Projects > Gourneyrou 2005 (June)

Overview

Latest update: April 25, 2006

By Ralph Wilhelm

On June 18th, EKPP pushed the limits of the Gourneyrou cave, located in the Hérault mountain range near Nimes, for 280 meters at their first try. Not only the access to the cave is one of the most difficult, but also the cave profile is more than challenging: down to 85 m, up to 17 m, back down to 85 m, up to 29 m and down to 93 m. A roller coaster could not be worse. However, despite tons of bloodsucking mosquitoes and temperatures of more than 35 C / 95 F, a team of 9 dedicated divers managed to get it done in only two days.

Day 1: Setup

Even if the EKPP is still lacking a good transportable espresso machine, the smell of hot coffee floated through the camp early Friday morning. Most participants left home or work sometime Thursday and drove down to the picturesque valley of the river Vis, located in the Hérault mountain range in southern France in order to arrive there in the middle of the night.

So after a long drive and a short sleep, a good coffee was well appreciated. Some Dutch pancakes later, most eyes where open and the first briefing took place. Besides Michael and Reinhard, who would do the push dive, Brus and Ralph from Germany, Mara and Alessandro from Italy and Gertjan from the Netherlands were present. Gertjan brought Arno, a DIR diver from the Netherlands as a newbie. Also joining the project as a guest was Dawn, well known as surface manager of our sister cave diving group the WKPP. Based on the experience with the cable car at the neighbouring cave, the Gourneyras, it was clear that also at the Gourneyrou only with a cable car the necessary amount of equipment could be handled, as the cave is about more than 40 m bellow the track and the path down to the cave is not suitable for carrying heavy equipment safely. But due to the landscape, not one but two cable cars were needed, as from the track there was a steep slope to the top of the cliff above the cave.

So the first cable car ran from the track to the top of the cliff, covering about 10 m of altitude difference. From there the gear was loaded into the second cable car, which went down almost vertically to the cave area. But area might not be the right word, as in front of the cave there is a boulder field consisting of heavy rocks. No even surface available.

However, the cable cars were built in less than 1.5 hours and the group started to lower all needed equipment down to the area around the cave entrance. After this was accomplished, it was time to head back for the camp for a little refreshment. This was really necessary, as there was quite a lot of equipment that was lowered down. Besides the habitat, there were 4 scooters, 2 rebreather frames with double 20 l tanks, about 30 stages, 4 double 12 l tanks for the support divers, only to mention the heavy hardware.

Having this at the cave area does not necessarily mean that the stuff is in the cave. Due to the low water in the cave the equipment had to be lowered another 6 meters to the water level at the bottom of the shaft. The shaft is only a little more than one meter wide at this point, so getting the habitat down to the water and into the cave to place it is a task where every centimetre matters. However this was also managed quickly and Mara, Gertjan and Ralph installed the habitat about 20 meters into the cave.

The next team consisting of Gertjan and Mara then brought all the needed accessories to the habitat and also transported the scooters, the stages for the deeper deco stops and the gases for the dives further into the cave. Right above the water level a table was installed. The cave is less than 1.3 m wide at this point, so there is not much room to kit up. It was decided that Reinhard and Michael would kit up after each other, not simultaneously, as they normal do. After Ralph had completed the pre-installed rebreathers on the table, everything was ready for the next morning. Now a joint bath in the river followed by the necessary BBQ was next before the divers went to bed early, as the next day would start with a wake up call at 6 am.

Day 2: Push dive and dismantling

It took an even stronger coffee this morning to get the team out of their tents at 6 am However spirits where high. Michael and Reinhard had their usual high carbohydrate breakfast, before the group proceeded to the cave. Reinhard and Michael geared up slowly, as it is a main goal to avoid any sweating before the dive.

First it was Michael's turn to climb down to the water where Brus and Arno helped him into his RB 80 rebreather. As soon as Michael had kitted up and cleared the table it was Reinhard's turn. Precisely at 9:02 both were ready and submerged for their dive. Now the support divers had a relaxed time, as the first check dive was scheduled for in two hours. So some had a second breakfast while others went for a swim in the river in order to fight the sizzling heat. After two hours Brus and Arno went for their first check down to 30 meters. A second check, scheduled half an hour later still did not find any tracks of the two push divers. Another half hour later Alessandro, Arno and Ralph did the next, still unsuccessful, check.

But although the check was unsuccessful, spirits were rising among those on the surface. The later Reinhard and Michael would return, the greater the possibility was that they had laid some new line. More checks were conducted every half hour with no result. Finally at the 5th check, around 12 am, Alessandro and Ralph saw some light at the 18 m stop. Reinhard and Michael had returned from their dive. Michael had already written "Everything OK" in his wetnotes, as he knew what the first questions of the support divers would be. His second line simply said "added some line" and his third line asked for something to drink.

Ralph and Alessandro took the spent stages and scooters from the push divers and returned to the surface to inform the team. Tea was prepared and delivered by the two divers. After that the scooters were lifted from the cave shaft back to the surface. Due to the fact that only 7 people were available, it was decided that the equipment would be gathered at the cave area and hauled up later after Reinhard and Michael had finished their dive. At 3 pm it was then time for the next support team, consisting of Mara and Gertjan. Their task was to help the two push divers out of their rebreathers and into the habitat. After this the rebreathers where brought to the pool, disassembled and hauled up to the surface.

Arno, the Dutch newbie proved to be an excellent cook as he prepared some lamb steaks which where brought to the habitat by the support divers. Two hours after entering the habitat it was time for Reinhard and Michael to get out. Again Mara and Gertjan helped them to leave the habitat and to slowly ascend to the surface. While both push divers were standing in the pool, the support divers submerged again in order to retrieve the rest of the equipment from the habitat and finally the habitat itself. While Reinhard and Michael relaxed after their long and successful dive, the habitat was hauled up from the cave to the surface.

As soon as all the equipment was gathered at the surface, the team split up into three groups in order to load the equipment into the cable car at the base station, to swap equipment from one cable car to the other at the middle station and to unload the cable car at the upper station. As usual the cable car was pulled by a car, this time driven by Dawn. By perfectly driving a big car back and forth on a very small path in fading light conditions with only a few centimetres of road left to manoeuvre on each side, she proved that the old prejudice that women can't drive cars in narrow spaces is completely wrong.

When the habitat was hauled with the last light, a very successful day had almost ended. It finished with the usual group bath in the river. 12 degrees (53 F) are quite refreshing after a long and hot day. This was followed by a good BBQ, before everybody went to his sleeping bag.

The next morning the gear was loaded into the cars and the divers headed home until the next project.