Kur22eng

N. 22 - 2015

Editorial

Yearbook Editor in Chief Senior editor Editorial Staff

Layout

Tullio Bernabei Davide Domenici Roberto Abiuso, Teresa Bellagamba, Carla Corongiu, Umberto Del Vecchio, Antonio De Vivo, Leonardo Piccini, Natalino Russo, Francesco Sauro.

Matteo Casagrande

Printing

Grafiche Tintoretto (TV) - Italy

Contacts

Via del Giardino 2 02046 Magliano Sabina - Italy tel. +39 0744 919296 e-mail: kur@laventa.it

Translation:

La Venta Associazione Culturale Esplorazioni Geografiche

Giada Bortolini Alessandra Cognetta Via Priamo Tron, 35/F 31100 Treviso - Italy www.laventa.it

Cover photo

Halite helictites, Atacama, Cile

Second cover

Imawarí Yeuta, Auyan Tepui, Venezuela

Giovanni Badino

Kur And The Roots Of Caves Ieu sui Arnautz qu’amas l’aura e chatz la lebre ab lo bou e nadi contra suberna.

Daniel Arnaud I am Arnaud, who collects the wind, hunts for hares with oxen and swims against the rising tide.

It has been a little like sailing along a river; the landscape is changing, turn after turn, while distant reliefs will slowly – days? – end up dominating the banks around us. Sometimes a bend is enough for everything to change, and a village, a lake, a rapid appear, along with our emotions and projects for the next few hours.

This is how it has been, in recent years, for the association La Venta: sailing by sight, guessing what the future would be like over the banks, behind the mist, beyond the trees.

We generally guessed pretty well, although sometimes with embarrassing delays. The result is that a small association without funding, created to facilitate international speleological travels for its (about) ten members – in the years of the fall of the Berlin Wall, before cellphones, and during the infancy of the Internet – has become something else entirely, a world-relevant group.

We spent the ‘90s theorizing a geographical speleology, conscious at least of the not very evident fact that caves are simply the continuation of the external surface of mountains in the darkness of their inner volume. ThereFloating base of operations, Arbol de Navidad, Chiapas, Mexico

collaborations & credits Ekaterineburg Caving Club archive: 4, 6, 7 bottom; La Venta artchive: 5 bottom, 7 up; Giovanni Badino: 5 top; Tullio Bernabei: 11 middle, 12 bottom; Carla Corongiu: 29 right bottom; Vittorio Crobu: 2nd cover, 10, 11 top, 11 bottom, 44, 45, 46, 47; Norma Damiano: 24 top; Riccardo De Luca: 22 left, 23, 25 top; Antonio De Vivo: 43 bottom; Martino Frova: 17 bottom, 18, 19 top, 37, 39 right top; Francesco Lo Mastro: 3, 17 top, 19 bottom; Mauricio Nafate: 9; Paolo Petrignani: 13, 15; Enzo Procopio: 3rd cover; Alberto Righetto: 34; Alessio Romeo: 1, 2, 8, 12 top, 26, 27, 28, 29 left, 29 right top, 30, 31, 32 top, 33 top, 36, 38, 39 left top, 39 left bottom, 39 right bottom, 40, 41, back cover; Tommaso Santagata: 32 bottom, 33 bottom, 35; Francesco Sauro: 42, 43 top; Marco Vattano: cover, 20, 21, 22 top, 22 right, 24 bottom, 25 bottom

1 fore, we should describe not only the “caves”, but also their roots expanding outside, right before our eyes. We had to learn how to see them, and teach others to do the same.

In a way, we tried to remove speleology from its dimension of local Sunday leisure, in favor of a deeper and more cultured activity. Until a few decades ago, caves were large, one-dimensional linear descents that ended in a remote sump, though many future members of La Venta have indeed helped to make them three-dimensional by climbing, digging, spending sleepless nights and thousands of hours in a cold and dark environment.

Hence, what we have subsequently done, mainly as La Venta, is giving these caves a fourth dimension, a cultural depth, allowing them to extend among us, showing their external roots.

To achieve this, the association La Venta has carried out an extensive effort of popularization, even in the years when documentaries were shot on 16 mm film, and it has gradually distorted its structure, enrolling several new members – with varying degrees of success – who could help with this project, and creating a new magazine to show its evolution: Kur, that is, a place to display the metaphysical depth of caves.

From the very beginning, members saw this initiative in different ways, because not all of them were interested in it; this led to some setup changes, such as scrapping the technical supplement, and a change in publication frequency.

Many things have changed now, even in the way we communicate, and although we do not doubt the con-

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tent, perhaps we doubt the way we communicate it.

As for Kur, roughly two extreme positions face each other within the association.

One side claims that Kur is our showcase and, most importantly, a timeless reminder of our commitment. The fact that writing articles for Kur is perceived by many members as a burden shows that they have fallen into the trap of current media, and believe that the action of popularization begins and ends with sharing badly digested news through a blog.

On the reverse, this instant fruition of events is not a testimony for the future, but a self-declaration of Existence in Life by people who are constantly afraid of not existing. It has thus a social purpose, not a geographical one. It lives as long as it’s necessary, like a butterfly.

An exploratory activity like ours is distinguished from widespread international speleo-tourism only because it publishes results in an accurate way. Did Columbus discover America? Absolutely not, millions of people already lived there, and, even then, other navigators had preceded him. The merit of Columbus was to publish news about the existence of those lands, a merit that was not affected by the fact that he had died believing it was Asia. A minor mistake of about 20,000 kilometers, not bad for a geographer…

In short, Kur must represent the first mature stage of assimilation of the results of our projects and, for the time that we spend for it, it is what gives meaning to the time spent in expeditions, just like cave surveys. Otherwise, it all comes down to self-celebration, showing to drooling friends how cool we are, traveling around the world.

The other position detects in Kur a sign of senile dementia of the association strategies, still attached to the bulletins of caving groups in the ‘70s: they just want to make them a little better, fulfilling dreams of half a century ago. They are unable to adapt to a trend that, at the same time of the second issue of Kur (June 2004), saw the birth of Facebook. Today, the latter has a billion

Laser scanning, Paolo Verico Chasm, El Cenote, Dolomites

and a half readers, while Kur 22 still has the same few hundreds of that second issue. This would be enough to demotivate those who write articles, but in addition it should be emphasized that writing is boring and requires commitment and skills – which are almost useless nowadays – that fewer and fewer people have, and in decreasing amounts (if they can even spell at all). Moreover, Kur costs good money. We acknowledge the evidence that the difficulties about Kur are due to the fact that there isn’t a collective interest behind the magazine. But we pass on that and move on, what matters is to travel around the world and maybe write some information on the Internet.

Oh, well…

I have the feeling that this is a fundamental problem that we are facing in a confused way.

Perhaps, instead of a middle ground between these two positions, we could try changing altitude, spreading our wings and flying away. This way we would discredit our scarce ability to appreciate the results of our expeditions, humiliate our capacity to keep up with technological developments, reject tension of starting new projects while others still have to be concluded, mock those who only see the tourist-hiking side of our expeditions, rebuke recognition seekers, etc.

Once that is done, I think that historical memory is essential, and its maintenance on different levels (from posting on blogs to burying papyrus scrolls in the desert) mainly requires an effort of imagination, a disciplined exercise, an experiment, a passionate work very similar to that required to explore a big cave.

It is an exploration, and a high level one.

There are ample possibilities for creating a Hyper-Kur, built on several intercommunicating levels spread among sites, sponsors, libraries, Wikipedia, multimedia, up to the many friends who follow us while dreaming to be with us.

I hope that this exploration is within our reach.

SUMMARY

Editorial 1

In memory of Sasha Giovanni Badino

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One year above and below the tree Tullio Bernabei, Leonardo Colavita

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Crystals of Naica: farewell forever!

