La Grotte Aux F̩es Рsecond trip

Byrichard

15A

Cave exploration is really fun. You go from an autumn day, lie down and pull yourself forwards with your elbows and push yourself with your feet. You turn your head sideways so that it fits through. The gravel moves under your hands and body and eventually you are through in to a large chamber. You can duck waddle from this tunnel to another chamber.

You get to a pile of rocks and you look around until you find a path where you can cross. You angle your body one way, and then the other. You lift yourself with your arms and you clamber in to another chamber. This one has a tall roof and pitons in the wall where climbers have come, before you. From here you go sideways and back down through rockfall and squeeze through. As you squeeze through you come in to another chamber. This one is shaped like an eye. You crawl along this one. Sometimes you go through gravel and dirt. As you do this you get wet and dirty. You try to avoid puddles but still your clothes get wet. Luckily at this point you are not cold.

This segment is where I was most uncomfortable. As I have only been in this cave once before I was not certain of where I was going. I was also lying down in pebbles and silt. This cave floods when it rains. I was uncomfortable because of the amount of rock fall. It had probably been around there last time but I only felt uncomfortable as I squirmed through it last time. At this point you continue to a drum shaped room. This time we went further

In this drum shaped room you notice a small slot above. You look at this slot and so you push your head through, then your arms and shoulders. You inch forward and there is a puddle to your right. In front you see some nice rock formations and deposits. You advance a little more and you are now in a vertical cylinder. To the left you see some footholds and hand holds. You grab on to these and you clamber up. As you clamber up you see where water has worn away the rock. You understand that either you can clamber over the obstruction or go through a small gap below. You go through the small gap below and then you look down another tunnel. That is as far as we got with the Petite Grotte aux fees. Time to plan yet another journey.

The issue I had in this cave is unfamiliarity. I know I can squirm my way forward but I do not have the right clothing ad I do not know what to expect. I don’t know how long I will be cramped for. Cave exploration is really fun but I think I would like to be with more experienced explorers, at least whilst I get familiar with the sport or adventure, whichever term you prefer.

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Cave Exploration in Autumn РGrottes Aux F̩es РVallorbe

Byrichard

When the temperature drops and we find ourselves living beneath the clouds for weeks or even months going up to the mountains to get above them is always pleasant. Another option is to take advantage of the cool temperatures to explore caves where the conditions are constant year round. For Halloween a group of us went to have a bonfire and barbecue at the entrance to the Big cave of the Grottes des Fées.

[caption id="attachment_2665" align="aligncenter" width="660"]Improvised BBQ Improvised BBQ[/caption]

We explored both caves. We explored the large cave as far as it was possible to do, had a snack and then we went to the second smaller cave. The video below shows the entrance to that cave.

The video above is from when the snow melts. As the snow melts so much water is released at once that it floods the cave around once a year.

The cave system has 21 kilometres worth of tunnels, passages and more. Animal remains were found within, mainly fossils and cave bears. The earliest records of  this cave system date to the 1700s with more exploration taking place in the 1800s with notable water flow in the 1950s and again in the 1990s. Over the last decade people have explored the cave system using wind as a way of seeing where new passages could be found.

We see in many of the accounts written in french that an important aspect of cave exploration is finding the wind. It marks where big chambers are and where excavation of debris can take place to clear paths wide enough for people to cross through.

The large cave is easy to explore as it is possible to spend most of the time and there are no or at least very few squeezes. The large cave terminates at a metal door where progressing further is not possible unless you are with a trained guide to introduce you to the really interesting parts of the cave.

The small cave is more interesting to visit because it gets cramped and there are moments where you have to worm your way along. Either your arms are ahead of you or behind you. There is no way to move them once you cross through. In total there are two or three such passages. As it widens after these squeezes the motivation to explore remains intact.

Tomorrow we will finish exploring the little cave and in future, maybe in summer we will find a guide to help us explore the rest of the cave system.