CULIEMBRO Culiembro 2009 Full Expedition Report Written by Chris Jewell. 1 st December Ghar Parau Foundation

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1 CULIEMBRO Culiembro 2009 Full Expedition Report Written by Chris Jewell 1 st December 2009 Ghar Parau Foundation Approved by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Background previous exploration chronology... 4 Location Maps and Images:... 5 Time Line of events... 7 Conclusion Sponsors

3 Introduction The team of 9 cavers and divers spent two weeks in the field based at the village of Cain, high in the Picos de Europa mountains. During these two weeks all of the various open ends of the cave system (the Arched Window, the Round Window and the Square Window) were explored further to some extent. The final sump of the Arched Window was dived and this turned out to only be 4m long. Approximately 150m of passage was discovered beyond. Sump 4 of the Square Window was dived using a rebreather and this reached 40m and was left ongoing. Finally the previous limit of exploration in the Round Window was reached and the survey up to this point completed before further progress was made climbing cascades and waterfalls. Extremely significantly the survey this branches shows this section of passage heading for the cave known as 2-7 and for the cave Xitu. However the distance to 2-7 is more than 500m vertically meaning a great deal of aid climbing would have to be done. Bad weather during the middle portion of the trip restricted the teams options and prevented diving for several days and important lessons were learnt about the nature of the cave and how it responds to adverse weather. Despite this nearly all of the objectives of the group were met including making a film about our experiences. Dates 25/07/09 07/08/09 Members Chris Jewell (CJ) Expedition Organiser Diane Arthurs(DA) Emma Heron (EH) Jason Mallinson (JM) Paul Swire (PS) Phil Rowsell (PR) Richard Hudson (RH) Rick Stanton (RS) Simon Cornhill (SC) Note In the following timeline S1 denotes sump 1, S2 denotes sump 2 etc... RW denotes Round Window, SW denotes Square Window and AW denotes Arched Window. 3

4 Background previous exploration chronology Six previous expeditions with the first in 1986 when the NPC visited the area. 1986: (Stanton & Thomas) Sump 1 passed to surface in static Arched Window, followed by dive to surface in active route at bottom of cascade. Sump 2 in the active (Square Window) route passed and dive to 28m in third sump. Sump 2 of Round Window passed. Survey of Sump 1 completed. Bolt climb out of water in arched Window made. 1987: (Stanton, Sudwell & Thomas) Arched Window extended through 26m deep sump and dry passage to undived sump. Further progress is made in the Square Window sump 3, reaching an elbow at 35m. In Round Window sump 3 is passed and passage explored to base of difficult climb. 1990: (Holroyd, Roe and Thomas) Round Window extended to fourth static sump with several climbs and passages explored on route. 1991: Trip abandoned due to high water levels. 2000: (Stanton, Holroyd and Danilewicz) Sump 4 of the Round Window is dived and the cave explored to 10m high waterfall which cannot be scaled. Sump 3 of the Square Window is passed using chest mounted rebreather. Passage explored to fourth sump. 2001: (Stanton, Holroyd and Seddon) Route is discovered to bypass 10m waterfall found on previous trip in Round Window. Cave explored to large cascade which cannot be climbed. References: Cave Diving Group Newsletters / dive reports: Newsletter 82: p21 p22 (1986) Newsletter 102 p28 p29 (1990) Newsletter 141: p17 p18 + NL142: p22 p23 (2000) Newsletter 143: p21 (2001) 4

5 Location Maps and Images: Relationship between caves on the Ario Plateau and Culiembro resurgence: 5

6 Location of Cain, Cares gorge and Culiembro: Cave Entrance Cares Gorge Expedition base in Cain 6

7 Time Line of events 25/07/09 CJ, PR, RH arrive in Cain 26/7/09 CJ, PR, RH carry equipment along the path and rig a safety hand line down to the cave to make access with large loads more efficient EH and PS arrive in Cain Phil Rowsell and Chris Jewell on the way the cave with heavy bags (Photo by Rich Hudson) 7