Giovanni Badino, Paolo Forti

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Exploring prehistory in Baja California Carlos Lazcano, Francesco Lo Mastro, Natalino Russo

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In the salt of the Earth

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Jo de Waele

Thirty years of glacial speleology Alessio Romeo

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3D surface and cave survey: where, how and what for Tommaso Santagata

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A thousand meters above Amazonia Alessio Romeo

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Flying over the amazonian tepuis Francesco Sauro

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Filming with the BBC Vittorio Crobu

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Memories from the Dark – Pan Ku the creator Paolo Forti

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Cactus “Cardon” presso Cataviña, Baja California

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In memory of Sasha

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IN MEMORY OF SASHA Giovanni Badino

Sasha Vishnevskii at a recent speleo meeting in Ekaterinburg

Alexandr Sergeevich Vishnevskii, alias “Sasha”, has left us. He has been a leader of explorations in Russia for the last thirty years, particularly for expeditions in Central Asia, where Boy Bulok became one of the deepest caves in the world thanks to an international collaboration that broke through the “Iron Curtain” that separated Soviet speleologists from those of the rest of the world.

He was born in 1956 in Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk at the time), where he studied and then taught geography, dedicating himself to speleology from the early ‘70s, especially in the neighboring Urals, becoming a member of the local caving group and setting up many expeditions and caving schools in Crimea, Caucasus and Central Asia as well.

In 1989 Alexandr was one of the founders, and the first president, of the Speleological Association of the Urals (SAU).

It’s also thanks to his commitment that speleology in those areas overcame the turmoil of the early ‘90s, when the dissolution of the Soviet Union subverted the political and economic life of the country. Sasha led more than ten expeditions on the mountain range of Surkhan-Tau, where the Boy Bulok cave reaches a depth of 1,415 m.

In 2007, after a long pause in the explorations in Central Asia motivated by the local political situation, he was the driving force for the resumption of the works in the region. He was not always an easygoing person, but he certainly was an extraordinary man, who contributed immensely to the development of Russian speleology.

Obviously, we would have immediately disliked him.

We were the top of the heap of Italian speleology, people who regularly explored at great depths, one weekend after the other, trained and self-centered.

We used to ascend from great depths, hours away from each other, then we gathered outside, in front of our cars, to return home.

However, Sasha was the Head of a different kind of speleology, deeply collective, but hierarchical at the same time. Each of them had a sort of license that indicated their skills but, at the same time, when it was time to enter, they all descended together, for days or weeks. All of them, even people who could descend and give a contribution only thanks to their companions.

Their speleology was designed so that everyone could take part in the final success: each one’s contribution extended to the Urals winters, in those strict, secluded military cities, surrounded by weapons and missile factories, and by nuclear industries.

Each of them, in those poor barracks among endless snows and forests, would put aside food for the summer expedition, as well as the relatively big sum of money that each of them would pay in order to participate: to be able to be there, to give a small hand in an almost militarized expedition.

The author with Sasha and Vadim Loginov in Ekarinburg, 2010

All of this was inconceivable to us. Some of us had actually made great solo descents, and we would have never allowed untrained people to come underground with us.

Of course, on our part, we considered this idea of the Expedition Leader with great annoyance: we conceived this figure not as a “Leader”, but as the one that would (then and now) work the hardest to run a project, with great concern. A person to rely on, who knows everyone’s needs.

Sasha at the Boy Bulok camp, 1989

Arrival at base camp, 1991 expedition to Samarcanda

It wasn’t like that for them. In such a hierarchical structure, they needed a Leader who had earned his position after many expeditions. And when he led, it was so that there could be a final result that would reward everyone, from the first to the last.

The Leader was him, Sasha.

With this background, and his tendency to command it was obvious that we would have immediately disliked him. And that we would have encouraged those who, among his “followers”, seemed to share our habits of direct interaction, individually, and with the caves.

Our relationship was then immediately based on detachment: we recognized his role, his significance, but we did not take orders from him unless we could discuss them among us in advance.

On the whole, the 1989 expedition went very well, and we explored Boy Bulok up to the bottom, making it the deepest cavity of Asia. It continues to be, even now, one of the toughest to go through.

The collaboration continued in 1991, but by then we had gained some autonomy and so could avoid taking insane decisions like struggling for days under inhumanly heavy backpacks to save a few pennies (literally) on donkeys. Or choosing not to use helicopters that cost a few dozen dollars per hour…

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In memory of Sasha

7 Tajik shepherds at the entrance of the Berloga Cave, 1989 expedition to Samarcanda, Uzbekistan

First expeditions in Central Asia, early ‘80s

Only years later we understood that Sasha was an expression of a different way of caving, which could be extraordinarily effective if carried out by people with our training, but also with the team discipline shown by our Russian friends.

An efficacy that became evident in the following years, when they overlapped their spirits to our technique and preparation, and started to explore endless caves in the Caucasus and elsewhere.

Sasha’s speleology had a Russian soul. They had been living for several decades in quarters closed to all forms of visit, overseen by American spy planes because all the military production, first of the Soviet Union and now of Russia, was (and still is) concentrated there. They carried caving equipment that resembled “international” products, but that was made in titanium with missile parts and hell knows what else, assembled during work breaks in those still top secret factories.

Sasha was the Leader of a top level, but entirely homemade, speleology.

Then, due to the vicissitudes of the Soviet Union, we drifted apart.

I met him not long ago, in one of my many journeys in the fantastic areas of the Urals, now finally accessible.

He dedicated little time to speleology, but his group was, and still is, extremely active and with a formidable so-

cial style that I haven’t seen for decades in our own caving groups. I found out how highly they thought of us there, after so many years. For them, those expeditions had been a breakthrough that had allowed them to grow a lot, but that had in some way probably “marginalized” Sasha and his approach.

Those expeditions had been a fundamental experience for us, too.

It was necessary to combine that type of team-based setup with a serious and diligent individual preparation.

The dark side of a team-based setup is that it deprives individual speleologists of the initiatory interaction with the cave. As part of a team, they cannot perceive the burning interactive feeling with the subterranean world, that poignant intimacy with a cave that allows those who feel it to carry out solo descents that are inaccessible to large groups.

However, an “initiatory” setup depends too much on individual skills; on one hand, it makes it impossible to carry out tasks that require massive resources and effort.

On the other, and this is equally serious, it isolates those who adhere to it from the rest of the caving world, where social roles and meetings are more important than caves, and you become a “monster”, or a “maniac”. Or even an “asshole. In any case, a pariah.

And, lastly, this setting isolates caves from the majority

Sasha in Bukhara, a few years ago

of cavers, because great explorations become accessible only to the Gotha of the “initiated”.

All in all, Sasha was the most evolved product of a speleology that had developed in the Urals, made of limited means but great physical skills, immense passion, and an amazing ability to join forces to achieve a common goal: all this in line with the Russian soul, which I have learned to love since I was a student, when I began working with the physicists of that region.

The Russian speleologists of those years needed a small adjustment on technical and individual training, and on the perceptive depth of the subterranean world: they have acquired them from us.

We, on the other hand, needed a calibration on the ability to “team up”. We have learned it from them, and we have used it for La Venta, which was born precisely from those collaborations. Our association, especially during the first adventurous and unrepeatable years of its evolution, had a very “Russian” structure: little individuality and lots of shared effort.

Unfortunately, on the whole, we can say that they have learned our lesson a lot better than we have learned theirs; the ability to “team up”, in our speleology, has been reduced to almost nothing. And as for the “initiatory” setting, alas…

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MEXICO ONE YEAR ABOVE AND BELOW THE TREE Tullio Bernabei, Leonardo Colavita Engaging systematically with Mexican territories is nothing new for our association, but the activity carried out in Chiapas between November 2014 and the end of 2015 was undoubtedly special, and innovative in many ways.

The main protagonist was the Árbol de Navidad, or Christmas Tree, an extraordinary geological formation located in the Sumidero Canyon, not far from the capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez. It’s a waterfall of almost 180 meters that pours from a cave on the wall, and that has created, over thousands of years, a giant travertine structure covered by vegetation, resembling the shape of a large Christmas tree. It is not only a natural phenomenon, but also a very important tourist attraction: the canyon, in fact, is visited annually by nearly half a million tourists, and the most exciting moment of the boat tour is Water analysis and biological sampling below the Árbol de Navidad

Árbol de Navidad, Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas

precisely linked to the sight of the Árbol.

