2012-03 slovenia caving iccc explo soc talk
DESCRIPTION
Slides for Talk give to Exploration Society at Imperial College London on 20th March 2012 by Imperial College Caving Club.Abstract:Since 1994, Imperial College Caving Club has been organising summer expeditions to explore the cave passage within Tolminski Migovec in western Slovenia. Exploration over the last three years has focused on connecting the Migovec System (11.49km long, 970m deep) to the more recently explored Vrtnarija (11.03km long, 888m deep), which would jointly become the longest cave in Slovenia. In pursuit of this goal, exploration in Vrtnarija has been pursued at considerable depth during multiple day underground camps. In 2010 we discovered massive horizontal phreatic levels that had lain untouched since their formation millions of years ago, before the mountains themselves existed. During 2011 we pushed Vrtnarija to a new maximum depth of 888m, discovering over 2km of passage in the process. The area of closest approach between the two systems has been explored to within our survey error. The connection of the systems & the promotion of Migovec to the top of the 'leader board' of Slovenian caves would be all the more remarkable due to the deep and challenging nature of the cave we've discovered, in a country where the top ten is dominated by the warm shallow caves of the classic Karst.Our exploration is carried out on a shoestring budget, involves a majority of students, yet is very much world class cave exploration.In this talk I will aim to give a general introduction to alpine caving and modern cave exploration, and discuss our recent exploration.TRANSCRIPT
Migovec Exploration
Project
2009–2012
Ravne 912m
Tolminski Migovec 1868m
27.86km total cave passage (2011)
JSPDT '70s: M2 Kavkna Jama (Blackbird Cave)
JSPDT '82-'85 : M16 (-547m)
'94-ICCCArrives on Mig
'96First connection – to M2
'96Second connection - to M16
Gladiator's traverse
'97-'99 Deeper and Deeper (-970m)
+
( Migovec Cave Data Movie)
Living on the Mountain
~1km Ascent
The Bivi
Solar Power
Snow in July?!
Kill'em All Pitch Head (Nasty!)
2009: Brezzvezdna Noč
Learning to Crawl
2009: Metal Camp2009: Metal Camp(-254m)(-254m)
1 degree Celsius1 degree Celsius1-2 night camps1-2 night camps
Mirage Canyon (30m high!)
Two Minutes to Midnight (35m pitch)
I Walk the Line(6m climb, 15m pitch)
Happy Monday (81m pitch)
20x20m (measured)
Hanging Garden(p10m)
A bolt!
And a confluence..
Falls Road / Fools Road
(P -7m/+10m)
Camp X-Ray(2003)
Eggstravaganza (-555m)
2009:
854m new passage in Vrtnariji
Total for Migovec: 955m
2009+0.9km
(CAMP)
2010: Follow the Water
2009 @ Camp X-Ray (-539m)
Camp X-Ray (2003,2010–2011)Camp X-Ray (2003,2010–2011)-550m-550m
2010
'Plenty Comfort' Camp
Rotating 2x2-person 'hot bedding camp'Mostly 2-night 3-day camps (2 work days)
→ 12-cavers continuous @ full capacity
Vrtnarija Below -500m
2,2km
Zimmer (-543m)
Tolminska Korita
Eggstravaganza (-555m)
Black Knight
Black KnightSiphon
Connection to Envy
(Sidewinder,The Crack in Time)
Zimmer (-543m)
Leopard
(Nikolas Kral)
(Nikolas Kral)
Prince Consort Rd
The Albert Hall
The Palace of King Minos
MinotaurRift
The Queen's Bed Chamber
2009: 'Republica Palma de Coco'
2010: 'Insomnia'58m vertical extension
(4m more needed to be deepest part of cave)
2003 'Red Cow'
2009 'Republica'
Downstream Sump (perched) Can see 30-odd
metres down rift + cascades
2010+2.2km
(CAMP)
2011: The Lost World
2011
2x AA-battery Fairy Lights
2x £1 Slippers(Primark)
New ToothpasteHiding Location
'4-season' (isobutane)Gas Stove
2011 Innovations
Insomnia: The Deep Wet Lead
● ~4—5 hr return from pushing front camp→● (Insomnia -802m Day Dreamers -861m → →
Penguin's Egg -871m Winter's Journey →-888m)
● Confined passage with stream (wet feet!)