8 Phil Rowsell bolting the route down to the cave entrance (top) and Chris Jewell on the final traverse down. (Photos by Rich Hudson) 8

9 27/7/09 CJ and PR carry more equipment to the cave entrance then make two trips into the cave to set up equipment at the first sump and rig hand lines through difficult sections of cave. RH, EH and PS carry equipment to the cave entrance JM arrives and carries equipment to the cave entrance whilst EH and PS carry a second lot of their gear to the entrance as well. RS arrives in Cain. 28/7/09 CJ and PR dive in Sump 1. The line laid through this sump last year is intact for two thirds of the distance but is broken after this. A large quantity of loose line is removed from S1 and the additional line laid, however both divers fail to make it all the way through. RH, EH, PS and JM all carry equipment in the cave to sump 1. RS carries equipment from camp to cave entrance 29/7/09 SC and DA arrive in Cain early in the morning. JM dives and finishes laying line through Sump 1 to surface then assists CJ and PR. CJ and PR dive through S1 and dive into RW-S2. CJ finishes off broken line in RW-S2 and together they make their way to RW-S3. CJ dives in RW-S3 to check the sump and line conditions. CJ and PR then survey about 100m of this section of cave. SC and DA carry equipment to S1. SC caving in to Sump 1 with a heavy bag (Photo by Diane Arthurs) 9

10 30/7/09 SC re-lines RW-S3 supported by EH. RH and PS re-line cave to arched window series a static branch which starts after 70m of diving in S1. JM fixes rebreather and carries to S1. RS carries equipment to S1 as well. 31/7/09 CJ and PR complete survey of passage between RW-S2 and RW-S3, re-pass RW-S3 and survey from RW-S3 to RW-S4, adding in several ropes on route for future trips. They also carry the drill and aid climbing equipment to push to end of the cave. JM and RS push active route (square window) using drysuits and rebreathers. SW-S3 is passed, large quantities of loose line are removed. RS dives SW-S4 whilst JM explores dry high level passages above SW-S4. RS explores new sump to 40m depth where he is forced to return as his bailout is a Nitrox mix which is unsuitable for diving below this depth. RH and PS complete survey and re-rigging of pitches on route to the second sump in the arched window series. SC pushes sinus sump (down stream sump RW-S3) to -22.7m mostly vertical, is open and still descending. Phil Rowsell about to dive in Sump 3 (Photo by Chris Jewell) 1/8/09 Heavy rain prevents the team from making progress in the cave. SC and DA visit the cave to monitor the water levels and come back with alarming news. 10

11 2/8/09 RS and JM manage to reach S1 to ensure all the diving equipment is secure given the condition of the rising water. CJ, EH and RH film the trip to S1 and RH rigs a tyrolean to make extracting diving equipment easier. No one is able to dive. 3/8/09 Despite poor visibility in S1 CJ and PS decide to push the arched window series as the sumps here are static and should be unaffected by the rain. Working together they carry 2x 7ltr and 2x4ltr cylinders to the second sump in the arched window (AW-S2). Here it is necessary to abseil into the water with full diving gear. The 26m deep 120m long sump is passed and both divers continued with a single set of equipment to the base of an awkward climb. Here CJ was able to ascend with difficulty and progress with a single cylinder and lightweight equipment to the final undived sump. Without getting into the water it was easy to see that this would be short and after a 4m dive CJ gained air space. He was then able to explore around 150m of open passage and complete a grade 1 survey using a diving compass. 4/8/09 JM and PR set off to explore the end of the Round Window branch of the cave. PR is forced to return to base in S1. JM carries on alone and manages to scale the cascade which blocked the previous explorers. A short distance beyond this an even larger waterfall halts progress. Attempts at climbing the sides of the passage preceeding the waterfall are curtailed by lack of rope and belays. EH and RH complete survey of passage between RW-S1 and RW-S2 and survey RW-S2. SC and DA complete photographic trip in cave. Emma Heron emerging from the water at S1 after a good dive (Photo by Simon Cornhill) 11