In recent years, a serious issue has been highlighted: the waterfall has less and less water, and during the dry season (January to April) the water flow can even cease completely, while up to a dozen years ago it was always active throughout the year. Therefore, the managers of the Sumidero National Park decided to contact the association La Venta to analyze the situation and, possibly, find solutions. This choice was not due to a coincidence.

In 1993 some members of the team had descended the high walls of the canyon and reached the cave where the waterfall pours out from.

The exploration was disappointing, because the cavity was small and ended after a few dozen meters, but the endeavor was truly remarkable for the times. This is why the local authorities decided to involve members of La

Beyond the second threshold, Cueva del Árbol de Navidad

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Controlled rock removal at the entrance of the Cueva

Venta in the project, the only ones who knew the situation and could reasonably say if something had changed inside the cave.

After a preliminary analysis, we formulated two hypotheses: first, a blockage might have occurred somewhere, gradually preventing water leakage, a bit like calcium obstructions in the pipes of washing machines or dishwashers in our houses; second, a problem might have occurred in the feeding basin of the waterfall.

We thus decided to act on two fronts: to immediately inspect the cave again after 22 years, and then to assess the hydrogeological situation on the plateau, an area subject to heavy deforestation in recent decades.

Operations to open up the first threshold

In November 2014 we organized an expedition aimed at descending the wall. A mixed group of about thirty people, Italian and Mexican, succeeded in the endeavor.

At the beginning of December, after several days of difficult work and 500 meters of rope descent, the entrance of the cave was reached. This required 800 meters of rope, 77 Raumer bolts, and many itching burns caused by a terrible plant strewn on the wall, the Cinco Negritos (Comocladia Guatemalensis).

Inside the Cueva del Árbol the situation was worse than we had predicted. The massive presence of vegetation, especially roots, along with dirt and calcium carbonate deposits, has created a series of dams and obstructions

that were not present in 1993, and that were about to close the cavity forever. There seemed to be at least two causes. The deforestation in the top part of the mountain had caused a washout of the soil and the arrival in the cave of large, abnormal amounts of dirt. The dense network of roots in the cave had blocked it, favoring the formation of carbonate deposits as well as blockages.

Why so many roots? The cause is an exponential increase in the vegetation on the canyon walls, which can also be explained. The dam built in 1980, and the consequent formation of a huge lake, may have increased the local humidity rate.

Essentially, a micro climatic change, both above and below, linked to human activity.

In three days of hard work the obstructions were almost completely removed, and the results were immediately evident.

The water flow increased slightly, but, most notably, it

once again poured out from the center of the waterfall, feeding the Árbol homogeneously. Moreover, the cave no longer ran the risk to suddenly seal itself shut. A few years of life gained.

The Triunfo Agrarista colony, with Sumidero Canyon on the background

Equipping the wall of the Árbol de Navidad

We also tried to reach the cave through an easier path, by equipping a horizontal tight terracing running about 50 meters above the waterfall, but we had to give up due to the bad quality of the rock. However, the project is still ongoing: in the future, we plan to build a sub-horizontal equipped trail, which would allow us to easily get to the cave to carry out studies and maintenance.

In April we took a completely speleological break. We went back to the cave of Rancho Nuevo, which opens at an altitude of 2,300 m on the Altos de Chiapas, not far from the famous town of San Cristobal de las Casas. It is a vast underground system, reaching 500 m of depth and 10 km of length; it was explored by an expedition

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The big wall of the Árbol

Cueva del Rancho Nuevo

of the Roman Speleological Circle in 1987, and, since then, no one has come back to look for leads due to the presence of a sump lake 1 km away from the entrance.

With a small cave diving expedition, we passed the sump and placed a safe line, opening the way for an expedition to be carried out in 2016. A door we opened again after almost 30 years, and another new frontier to explore…

Still, the attempt to reach the Sima Grande, a big pit spotted from the helicopter in an area close to the Sumidero Canyon, did not succeed. Not because we couldn’t find the shaft, but because, once we reached the area, the residents refused to grant us the permission to explore it.

This can happen while researching in very isolated rural areas, it is a risk that we always take into account. The only thing to do is to withdraw and try again the following year, asking for all necessary permits and clarifying the aims of the mission well in advance. .

But let’s go back to the Árbol de Navidad. The endeavor of December 2014 was greatly appreciated by the local community; we ended up on the pages of all the local newspapers, and we received countless expressions of esteem, but apparently this was not enough.

So we gave birth to a second phase, a new project named “Guardianes del Árbol” (The Guardians of the Tree). The first step was to study in depth the hydrological catchment basin of the waterfall, in order to understand what was really going on at the top, where the community of Triunfo Agrarista is located. A small loan provided by the Civil Protection of Chiapas allowed us to begin working in September 2015.

After a few survey trips on the plateau, we understood that the situation was worse than we could imagine.

About one hundred water infiltration areas were identified, but 90 percent of them were intentionally blocked by the locals: poor people who desperately search for water during the dry season have tried to create small reservoirs where possible. The results are poor, but the consequences are even worse, because, in this way, water does not go through karst conduits but it infiltrates, disperses or evaporates. In other words, it does not reach the waterfall.

Taking advantage of the rainy period, we carried out the first hydrogeological dye tracing to understand which sinkholes are directly related to the waterfall, and at the same time we tried to talk to the local population and authorities to find mid-term and long term solutions.

It is very striking that below, along the river, a “flow” of relative wealth runs along thanks to tourist sightseeing, but none of these economic benefits reach the top, where the true “guardians” of the waterfall live. The entire management plan of this area must be renewed, finding socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable options.

We are willing to give our contribution, but it is clear that a lot depends on local political policies.

The first results of the dye tracing, which have just arrived, comfort us on the possibility to find solutions to restore the water flow of the Árbol: it will take time, but we are optimistic. After all, only incurable optimists and dreamers can think of “saving” a waterfall, and maybe even of succeeding in it.

CRYSTALS OF NAICA: FAREWELL FOREVER! Giovanni Badino, Paolo Forti Last October on a Mexican website a brief notice appeared, announcing the permanent shutdown of a silver mine in the state of Chihuahua (Mexico) due to a massive flooding, which could not be contrasted in any way.

At first glance, it might have looked like a communication of local interest. However, for the world of speleology, it was a breaking news: in fact, the mine in question was that of Naica, which hosts the most amazing caves in the world, with their giant gypsum crystals, by far the largest known to man.

If possible, the news was even more shocking for our Association. For five years (from 2006 to 2010), we not only carried out the exploration and survey of these cavities, cooperating with C/Producciones from Mexico City for photographic documentation and the simultaneous production of a documentary and a film, but we also coordinated an interdisciplinary research group, consisting of about twenty scientists from various parts of the world, in order to study every aspect of these incredible caves.

We were deeply saddened by this news, even though, we must admit, we have always been aware that this “alien” world would have been available to us only for a few years. In fact, the mine managers had clearly stated as early as 2002 that, within a maximum of about ten years, the ore would have run out and the mine would

The entrance of the Naica mine

consequently be closed, flooding the cavities underneath an insurmountable, 170-meter high wall of boiling water…

But let’s take a step back.

A bit of history The mine of Naica became world-famous in 1910 when, at -120 m level, it encountered a natural cavity completely covered by gypsum crystals, which measured up to two meters in length, and that were by far the largest gypsum crystals ever discovered at the time. Therefore, this cave, called Cueva de las Espadas, was immediately subject to the extraction of the largest crystals, which were sent to the major mineralogical museums in the world, and then it was partially equipped for sightseeing.

After World War II, thanks to the dewatering of over 1000 liters per second (water at 50 °C), it was possible to deepen the mine well below the piezometric level.

In 2000, during the excavation of a mining tunnel 170 meters below that level, three cavities were intercepted in rapid succession. The largest is known as Cueva de los Cristales and it contains giant gypsum crystals, up to over 11 meters long and with a diameter of over one meter.

However, the environment was absolutely hellish, with a temperature of nearly 50 °C and a relative humidity

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close to 100%: in this cave it was impossible to resist more than 5-10 minutes without literally “steaming” to death.