[Not a good place to be during a rain storm]● Great 'Yorkshire' Caving
Mud deposits Photo-885m
Too-tight Rift Photo-888m
Unhappy Ending?
● 3 trips down here this summer● Wet route becomes impassably tight (@ -875m)● Dry bypass enters chamber with significant silt deposits,
sound of water through too-tight rift● Draught emerges from too-tight rift and follows 70°
inclined bedding NNW● Hypothesise we're above a (perched?) sump that backs up● Bedding plane squeeze force-able to a sump bypass?
Migovec's Usual Tricks
Green Back (Vrtnarija, -297m) Stalemate (Vrtnarija, -659m)
Water Table at +890m Sea Level ?
Winter Journey (2011) Pencil SumpWater Hope
Good not Grand(Blind Bedding)
Wonderstuff /Earthquake Way
Prospects?
● 250m separation between the two sumps in Sysmig & probable (currently inaccessible) sump level in Vrtnarija
● Geology 'best guess' is water table dipping at ~15° from SE NW→
● We have deep leads in Vrtnarija from 2004 that are 800m NNW of the hypothesised sump … ~100m more depth potential
The Serpentine & Let na Drugi Svet
The Long Water
Let na Drugi Svet( Flight to Another World )
Lower PleasuresA dig that went!
Queen's Bedchamber
CheetahSwing
Kamikaze
M16
M2GW
1.38km New Passage
Stuck in Paradise (P69m)
Bosch's Uneo
Bosch 'do it' UK
A Caver's Uneo
( 900g Bare Weight – when clean! )
50+ Bolts, 200m rigging later...
Total Extent of all Known cave passage
The Vrtnarija Slab
1.1km
0.2km
To the East! - 1.38km
Primadona
Sysmig (Deep)M2
GW
CaverStats
● 29 cavers this summer (Aged 19–59)● 14 UK-based cavers, 14 Slovene, 1 joint
● Made 77 caver-trips● 21 cavers spent 77 caver-nights at
underground camp
● Exploration occurred over a 14-day period
First Expedition Four undergraduates on their first expeditionMajority made it to underground camp & pushed cave at >500m deep
→ Training & building experience more important than metres! ←
NiaJonny Clare
Ari
SpeleoStats
● 2009–2011 Doubled Length of Vrtnarija● All by exploration deeper than -350m, vast majority on
overnight camping trips
● System Migovec & Vrtnarija now #5 & #6 longest in Slovenia (#7 and #10 deepest)
● If joined they are 22.6km (Longest in Slovenia... )
Vrtnarija: 2010 2011→
8796m / 807m 11025m / 888m→
Sysmig: (2008) 11.49km / 970m
2010+2.2km
(CAMP)
2011+2.2km
Izgubljeni Raj 2011 – (Derig) Team
2011 Acknowledgements
● Financial support from the Ghar Parau Foundation & Imperial College Union (Tour Transport Grant)● Nia & Jonny assisted by Alex Pitcher awards
● We were the grateful recipients of the Wilhelm Putick Prize (Nagrada Viljema Puticka) for the 'best cave exploration in Slovenia during 2010'
→ 80W Solar Panel & set of new survey instruments
Gear & support:● Beast, Starless River
http://union.ic.ac.uk/caving/slovenia
Did Someone Mention the Connection?
● Vrtnarija to Kavkna Jama: 25–75m separation● Connection has been major aim since 2008–
October Super Action
Climb carried out in M2 in 2008 reduced separation further!
But stopped at squeeze...
JSPDT Trips:November,
Christmas Eve & 28/1/12
Napsihiran Rov
'Angsty' Passage
So close it overlaps!
2012: Follow the Wind
We ll be back!’
Vrnili se bomo!