12 5/8/09 CJ, PR and JM make the final trip to the limit of exploration in the Round Window branch of the cave. CJ and PR complete the survey of the cave beyond RW-S4 whilst JM continues aid climbing using a 24volt battery drill, in order to pass the final waterfall. PR and CJ then join JM and after more than three hours of climbing the team reach a stance above and beyond the waterfall, where a 30-35m pitch drops down to the continuing active streamway. Climbing to this point has consumed all of the 75m of rope carried and therefore the descent into the ongoing passage is reluctantly left for next year. Phil Rowsell on the traverse above the fast flowing river in the final stream way (Photo by Chris Jewell) 6/8/09 CJ and PR complete underwater filming in S1 and carry their equipment out of the cave. JM and RH carry additional equipment out the cave and the four personnel carry everything back to Cain in several long trips. 7/8/09 The team wash, dry, clean and pack up equipment for departure then leave Cain for the long journey back to the UK. 12

13 Culiembro

14 The above represents the newly understood relationship between the caves 2-7, Xitu, Texa (Julagua) and Muxa. These are the caves on the Ario Plateau which are feeders for Culiembro. 14

15 Conclusion It has become apparent that we will need to return in 2010 to further explore this cave system. The lessons learnt and measures taken this year should leave us in a strong position for future exploration. In particular: Our progress in the Round Window branch of the cave was slowed considerably by the need to survey the passage and find the route to the end. With better knowledge of the cave and the sumps we believe it is feasible to reach the end with a lightweight set up, requiring less effort and being faster, resulting in more time at the limit of exploration. Stainless steel thru-bolts and hangers were used for the permanent rigging in the cave meaning that we will not have to re-rig these climbs. The streamway encountered beyond Sump 4 in the Round Window does appear larger in volume to the other active streams encountered in the early part of the cave so there is the chance that this is a different hydrological branch of the system. Water tracing experiments will need to be used next year to ascertain if this is the case. We know that continued exploration in the active branch (Square Window) definitely requires rebreathers and dry suits and that the sump here goes deeper than 40m. Gas planning will need to take this logistical challenge into account. Alternatively if the water met at the end of the round window is the same water as found in Square Window then there may be little to be gained from diving here. Videoing our activities above ground, on the way to sump one and even in the water at sump one was relatively straight forward. However taking a video camera to the end of the cave is a much greater challenge and will require a smaller camera. Paul Swire fills cylinders from the Bauer Compressor (Photo by Rich Hudson) 15

16 Sponsors We wish to thank all our sponsors and supporters, your assistance made a huge difference to our trip and we really appreciate this assistance. BAUER supplies a complete range of medium and high pressure compressors for air and gas as well as components. These compressors are used in diving, for fire brigades, in medicine and in research as well as in a wide variety of industry sectors, such as power stations, testing equipment, gas recovery, seismology and the processing of plastics. Lyon Equipment is the sole UK and Ireland distributor for Petzl and some of the other best known brands in Outdoor Life. They are are a principal supplier of gear to outdoor retailers, to industry and to the emergency services. In addition to equipment supply, they are a leading training and assessment organisation. DiveLife is the North s premier scuba diving centre and specialises in providing services and equipment for technical divers. With a new 4200sq foot shop just off junction 17 of the M60. The Ghar Parau Foundation exists to provide grant aid to assist caving expeditions from Britain to all parts of the world. In particular the Committee look for expeditions whose aims and methods include an element of innovative exploration or scientific study which distinguishes them from the typically sporting caving venture. In this context, scientific research does include systematic exploration backed up by the production of good cave surveys. Ghar Parau Foundation Approved by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) The Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers) are the largest and most active scholarly geographical society in the world. They are an independent organisation with a strong reputation for quality and dynamism. Society membership comprises some 15,000 people in more than 100 countries. Members range from professional geographers, researchers and teachers, to expeditioners and enthusiasts. 16

17 The team assembled by the campsite: Rich Hudson, Chris Jewell, Paul Swire, Jason Mallinson, Emma Heron, Phil Rowsell, Diane Arthurs, Simon Cornhill, Rick Stanton 17