The first speleological visit, at the invitation of the mine management, was carried out in January 2001 by Mexican caver Carlos Lazcano, member of La Venta, with his friends Claude Chabert and Nicky Boullier, two worldfamous French speleologists. It was just a short visit, but it served to confirm the exceptional speleological and scientific significance of these cavities.

Proyecto Nayca La Venta began planning the exploration and documentation of these caves, where we were briefly admitted only in 2002 as guests of the mine, whose management simultaneously shut the door on any possible collaboration, gently but firmly.

However, in the following years, we were lucky enough to meet C/Producciones from Mexico City, a company specialized in making nature documentaries and, thanks to their involvement, we were able to have the “Proyecto Naica” accepted by the Peñoles Company, licensee of the mine.

That moment marked the beginning of what we believe to be by far the most important and complex activity ever undertaken by La Venta, both for the exceptional environment we were operating in, and for the technological challenges constantly presented by this beautiful but hellish place, even before we were allowed to enter it.

In fact, its deadly climate forced us to study and develop special suits and breathers before we could schedule any activities inside these caves. Without them, the time

spent in Cristales would have never been sufficient to carry out exploration, documentation and research activities. Despite this equipment and the development of accurate security protocols, we really risked a lot in a few occasions.

The unfamiliarity of this environment, and the originality of the research that we could have carried out, led us to develop several other technological solutions.

For documentation, we invented robotic instruments that could take pictures that didn’t require the operator’s presence inside the cave. For the studies on crystal growth, we designed a sort of “incubator” that could recreate, deep into the mine, the conditions existing in the cave before the dewatering had emptied it. This instrument was placed in the lower levels of the mine, where native thermal water still flowed in an even more hostile environment than that of Cristales; in this way we have artificially grown, in less than three years, small gypsum crystals at the same speed at which the giant ones had formed naturally, in hundreds of thousands of years.

During the “Proyecto Naica” hundreds of thousands of photographs and dozens of hours of videos were shot; all the caves were surveyed and, in the Cueva de los Cristales, we also made a partial 3D survey with a laser scanner.

The material of “Proyecto Naica” was used to make documentaries by National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and Japanese broadcaster NHK, to cite only the most famous producers, and a film screened in Mexico is being adapted for the Italian public.

Despite this, during these years of intensive study, the

caves of Naica have undoubtedly offered the greatest satisfaction in the scientific field.

In fact, beside the giant gypsum crystals, these cavities have proved to be an almost inexhaustible source for many, diverse research fields: from mineralogy to physiology, from paleo-climatology to seismology, from micro-meteorology to astrobiology.

The environment of the Naica Caves has since proved to be quite peculiar and, in some ways, almost extraterrestrial, to the point that even NASA wanted to participate in the project by testing, in these caves, miniaturized analytical tools destined for Mars…

Thanks to all these studies, about 50 scientific articles have been published from 2006 to present day, almost all of which have one or more La Venta members as authors, and others still continue to be published as laboratory analyses on the samples collected over six years ago are being concluded. Some of these works were actually in a preliminary phase, and should be completed in the second phase of the project, together with exploration.

In fact, the micro-meteorological analyses of Cristales have shown that this is only a small part of a larger underground complex, extending north-east of the known cavity, at least until the cave of Ojo de la Reina.

Unfortunately, at the end of 2009, a year before its planned conclusion, “Proyecto Naica” was abruptly interrupted by a unilateral decision of the mine licensee, who feared that the increasing media visibility of this geological treasure would interfere with mineral extrac-

Among the giant crystals

tion. To the point that we were not even allowed to retrieve some automatic instruments that were still recording micro-meteorological data inside Cristales.

Cave fruition Since the beginning of Proyecto Naica, the safeguarding of these incredible and very delicate “jewel boxes” has always been the main concern for us.

First of all, there is the issue of the progressive degradation of the crystals, which are exposed to an atmosphere that is very different from the “primordial soup” where they have grown for hundreds of thousands of years. In a few years, in fact, the condensation of water, aggressive and rich in carbon dioxide, has begun to transform them in calcium carbonate concretions. This process has been greatly slowed down, if not completely stopped, thanks to the placement of sealed doors at the entrance of the caves, to eliminate air exchange with the mining galleries as far as possible.

The watertight doors also perform the task of impeding the action of potential crystal thieves, who, in fact, have not been able to access the caves anymore after this implementation.

Another fundamental aspect was to guarantee the accessibility of the caves well over the time limit of the mining activity. To achieve this goal, we reached out to everyone (from the Peñoles company to the government of Chihuahua, from the federal government to UNESCO), presenting solutions that would guarantee, on one hand,

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EXPLORING PREHISTORY IN BAJA CALIFORNIA

Most Sacred Treasure of the Mountains– Nicholas Roerich, 1933

A multi-year project is studying the traces of the civilizations that preceded the Spanish conquest Carlos Lazcano, Francesco Lo Mastro, Natalino Russo

Petroglyphs near La Bachata

the partial economic sustainability of the project and, on the other hand, the possibility for the village of Naica to survive after the mine shutdown, thanks to the tourism in the caves.

Our ideas have always been greatly appreciated, but only in theory! None of our interlocutors has ever proposed to move from project to operational implementation, and time has inexorably passed by.

The end of the mine The mine operates under a local aquifer (at -130 m of depth from the entrance), and the pumping has lowered the water level of about 750 meters (at about -900 m from the entrance).

At the end of our operations in 2010, about 1,500 L/s were pumped from the bottom, with an annual consumption of about a thousand billion kilowatt hours. In these years the price of lead dropped of about 20%, and that of silver of over 50%, which probably made mining activities unprofitable.

It seems that, at the beginning of 2015, during the excavation of tunnels towards potential mineral deposits, an unknown aquifer that flooded the deepest parts of the mine was intercepted. Since then, the pumping activities have continued until last September, when the management of the mine ascertained that their efforts had limited the rising of water at -400 m, without any further increase, and thus decided to stop the pumps and, as it seems, to ask for the permission to start a new mining activity in a different sector.

Despite our efforts, we have not been able to obtain more detailed information, but the level of the big caves of Naica is likely destined to return underwater in a short amount of time.

Conclusions We wish we could have at least greeted the crystals for the last time before they sank into thermal water, but it seems that we will not be allowed to do that, and that we will not be able to perform one last 3D survey to carefully preserve their memory. It’s a pity, but we have already had the huge privilege to operate in an extraordinary environment, in close contact with this incredible forest of crystals, and to communicate the short-lived appearance of these treasures of the Lands of the Night to the rest of humankind.

We are left with the consolation that now “they” (the crystals) will feel better in their “amniotic” liquid, that they will start growing again, and, who knows, in a few hundreds or thousands of years somebody will be able to see them, larger and more beautiful than ever.

Lastly, we are left with the awareness that we have done everything we could to show the whole world the incredible jewel box of Naica as well as its hidden treasures.

The future generations, although deprived of the possibility to see directly these wonders of nature, will be able to remember Naica thanks, also and above all, to the publications that La Venta has already produced and will produce in the near future.

Bibliography DEGOUTIN N., 1912 Les Grottes à cristaux de gypse de Naica (Mexique), La Nature, 1927 FORTI P., SANNA L. 2010 The Naica Project: a multidisciplinary study of the largest gypsum crystal of the world. Episodes 33, 1, p. 23-32 BADINO G., FORTI P. 2013, Naica caves: perhaps the most important mine caves of the world, in Memorie Istituto Italiano di Speleologia s.2, XXVIII, p. 29-40

Baja California, Mexico. The peninsula stretches from north to south for 1,300 km, almost all is a desert. This is one of the less populated areas of the country: a little more than three million people live on over 70,000 km2, mostly concentrated in the north, near the border with the United States. Baja California is a magical place, characterized by immense areas where the eyes can roam free for dozens of kilometres. The only real road is the Carretera Estatal 1 Transpeninsular, which goes from Tijuana to the centres of Los Cabos at the southern end of the peninsula. From the green northern hills, cloaked in vineyards, this road ventures into a progressively arid landscape until it enters the Central desert: here it goes through immense expanses of dust and stones, wilderness, dark volcanic landscapes, and rocky deserts dotted with large cactuses. Occasionally, we meet trucks or surf

vans, but, other than that, there is almost no one in Baja California.

