
In the
Puits des Daltons, we decided to make a few narrow passages a bit
wider. During that work a giant 200 kg boulder fell out of the roof
and ?gently caressed? my neck and back. If it had fallen 15 cm to
the left, I would have been dead. The boulder also hit Mark who was
standing near me, it cut his boot and neoprene sock, but he also got
away without major injuries (a slightly crushed toe). Mark managed
to liberate me (I was blocked in the narrow meander, under the
boulder). Oh boy, that was one the most intense half hours of my
caving career.
Back in
the camp at -575 m, after midnight again, but very happy. We were
sure to have found ?the way on?.
The next
day we raced out of the cave in a record time.
Lucky
Luke?s dog leads the way
The third
team that followed us closely, had good perspectives! They were
four: Annette, Tjerk, Marcel and Bart. They soon discovered the big
lead on: a gallery starting near the beginning of Galerie Jerom.
They called it Galerie Rantanplan (the name of Lucky Luke?s dog).
It soon became clear that they had found an important network of old
phreatic tubes, very ventilated. After a few hundred of meters they
arrived at a balcony dominating a very big room, Salle Sidonie.
They had one 20 m rope left, and a few bolts and it took them quite
a while to place the bolts to rig the rope. The rope was just long
enough to get down the balcony. They quickly explored a room, at
least 75 m long and 40 m wide. It ended at a new pit, a strong air
draw went down. It was already past midnight and they decided to
return to the camp. They were all very happy, they had surveyed
over 400 m and seen many new leads.
The Galerie Rantanplan
The third
day they left the cave, arriving quite late at the camping were we
all listened anxiously when they told us what they had found.
Despite the late hour, I still entered all survey data in the
laptop. We had made a major leap in the right direction and we had
(for the first time in 20 years ) made the cave deeper. But still,
no sign of the ?lost river?.
The river
The 4th
and last team went down (Paul, Erik V, Erik B) for 3 days . Paul
made plenty of pictures (finally!) and 5 kilo of cement were carried
all the way down, in order to stabilize some very dangerous boulders
in the boulder choke near -648m. This team finished the survey of
Galerie Rantanplan and Salle Sidonie, and then pushed the
exploration further. The new pit at the end of Salle Sidonie gave
access to a big and high rift: Galerie Vaillant. 100 m further, and
after a new short pit, a room was reached, Salle Sophie, with a flat
and sandy floor. It would make a nice camping spot (despite the low
temperature: 3,5 ?C). And then? we noticed the sound of water. Not
a tiny river, no, but the sound of a river thundering down a big
gallery or room. YES! We headed off to the origin of the noise?.
then the ceiling dropped and we had to crawl.. and then we were
stopped before a strictly impenetrable hole! We could see that a
few metres further it became wider again, but there was no way to
get through. Damned? so near and yet so far away from ?our?
river!
The only
other possibility we found, was a 20 m high climb near the end of
Galerie Vaillant. Impossible to do right now without a climbing
rope.
We
returned to the camp, surveying of course. The next day we headed
out of the cave, and surfaced in the wet and rainy lapiaz.
Salle Sidonie
FR3
This
important cave (-440 m and 2 km long, 3 entrances) is in fact an
inlet of the Anialarra System. But no physical junction exists yet.
The cave had been explored and surveyed over 30 years ago. We
decided to review the cave, rigged it and re-surveyed the biggest
part of it. We observed a strong air draw in this cave, which is
an indication of a possible connection with the Anialarra cave.
According the new survey, the end of the FR3 cave is only 25 m away
from the Anialarra cave. We spent a few hours digging in a low
gallery that seems to go in the right direction, and with moderate
air draw. Next year, we will certainly continue the work in this
cave!
Results
We can
look back on a very successful expedition. In the Anialarra System,
we surveyed +/- 1000 m of new passages, bringing the total length of
the cave at 17,8 km. More important, for the first time
since 1986, the cave became deeper: the depth is now
-707 m
(formerly it was -648 m)
The way
to the AN8 cave, where the river reappears, has again become a bit
shorter. But, we still have a long way to go, over 2 km in
distance, and over 250 m in depth.
We saw
many passages and leads that haven?t been explored yet, and we even
heard the river! So the perspectives for our September expedition
are very, very good.
Participants
Annette
Van Houtte, Mark Michiels, Bart Saey, Paul De Bie, Kim De Bie, Mario
Lebbe (SC Avalon), Erik Van den Broeck (Hades), Erik Birkhoff,
Marcel Dikstra, Tjerk Dalhuisen (Speleo NL) and our French friends
Stoche Bes, Odile Bes, Patrick G?, Jean-Pierre Pitot
Sherpa?s
and other company: Wilfried, Annelet, Sofie, Nike, Andreas, Tobias,
Ellen, Jan, Claire...
The names
of the passages
Marsupilami, Sidonie, Gaston Lagaffe, Gargamel.... where did we get
those names?
All new
passages and rooms, behind the big breakthrough of the final boulder
choke at -648m, have been given names of the characters of Belgian
comic books. Belgium is world famous for its comic books, such as
Lucky Luke, Tintin, the Smurfs. This way, there will be forever a
link between this part of the cave and Belgium. Here
is a document with some important Belgian comic books and their
characters.
