A group of determined cavers has plotted New Zealand's third deepest cave on their fifth trip into the bowels of Mt Arthur.The five-member Extreme Cave Team has so far mapped 9.5km of the Stormy Pot system they discovered last year while seeking shelter from a mountain storm. They crawled out of the system on Monday night after seven days underground.
Team leader Kieran McKay said the team had followed the winding system to a depth of 760 metres. They believed they were now about 100m from the explored end of the mountain's Nettlebed cave system.
A link between the two systems could take it to a depth of 1200m making it the deepest cave in the country, he said.
The five-man team are Mr McKay and Troy Watson of Waitomo, West Coasters Aaron Gillespie and Neil Silverwood and Chris Whitehouse from the central North Island.
Mr McKay said the team's latest discoveries in the Stormy Pot system included massive chambers, mountains of fallen rock and huge rivers.He said the underground landscape was awesome. "We were walking down rapids as wide as a street and swimming in crystal clear water."
However, the trip was hard work. Team members tramped into the site carrying packs weighing 30kg each before lowering them via numerous abseils to their inner campsite.
Once inside they slithered, swam, climbed and squeezed their way through the system.
It took them seven days to plot three kilometres of cave system.
Mr McKay said he regularly asked himself why he was underground. "It's about going beyond the map and having a great time doing it."
Mr Watson said exploring unmapped systems was all about going into the unknown with a group of people you trust.
"For seven days we were just a tape measure apart, but you have to deal with it and everything the cave brings."
The group's continued focus on the Mt Arthur system was seeing a resurgence of interest in the 24km long Nettlebed system which was discovered in 1990. Mr McKay said caving focus later shifted to the Ellis Basin when the Bulmer and Mt Owen systems were mapped.
"If Nettlebed and Stormy Pot link it will open a system which will take about three days to pass through and spark a lot of interest."
The team's initial expedition last summer was funded by a $10,000 Hillary Expedition Grant through Sport and Recreation New Zealand.
Bad weather turned them back from exploring their goal of the Ellis Basin and they found Stormy Pot, on the upper flanks of Mt Arthur, after bad weather destroyed their tent and sent them underground for shelter.
Mr McKay said the team was grateful that the funding, and a bit of luck, helped give them access to such an awesome cave system.
They plan to regather their resources and head back to the mountain in December.
Photo: Kieran McKay, silhouetted in the Black Dwarf chamber found in Mt Arthur, has just returned with his Extreme Cave Team from exploring the Stormy Pot cave system
Source: The Nelson Mail