Occasionally, the carretera approaches the ocean, opening up glimpses of turquoise sea in the middle of yellow and red rocks. The horizon is always far away; the sky, immense. To the west, the peninsula opens up to the immensity of the Pacific Ocean, while the other side borders the Sea of Cortés: fish, whales and other marine species make it an actual “aquarium of the world”, as it was described by explorer Jacques Cousteau. The importance of this sea is also endorsed by UNESCO, which declared it a World Heritage Site in 2005. Here, throughout the winter and into early spring, you can see the grey whale, watch the spectacular jumps of the humpback whale, and spot the blue one, the largest animal ever lived on Earth. In addition, in Baja California surfers can find the right waves for their stunts.

But the peninsula is also known for the heritage left by those who lived there before the Spaniards arrived. The Central Desert was inhabited by the Cochimí and the Guachimí, who created thousands of paintings and rock carvings there. The ones in the southern part of the peninsula, belonging to the state of Baja California Sur, are widely known and studied: the Sierra de San Francisco (over 400 places) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, many sites in the central region are still waiting to be discovered and catalogued.

Geologist Carlos Lazcano, director of the Museo de Historia de Ensenada and member of La Venta, is working there. This article documents the recent expeditions,

The typical desert landscape of Baja California near the Sierra de la Asamblea

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In the area of the Cueva de Cataviña, parietal paintings inside a granitic “tafone”

March 2015 The first expedition, which lasted for 10 days, was carried out in the month of March. We moved almost always off-road, along dusty paths in poor conditions.

The most difficult sites to access were instead reached by foot or on horseback, and lightly equipped camps were set in the most remote places. In the immediate surDesert landscape in the area of the Sierra de la Asamblea

which were also attended by some Italian members, and it represents an update on what has been published in the 19th issue of this magazine.

The last expeditions During 2015, two expeditions were carried out in the Valle de los Cirios, a natural park extending over more than two million hectares until the 28th parallel, as far as the border between the state of Baja California and that of Baja California Sur, where the protected area is called El Vizcaíno. The two parks combined cover a total area of more than five million hectares and make up the largest protected area in Latin America.

We chose Cataviña as our base camp, a village of less than a hundred inhabitants along the Transpeninsular road. No phone, no Internet, same as the whole wide central part of the peninsula. A few years ago there was a gas station here, but it has long since been closed. However, the fuel is sold in cans at the roadside, and Cataviña is a strategic point to explore the surroundings. Also because Nathan Velasco, a nature photographer and Carlos Lazcano’s friend, lives here: together they have scoured the area and interviewed the last rancheros, the few farmers who still resist in this hostile land. They know many cave sites, or have heard of them from their parents or grandparents. In some cases, they remember the location well, but they often have only a vague idea. This precious information is then transferred into a register that is progressively being completed after every expedition with more accurate data, reports, and photographs.

roundings of Cataviña we documented the site of La Bocana, where few simple parietal paintings are immersed in a majestic and wild valley, where the tall cactuses form a sort of forest. In two hours of riding we also reached the site called La Sirena, full of petroglyphs: its name is due to the form of one of the figures carved in the rock.

It is a beautiful and lonely place, and it has never been documented before.

Other reconnaissance trips were carried out to the south, at the height of the 28th Parallel, not far from the town Parietal paintings in the area of the Cueva de Cataviña

November 2015 The research project continues to produce results. In fact, in November 2015, another group of Italians returned to Baja California to help with the research. This expedition took place once again in the Valle de los Cirios, among its warm desert colours ranging from the vibrant green of the cactuses to the shades of the rocks: black, ochre, deep red; the magical glitter of quartz sand, the immense expanses of dust and rock, the rounded profile of the granite blocks.

Once again the village of Cataviña served as a starting point to complete the documentation (including video) of the sites of La Bocana and La Bachata. We later moved to the Sierra de la Asamblea, a wilderness area with granitic mountains reaching 1600 meters of altitude, difficult to access and completely unexplored.

Here, despite the low temperature due to the altitude, we discovered and documented many important sites.

The first one is called La Pintada, a rocky slab along the dry bed of a stream, a large natural blackboard covered with petroglyphs. Then the sites of Las Pintaditas 1 and 2, where there are abundant cave paintings belonging to the “Gran Mural” style, typical of the Cochimí culture but still unknown in this area. This discovery made it possible to link the sites of the Sierra de San Francisco to the south with those around the mission of San Borja, to the north.

The future These expeditions have a seemingly simple logistics, since the material can be transported by car and we usually rely on small villages, missions, and ranchos (farms) in the desert. However, this way we have to face the difficulties of the geographic exploration of huge places, once inhabited but today almost forgotten. Sometimes the rancheros know the places because they have been there many years ago, often chasing a runaway horse.

Desert landscape near the Rancho S. Luis

Parietal paintings in the Cueva de La Langosta

of Guerrero Negro. With two hours of off-road travel we reached the old Jesuit mission of Santa Gertrudis, once very populated but now inhabited only by five people.

From there we moved on horseback, following the barely recognizable road of the Camino Real, a cattle track that linked the missions in the 1700s. One of the sites found in this area proved to be full of petroglyphs: at the base of another wall we found a long series of carvings representing hunting scenes, animals, solar shapes, geometric patterns.

Desert landscape in the Sierra de la Asamblea

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But their reports are often inaccurate, based on vague memories or stories of coloured markings on the rocks.

So we find ourselves wandering in the desert for a long time without any reference point, in search of places like the Cueva Pintada, cited by many as a big cavity under a rock that the ancestors used as a shelter for horses. The walls of this cave are apparently completely covered by large and beautiful paintings. It is an almost mythological place, long sought and not yet found. Moreover, the peninsula itself is a place on the border between myth and reality. The Jesuit missionaries had already realized it, naming the ancient inhabitants of the place Californios, a name derived from Califerne, an imaginary place mentioned in an 8th-century novel.

The research continues, and these charming places will be the subject of many other expeditions. This project, complex and far-sighted, is inconspicuous – with no records or sporting achievements – but among the most fascinating of our association.

Participants to the 2015 expeditions. March: Umberto Fuerte, Carloz Lazcano, Natalino Russo, Alonso Salgado, Nathan Velasco. November: Martino Frova, Carloz Lazcano, Francesco Lo Mastro, Luca Massa, Nathan Velasco.

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IN THE SALT OF THE EARTH Jo De Waele Between November and December 2015 the association La Venta Geographic Explorations carried out an expedition in order to support the one organized by the Eugenio Boegan Cave Commission (EBCC) from Trieste for the photographic documentation and scientific research on the caves in the Cordillera de la Sal, near San Pedro de Atacama (Chile).

Since 2000, the EBCC has organized seven caving expeditions in Chile, discovering and surveying over 15 km of caves, including the deepest and longest ones in Chile, and some of the most important salt cavities in the world. Although our partners from Trieste have documented and filmed their activities, their efforts have always been primarily dedicated to exploration and survey, leaving out the aspect of photographic documentation.

With this aim, La Venta and the Commission reached an agreement to organize a joint expedition.

The main tasks of the La Venta team were to document, with high-quality photographs, the discovered environments and the exploratory activities. Besides this, the presence of several geologists of the Association allowed us to also plan scientific activities, including sampling, laser scanner surveys, and various types of measurements.

The activities of La Venta were initially carried out in parallel with those of the EBCC from Trieste, with a 4-day camp on the Cordillera de la Sal, to follow the explorations in the Cressi System, the largest known in the area.

In the second phase of the expedition, while part of the EBCC members continued to explore the Cordillera, the activities of La Venta moved into the cave at the base of the Cordillera de la Sal, in the Llano de la Paciencia.

There we photographed the main caves explored by the Trieste groups in the previous years. The documentation and exploration activities were carried out jointly only in the Cueva de la VicuĂąa Seca.

