New indoor cave training in Farciennes, Belgium

Saturday 30 november from 10 am to 6 pm the new indoor cave training area at the tower of Roton, Farciennes can be visited for the first time. This new facility is rigged and maintained by the grotto Les Suspendus. You can train on different routes: over 600 meters of rope is rigged. Starting January 2014 the training hall will be open to insured cavers 2 friday's a month.

Technique Video: Occam Releasable Anchor

This anchor was developed for use in Canyoneering when you are forced to tie two ropes together to complete a rappel. Specifically, for first descents with unknown rappel lengths.

International Speleo Festival and SRT Competitions

Dear Colleagues,
We have the pleasure to invite you to participate in the International Speleo Festival and SRT Competitions which will take place in the period:

13th- 17th of September 2012 

near the town of Maikop, Republic of Adygei, Russian Federation.


At the same time and place the IXth Championship of Russia will be held involving a great amount of cavers from the different parts of the country.

The aim of the Festival is to share skills, opinions and experience among cavers from all over the World. The races of the Competitions will give the opportunity for everybody to check and show your skills level and to become the Champion. The participants will compete on individual distances as well as team distances for 2 and 4 sportsmen. The distances will simulate different kinds of underground works.

Abisso di Malaga Fosetta pushed to -1011m

Members of the Gruppo Grotte Emilio Roner Rovereto and the Gruppo Grotte Schio Cai pushed the depth of the Abisso di Malaga Fosetta in Veneto, Italy to -1011m during a 32 hour trip into the system, making it the first cave in the Veneto-region to pass the magical -1000m border.

The cave is now the 93rd deepest cave in the world!


Source: Scintilena

Underwater cave-mapping sensor

Groundwater voyager: 

An SwRI-developed miniature robot sensor creates a map of submerged caves and channels

by Ronald T. Green, Ph.D., and Ben Abbott, Ph.D

Cavers, geologists and hydrologists frequently rely on instruments carried by human divers to generate reliable maps of underwater caverns through which groundwater enters, moves about and then exits from karst limestone aquifers. Information gathered from these dives is collected and analyzed, then generalized to create a reasonable estimate of the size of the cave network, waterbearing capacity, ease of recharge and sensitivity to pollution or contamination.

Aside from the hazard to human safety, exploring aquifers and underwater caverns in this manner is limited in some cases by sheer distance and in others by channel segments that are too narrow to accommodate a human diver.

Some limited information about groundwater behavior can be gained indirectly by means of tracers, such as dyes introduced at a recharge feature and then tracked to the place where they emerge at a spring or well. 

However, to map the actual limestone corridors through which groundwater flows requires a mechanical system that can gather, store and transmit dimensional data as it travels with the groundwater’s flow. This requires a system that is small, inexpensive, non-polluting, safe, autonomous, self-powered and able to communicate electronically with receiving equipment once it has emerged. 

A team of hydrologists and electrical engineers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a neutrally buoyant sensor to remotely characterize the path, dimension and morphology of caves and other underground conduits and cavities. The patent-pending system was developed under internal funding, and the units were constructed using off-the-shelf components whenever possible to minimize the cost. 

8th European Symposium on Speleological Explorations, 23-25 Sept 2011 - Marbella - España

2011 gathering of all European cavers from the 19th to the 25th of September in Marbella in southern Spain.

The water we all drink

Following short video was presented on the international caving congress "Casola 2010". I really liked it and would like to share it with you guys.

It's titled "The water we'll drink" and is directed by Sandro Sedran (Federazione Speleologica Veneta) and it's starring Alberto Drago, Simona Tuzzato and Sandro Sedran. The music is from Deep Freq (Rapture)

Enjoy!

New headlamp: Scurion 1500

Scurion just released a new model headlamp: the Scurion 1500.

With a total light output of 1450 lumen (2x725 lm) it is one of the brighest headlamps available on the market.

The Scurion 1500 incorporates two Cree XM-L LED's. These new Cree leds deliver more light, yet consume less power than the MC-E LED's used in the previous top model (Scurion 1300), due to the increased luminous efficacy of the XM-L (100 lm/Watt).

The battery run time is comparable to the Scurion 1300:

Battery run time (4-cell Li-ion battery)

A complete Scurion 1500 set (headlamp, mounting bracket, charger and two 4-cell Li-ion batteries) will retail at about 724 EURO (excl. VAT).

