2023 marked the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the Gouffre Berger which was once the deepest cave in the world.
The first half of this video tells the history of the cave. The initial exploration in the early 1950s was led by local French cavers followed by an international expedition which pushed the cave below the iconic 1,000m depth for the first time in the world. In the 1960s a British caver, Ken Pearce, made some bold dives into the terminal sumps thus increasing the depth still further. Several visits from the 1970s onwards by the Craven Pothole Club (CPC) and others are mentioned in passing.
The second half of the video describes a joint expedition in 1973 by the CPC in partnership with Dr Tony Waltham who laddered as far as the Hall of the Thirteen for a photographic trip. After that a handful of CPC cavers went much deeper using a “running ladder” technique in an attempt to reach the bottom of the cave. Its an interesting story and a glance back at how caving techniques have subsequently developed.
Photo credits: I’m thankful to Robbie Shone for allowing use of his superb photographs taken over several visits between 2010 - 13. He retains the copyright along with publishers: Vertebrate and Barcroft Media. Robbie can be contacted via this website: www.shonephotography.com
CPC members of the 1973 expedition didn’t have enough time to take underground photographs but thankfully Dr Tony Waltham has kindly shared his photos of the entrance series and as far the Hall of the Thirteen.
Other photos are credited as shown each time, including: David Allanach, Dave Brook, Crew Climbing and Pothole Club (survey), the late Paul Deakin, Dave Fisher, Dave Gill collection, Peter Godie (from the calendar “Underground Worlds 2019” by Wild Places Publishing), Jean Lavigne collection, Andreas Schober & Gaspard Magarinos (from the calendar “Underground Worlds 2021” by the Wild Places Publishing), John C Whalley, Stuart Whitmay collection, the late Jerry Wooldridge and Wikipedia
Music: “Beyond” by Patrick Patrikies from KZitem’s audio library
Acknowledgements: In addition to the photo credits, I’m grateful to support given by friends in the Craven Pothole Club especially Elaine Hill. The CPC’s 2019 expedition was led by Glen Costin whose video can be found here: • The 2019 trip to The G...
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