Photographing in the salt Our photographic teams worked in two separate groups for a total of seven days, in the caves on the plateau of the Cordillera de la Sal, in the cavities at its base (Llano de la Paciencia), and in those near San Pedro de Atacama. Two thirds of our time was devoted to this activity.

In over 120 hours of work, we carried out a complete photographic documentation in the following caves, except for the photos taken in the smaller ones: Cueva de Chulacao and Cueva Lechuza del Campanario (San

ATACAMA Chile

River of salt, Cressi System, Atacama, Chile.

On the contact border between the Llano de la Paciencia and the Cordillera de la Sal

Cordillera de La Sal, coming back to the Llano de la Paciencia

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Pedro area), Cressi System, Grande Quebrada, Gola Profonda, branch of the Lago Salado on the plateau, and Cueva de la Vicuña Seca and Cueva de l’Arco de la Paciencia in the homonymous Llano. The lack of time and materials prevented us from taking photos in the Cueva del Aire.

The photographs were taken with the purpose of documenting cave environments, the peculiar morphologies typical of salt cavities, geological sampling, concretions, and research, exploration and documentation activities.

An extensive photographic documentation was also carried out on outdoor morphologies and landscapes, on fields and breath-taking views.

first mineralogical results have revealed the presence of some very rare minerals, including antarcticite, the first finding of this species in a cave.

In the Cueva de la Mina de Chulacao near San Pedro de Atacama, the first cave we visited, the mark left by flood water was still clearly visible. In fact, according to the account of the locals, on 24th May 2015 there was even a snowfall, something that had not happened in a very long time.

This snowfall, which brought about 10 cm of snow on

the Cordillera de la Sal near the town, and the following rain, caused a violent flood that has left its sign, especially in the caves. In the Cueva de la Mina Chulacao, where the water flowing toward the output is forced to pass through a narrow fissure, the river reached a level of about 5 meters above the floor! A (dark) horizontal level mark can still be observed on the walls, and the organic material (hay residue) stuck to the walls up to 5 meters high.

In the Cueva de Lechuza of Campanario, located only 2 km further south, such signs are not visible, which means that, in the recharge basin of this cave, the precipitations were much less important, if not non-existent.

The fact that in these last two years, both classified as “El Niño”, so much rain has fallen (2015-16 is among the strongest El Niño event ever recorded) is also demonstrated by our micro erosion meter (MEM) stations, placed in November 2007 and measured both in April 2008 and in November 2011. This time all the external stations were completely erased by the dissolution of the salt they were placed on (both on vertical and horizontal surfaces). Only the two stations in the Cueva de Lechuza del Campanairo have resisted. These stations, one positioned on a surface approximately two meters above the present bed of the underground river, the other on the flat ceiling of the cave, show that the dissolution due to condensation water is virtually nonexistent in these caves. This means that the shapes of the caves, once the water flow has deepened, remain virtually unchanged over time.

Laser scanner survey in a salt cave

Salted science The studies begun in 1997 and 1998 by the researchers of the University of Bologna included cave minerals,

Eccentric salt concretions, Cressi System.

concretions, paleo-climatic and paleo-environmental significance of the caves and of their sediments, and speleogenesis.

Several samples of secondary minerals were collected in different caves, and they are currently being studied; bone and wooden remains in the Cueva de Luchuza del Campanario will be subject to radiocarbon dating. The

Salt floor, Cressi System

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Prison of salt, Cressi System

Scanning the salt In this expedition, for the first time highly detailed surveys were carried out with a Leica HDS7000 laser scanner, which is able to measure underground environments in 3D and high definition, thanks to the collaboration with Gruppo Servizi Topografici, a private companies belonging to Marco Camorani from Reggio Emilia. In the cave, in addition to laser scanner surveys, we also performed a scan of some karren forms on salt rock (the “penitentes”).

The data of the laser scanner will allow us to create a 3D video of the Cueva Lechuza del Campanario, going through the whole cave for the over 500 meters separating the high entrance from the lower one. We also scanned the typical morphologies that characterize salt

has calmed, silence falls in a totality never experienced before. You can usually hear insects, the movement of tiny creatures carrying out their activities during the dark hours. Or you can notice the noise of the air in the vegetation, or that of civilization, even in the distance.

Nothing, none of that, just complete silence. Stunning.

A silence that, on the contrary, you do not experience on the bed of the quebradas (canyons) surrounded, as you are, by salt walls and by karren on the salt rock (penitentes). Here the abrupt change in temperature and the adjustment to the salt, create a concert of pops and creaks that lasts for several hours. A not very relaxing noise, I can assure you.

Cueva Luchuza

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caves: meanders, shafts, and shelves.

The surveys will give us the opportunity to make metric and volumetric measurements of the various morphologies detected, and to formulate interesting observations from a speleogenetic point of view. In some cases, colour photographs were added to the surveys with laser scanIntermediate shaft, Cueva del Arco de la Paciencia

ners: they will allow us to make the rendering of the 3D models obtained, creating highly realistic virtual images.

Salt in all flavours Concretions are surely the most impressing among the most relevant characteristics of salt caves. As in normal caves, we can find classic stalactites and, though less frequent, stalagmites here. We more often meet columns, often lumpy, and eccentrics, while salt crusts develop everywhere on the floors recently affected by water flow.

Moving in these delicate environments without damaging them is basically impossible: the salt under our feet creaks at every step. But we must take into account the fact that these concretions are ephemeral, destined to disappear during the next (though rare) flood. As for parietal and summit concretions, they change during every infiltrative episode, as shown by the photos taken at different times (years away from each other). Then there are some unique concretions, typical of the salt: thin eccentrics made by a succession of interpenetrating cubes, or flowstones in the form of giant toothpaste, or even helical salt eccentrics or “cotton balls”. These forms and concretions required many hours of work to be captured by our photographers.

From complete silence to the chatter of the salt Another indelible memory, which we actually sought from the beginning, was the night under the stars. In the (honestly very improvised) first camp on the plateau, a small team camped under a starry austral sky.

Despite being in a desert, the temperature at night precipitated from 40 °C to 5 °C in the middle of the night.

However, the most intense memory is not related to the cold, but to silence. At night, when the evening wind

The relations with the Park and the future To be able to survey with the laser scanner in the Cave of Lechuza del Campanario, we asked and obtained permission from the Valle de la Luna Park.

The community of natives that manages the natural resources of the Cordillera de la Sal has been very interested in our research and exploration, and in the future we will try to establish official relationships that will enable us to continue our research in this protected area.

In fact, chances are that we will make a photobook on the karst phenomenon in the Cordillera, to be sold to tourists, and that we will organize a training course for the guides of the Park. Of course, we also wish to open new exploratory routes in this immense, and largely unexplored, world of salt.

Sharp karren in the salt

Participants La Venta: Jo De Waele, Umberto Del Vecchio, Riccardo De Luca, Marco Mecchia.

External members: Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Fulvio Iorio, Roberto Ferrara, Andrea Cabras, Norma Damiano, Alfredo Brunetti.

Cracked conduit in the salt, Cressi system

Sponsors Italian Speleological Society, Gruppo Servizi Topografici (G.S.T. snc) from Reggio Emilia (laser scanner), Intermatica (satellite phones), Ferrino (outdoor apparel and equipment), Dolomite (mountain shoes), Amphibious (dry bags), De Walt (professional electric tools), Scurion (LED lighting systems), Tiberino (freeze-dried, ready to cook food).

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THIRTY YEARS OF GLACIAL SPELEOLOGY Alessio Romeo My first expedition was on the Viedma glacier in Patagonia, Argentina. It was 1997 and we were obviously looking for caves in the ice. I was in that magnificent place to give a three-dimensional mean to the photographs I had seen in magazines, and to finally immerse myself in that deep blue, in the myriad of shades and transparencies that can only be found in ice caves. That experience marked my life.

The same year I went, with new exploration partners, to the largest glacier in the Alps, the Aletsch. There were not any reports of glacial moulins in that place, but we found them! The following year a La Venta expedition allowed me to meet the Gorner, the second largest glacier in the Alps, also located in Switzerland.