Check out the pricelist for previous models.

12th International Cave Rescue Conference (Bulgaria)

The 12th international cave rescue conference (BCR / UIS) will be held from 8th to 15th May 2011 in Bulgaria.

For more information about the region and the topics, please visit the dedicated website: http://resconf2011.asobulgaria.org/

Documents:

• Registration form
• 2nd circular
• 1st circular

Beal Uni Core Enhances Climbing/Caving Rope Safety

Beal has recently come up with a new rope technology, called Uni Core, which binds the sheath of the rope to the core, enhancing safety in extreme conditions. By allowing the sheath and core to stay bonded together, sheath slippage is virtually eliminated in the event of a cut.

Below you can find the demonstration video (in English). For other languages (French, Spanish, German and Italian) click here.

World's Biggest Cave?

A Britisch team led by Howard Limbert discovered what they claim to be the biggest cave in the world  in a remote part of Vietnam.

A photography and filming crew from National Geographic Channel joined the team in 2010 on a 20 day expedition into Hang Son Doong ("Mountain River Cave").

Together with an international team of scientists they hiked deep into the jungle of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and descened into the abyss to find out the thruth: Is this cave really bigger then Deer Cave (Malaysia), the current record holder?

You can read the report of the expedion in the January 2011 edition of the National Geographic Magazine both in paper version as well as online. On the NGC website you can also find a nice picture gallery and an interactive map of Hang Son Doong.

The documentary "World's biggest cave" will be aired the first time in Europe on January 30th at 21.00 (GMT+1). You can find the trailer below:

Speleo twin clubs

Source: FSE - Europena Speleological society

The FSE General Assembly launched on the 8^th of May 2010 the EuroSpeleo Twin Clubs FSE. It is a unique opportunity for European Caving Clubs who wish it, to build an exchange relationship with a caving club from another European country. The EuroSpeleo Twin Clubs, that are based on the model of the “Twin Cities”, will enable to promote the organization of common exploration activities and other speleological projects involving clubs from different European countries.

L’Assemblée Générale FSE a lancé le 8 mai 2010 les EuroSpeleo Twin Clubs FSE. Il s’agit d’une opportunité unique pour les Clubs Spéléo Européens qui le souhaitent de construire une relation d’échange avec un club spéléo d’un autre pays européen. Les EuroSpeleo Twin Clubs, qui sont sont basés sur le modèle des « Villes jumelées », permettront l’organisation d’activités d’exploration communes et d’autres projets spéléo impliquant des clubs spéléos de different pays.

2011 Calendar

With a new year comes a new calendar.

To start I'd like to present you the calendar from ARSIP (Association pour la Recherche Spéléologique Internationale à la Pierre Saint Martin) in which a lot of members from our grotto (SC Avalon) participate through their work at the Réseau d'Anialarra. It contains some magnificient shots from the Pierre Saint Martin area in A3 format. Costs € 15.00
Belgium orders: click here
International orders: click here

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The calendar from Speleo Projects is a real classic. It contains pictures from all over the world. As a bonus you will also get 24 coloured cave postcards. Price: €14.50

Belgium orders: click here

International orders: click here

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Or if your more interested in a nice agenda containing caving pictures from all over the world, I can recommend this little book from speleo.pl at € 15.00 containting 53 caving pictures and a list of the 25 deepest and longest caves in the world.

Belgium orders: click here

International orders: click here

Remember: by buying any of these you support the community/groups behind it and help them finance new expeditions etc.

Free caving ebook: Vertical by Al Warild

You can download the 2007 edition of Vertical by Al Warild for free on Mark Passerby's website.

This book handles most caving techniques, from basic to advanced. It is clearly written and nicely illustrated (190p.).

This is the American equivalent of the well known "Alpine caving techniques" from Marbach.


Despite the fact that it is primarily aimed towards an American audience, this 2007 revision also contains most European alpine caving techniques.

Book contents:

• Chapter 1: Personal equipment
• Chapter 2: Rigging equipment
• Chapter 3: Knots
• Chapter 4: Rigging basics
• Chapter 5: Advanced rigging
• Chapter 6: Descent
• Chapter 7: Ascent
• Chapter 8: Organisation
• Chapter 9: Disaster
• Chapter 10: Surveying