After over 15 years of speleo-glacial explorations, I returned to the Gorner in 2014. It was the twentieth time that I climbed it, this time to organize the First International Course of Glacial Speleology. In 2015 I came back again, with many speleologists from all over Italy.

Together we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the

In the floating world Access to an inactive moulin, Aletsch glacier, 2014 In the moulins of the Gorner, 2014 international camp

explorations within this glacier, and we explored new moulins.

But let’s go step by step and briefly review the path of this peculiar caving activity, parallel to the traditional one, but increasingly linked to scientific research in glaciers.

History and development of glacial speleology In the ‘80s, in Italy but probably also in other parts of the world, some speleologists reinvented glacial speleology. I use the term “reinvented” because at the end of 1800 the fathers of modern glaciology, Joseph Vallot and Louis Agassiz, had already recognized moulins as real caves, the only access route to the heart of the glaciers and to their mysterious hydrology.

These pioneers attempted the descent of a large moulin on the French glacier Mer de Glace, a moulin since then recalled as “Le Grand Moulin”, but, due to the inadequate technical tools of the time, they gave up the exploration after a few tens of meters of vertical descent.

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Inside a meander, Gorner glacier

For its part, in the ‘80s speleology already used adequate tools for on-rope progression and, with a pair of crampons, there were no problems to tackle these new and fascinating ice chasms.

The aesthetics of the glaciers, the charm of the remote locations where they are located, and of the blue that surrounds you, are and always will be the main incentive for their exploration. However, at the end of the ‘80s,

many speleologists, aided by their intuition and academic preparation, realized that, through these cavities, they had the privilege to observe and study the ice tongues from a new point of view: the inside.

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s Italian (and international) cavers moved to non-European countries to look for caves both in the limestone and in the ice. The comparison between the information acquired on the European glaciers and on those of the Karakorum, Patagonia, and later Antarctica and Greenland, would greatly increase the body of knowledge related to the moulins.

This encouraged the beginning of “International Symposiums”, where ice-cavers and researchers compared their work and discoveries on the glaciers both of the alpine type and on polar caps. The term cryo-karst was proposed and the interest in this activity grew worldwide.

Then, from temperate glaciers, that is, with an ice temperature around 0°C, we passed to cold ones, with lower temperatures. In a period of rapid climate change, and with the global warming of the whole planet, understanding mass loss processes on every type of glacier is extremely helpful also for the prevention of natural catastrophic events such as the dizzying acceleration of glacial tongues and sudden spills of intra-glacial meltwater.

Anyway, the glaciers close to home continued to be visited and to provide valuable information.

Deep shafts, phreatic conduits, gorges, and siphons took us back to the shapes of the limestone caves, but in the ice everything was created and destroyed very swiftly. In geology, there is nothing comparable to the genesis of moulins except for volcanic environments, for example the basic lava eruptions that generate tunnels even kilometres long in a few days. Caves need long times in order to form and evolve, while in a glacier even just one season is enough for both creating and, sometimes, de-

Contact cave a few minutes from base camp at 2,450 m of altitude, Gorner glacier, 2014

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Night descent to avoid dripping

stroying them. Studying and monitoring these ephemeral cavities began to make sense. Although, their topographic survey did not seem important at first, because of this rapid evolution, then we realized that following the seasonal change of these cavities could tell us a lot on the evolution of other caves, and on the physics and hydrology of glaciers.

For a long time, knowing the GPS coordinates of the entrances only helped find the moulins in the following years. As a matter of fact, this system still works. But we have to consider that even if the cave still exists, maybe it is not exactly in the same position.

Over time, the behaviour of glaciers, their hydrology,

During exploration, Gorner glacier, 2015

and their physics change, the ice thickness is reduced, the sliding rate varies, and the cave that we always expect to find in the same place for almost twenty years is actually located 400 m downstream and almost 100 m lower in altitude, but for years we have not noticed it. In what span of time did it happen? If we do not constantly monitor the moulins, we can only provide vague answers.

The study of the deepest areas of the glaciers, however, remains in the hands of physicists and mathematicians who keep racking their brains with complex calculations to understand what they cannot observe: zones below 150 m of depth have rarely been travelled by man. The variables affecting the deep drainage are many, and the ice has a different physical behaviour according to temperature; the water entering the moulins probably reaches the basal or marginal zone through conduits with a diameter of less than one meter, according to the math.

These are the first parts of the water network to collapse when winter arrives and the amount of meltwater decreases until it stops.

During the winter this collapse, as it has often been observed, is the cause of the rise of water inside the moulins, which, unless they are reactivated the following

Contact cave, Gorner 2015

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In the contact cave at the confluence of the Gorner and Grenz glaciers

year, tend to close in a season.

Glaciers and ice caps even more, can provide much more information about the past of our planet, its current health status and its future. Cavers can contribute to this research, since the tenacity of our passion leads us to return to the same places to go through these empty spaces inside the ice, but we must strive not just to enjoy their charm but also to bring home data and useful witnesses.

The project “Inside the Glaciers” The project started in 2013 at the initiative of Francesco Sauro and the author, and it has several objectives.

After a tour on the glacier of Mer de Glace, with the purpose of visiting the historic “Grand Moulin”, the following year we decided to organize an exploratory-scientific camp aimed at studying this icy abyss, which had characteristically maintained the same position and a depth of over 100 m for over 100 years. However, something changed in 2014. The Grand Moulin moved further downstream. The old sinkholes became a lake and the

river that was thrown inside overflew, continuing its flow downstream to intercept a new fracture about a kilometre away. Over the following months, the New Grand Moulin was born.

We were thus forced to change destination, both for the uncertainty of organizing such a complex camp on only one moulin of which we did not have historical memory, and for bureaucratic problems with the administration of Chamonix.

We decided to set the first “International Course of Glacial Speleology” on the Gorner and, in the end, it made more sense for us to continue in Switzerland the work we had begun almost thirty years ago, rather than to start another one on a new site.

The camp, which was held between 17th and 27th October 2015, was attended by 45 people from different European countries including many cavers, but also researchers and students of various disciplines.

During my activity of glacial speleology, I have had the opportunity to meet researchers specialized in different

At base camp, cooking under a cold starry night at the end of October, Gorner glacier, 2015

disciplines linked to glaciers. In 2010 and 2013, with the French association Spélé’ice, I participated in two expeditions on the ice cap in Greenland. The first camp was set at almost 1,000 m of altitude and 23 km from the West coast, 80 km north of Ilulissat (western coast), while the second was located a few kilometres from the coast, at the same latitude. Researchers of History of Natural Sciences of the University of Paris participated in both expeditions. On that occasion were carried out studies and sampling both on the coast and on the ice with a particular interest toward the biological content of cryoconites (Kur 21, page 16).

I invited these scientists at the international camp for the first sampling of some cryoconites on the Gorner.

The microscope analyses have revealed the presence of micro-fauna and flora very similar to that of the cryoconites in Greenland.

Associating animals and/or plants with the mineralogical composition of the sediment they feed on is very important, and justifies the presence of Roberta Brayner of the Diderot University of Paris. Her electron microscopic examinations have provided the composition of the mineral part in cryoconites, the same components that synthesize and transform algae into the molecules necessary to the rest of living beings.

All aquatic environments are colonized by micro-algae, and these organisms are very important, considering that 70% of the Earth’s surface is occupied by oceans.

First, the product of photosynthesis is oxygen, which is essential to life on Earth for most living beings, and they are the main producers.

Thanks to this process, green algae synthesize all the sub-

Floating shapes, Gorner glacier

stances they need, thus creating most of the molecules needed for other living beings, becoming a primary ring in the food chain: that is, they are primary producers.

Their presence provides an indication on the aquatic and terrestrial environmental health, so it is important to study their ecology and their life cycle, a research more urgent than ever in this period of climate change.

Other data on the biological and mineralogical association in cryoconites will be collected in Patagonia in 2016. This new data set will be used to gather more information on the evolution of the climate in these regions, through the changes in the population of algae.

By comparing it with the data of other areas, it will be possible to identify the similarities and differences in the population of cryoconites in the north and south of the planet.

Another project that we decided to develop during the camp, with a geology student at the University of Florence, was to catalogue the coordinates of the major moulins and the direction of the fractures where their entrances are located. The aim is to compare this data with that collected from the earliest explorations and especially with that collected during my thesis work between 1999 and 2000. It is clear that the position of the historic moulins is changing with a downstream migration, something that had not been detected before. The

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Base camp outside the cave, El Cenote, Dolomites

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Survey of the G6, one of the most monitored moulins of the Gorner, known since the late ‘80s

data processing is ongoing, and it requires an analysis of many factors such as the change of altitude, of the morphology of the glacier and of its surface.

During the camp, a remote controlled drone equipped with a camera was used. These new technologies can help the mapping and investigation of glacial surfaces. The 16 flights performed on three different areas of the glacier have allowed the creation of photogrammetric surveys and, thanks to an image processing software with SFM (structure from motion), 3D models for geo-referred ortho-rectified photos, DTM, contour lines, 2D CAD

The immense ice mass in the big ending hall at 250 m of depth, El Cenote, Dolomites

drawings and kmz files have been created to be compared with Google Earth. We also intended to use a laser scanner to perform internal surveys of the glacial cavity, to be periodically repeated in order to detect changes in volume and form over time. Unfortunately, some unexpected events prevented the realization of this project.

The international camp, as already mentioned, was not the only objective of the project.

In September 2014 we organized an exploratory camp on the Aletsch, with about fifteen participants.

After the many expeditions that I had carried out on this glacier, I decided, after some years, to return there with a good company and explore as many moulins as possible, bringing back with me a survey and the GPS position of each of them. Thanks to this work, once the data of the Gorner is processed, we will be able to make a comparison of the changes recorded on either glacier in a number of years.

Another comparison that we will use for our research will come from the data we will collect in Patagonia during the next expedition organized by La Venta and Spélé’ice in 2016; we will compare them with the data collected between 1995 and 2010 during the previous expeditions on the Perito Moreno glacier.

The third objective of the “Inside the Glaciers” project was not related directly to alpine or extra-European glaciers but it was still linked to ice.

Some years ago, on the Piz Conturines, in the Ampezzo Dolomites, a 280-meters-deep cave with a large mass of ice extending from the entrance to the inside was discovered and explored by some cavers from Veneto (CS Proteo); the name of this abyss is Grotta del Cenote or Buco nell’Acqua (Cave of the Cenote or “Hole in the Water”, but this expression in Italian means also a failure or a waste of time). The internal firn has the characteristic to close after very snowy winters forming a lake that empties in

the late summer after the opening of the occlusion. The inner glacier has a thickness of about one hundred meters and ends a few dozen meters from the entrance in a large chasm in the rock, 160 m deep. Ice reappears at the base of the pit as a huge rock-glacier.

In November 2014, the entrance of the cave, which opens up at 2,940 meters of altitude, was closed off by winter snow. The expedition was postponed to the following year. In 2015 we had more luck, even though an unexpected snowfall limited our time to work inside the cave. Using a laser scanner, we were able to take a 3D survey of the salon that provides valuable information on its size and volume; the difficulties in transporting and positioning the scanner were not negligible: let’s just say that, to survey the high part of the room, an aluminium platform jutting out into the void was placed at 110 m of height.

The ice mass was sampled at different depths; temperature and atmospheric pressure data-loggers and pollen traps were placed and secured along the whole cave.

With the help of the University of Innsbruck, the collected samples will be analysed and, once the instruments are recovered, in one or two years we will proceed to paleo-climatic studies, and to the completion of the survey of the firn.

The entrance of El Cenote, Piz Conturines, Dolomites

We hope that the “Inside the Glaciers” project will not be concluded in a short time but, on the contrary, that it will continue to develop and expand its exploratory and research horizons, feeding on its multi-disciplinarity.

Glacial speleology is in a moment of fervent activity. The 2015 international camp, the expeditions on the Aletsch and the Cenote and the last Camp on the Gorner in 2015, show that this activity is very appealing both for the old and the new generations. We have also noticed with great pleasure that people in this context tend to collaborate and join their efforts, as they begin to understand the importance of data collection and of scientific observations, especially in light of the recent global warming. Probably, as Giovanni Badino wrote in a recent article on the CAI M-360 magazine, the exploration of the ephemeral does not generate the feelings of conquest and possession that still exist in traditional speleology.

In short, considering that glaciers are now ephemeral

Gallery carved by air flow, El Cenote, Dolomites

bodies, maybe we can turn them into a land of great collaboration, joining our forces to learn something more about the history of our planet and the future of glaciers, and realizing the importance of sharing research, interacting with other disciplines and cultures, and merging our passion for exploration with the desire of knowledge by creating a union between science and speleology.

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3D SURFACE AND CAVE SURVEY: WHERE, HOW AND WHAT FOR

Gorner 2014 During the first international camp of glacial speleology, carried out on the Gorner Glacier in October 2014, for the first time we were able to use a drone, with the aim of creating aerial photographs and three-dimensional models of some parts of this magnificent glacier, which has represented an interesting subject of study for our Association for more than 20 years.

During the first week of this camp, the excellent weather conditions greatly facilitated the drone survey, although in some cases the absence of GPS signal created some problems, which fortunately were promptly resolved.

Through the acquisition of some control points with a handheld GPS, aerial photographs were geo-referred in three different areas of this glacier, including the G6 moulin (one of the largest and deepest ice caves in the Gorner). They have been later used to create 3D models from which contour lines and other topographic images were derived.

Tommaso Santagata During some recent expeditions organized by La Venta Association, new techniques for three-dimensional survey were used. In particular, during the expeditions in the Gorner Glacier (Switzerland, October 2014) and in the Cenote de Les Conturines (Ampezzo Dolomites, November 2015), for the project “Inside the Glaciers” organized by our members A. Romeo and F. Sauro and sponsored by our Association, and in the recent expedition in the desert of Atacama (Chile, November 2015), carried out in collaboration with the E. Boegan Cave Commission, several surveys were performed, using drones and laser scanners to obtain three-dimensional models, useful both from a scientific and a didactic point of view.

In recent years, the development of new survey systems has significantly increased the chance to survey in great detail, even in environments that are generally considered difficult, such as caves.

One of the main advantages of these instruments, compared to those normally used in the field of speleology, concerns the ability to acquire in a short time large amounts of metrical data that can be analysed and employed for different purposes. In most cases, the use of these instruments in a cave is limited only to the survey

of easily accessible parts. Very often, the presence of vertical shafts, narrow passages, or underground rivers can be an insurmountable obstacle to their use.

Nevertheless, it is not always necessary to perform detailed measurements with instruments like laser scanners. Thanks to the development of algorithms and software capable of processing three-dimensional models from video footage, or simple photographs taken in sequence, we are now able to obtain reconstructions in three dimensions using common cameras and reference metric targets.

The need to three-dimensionally reconstruct underground environments is particularly relevant, especially for scientific reasons, since the use of these important instruments allows the acquisition of a large amount of data useful to better understand the real geometry of caves. One of the main problems of speleological survey techniques is indeed related to the difficulty of acquiring large amounts of measures while maintaining the same degree of accuracy, but, on the other side, the interpretation of the data acquired by laser scanners or photogrammetric techniques requires a significant knowledge of devices and software.

3D models

Installation of a suspended platform for the laser scanner, El Cenote, Piz Conturines, Dolomites

In fact, the data acquired by laser scanners or photogrammetric surveys are managed and displayed in the form of point clouds, which can be used to develop plans and sections with a precision and a quantity of measures that cannot be achieved by using electronic distance meters or metric tapes. In addition, depending on the type of instrument and the density of the points acquired, we can accurately reconstruct surfaces to perform morphological analyses that can provide important information on the study of caves.

From a didactic point of view, this dataset can also be used to give anyone the opportunity to learn more about the subterranean world. For example, especially in museums, we have been witnessing for several years the introduction of new technologies for “augmented reality” that allows virtual tours and interaction with the environment through special glasses; thanks to the development of new tools and 3D printers, it is possible to “export” these models from their virtual reality to physically reproduce them in any scale. The world of computer science is also following this evolution, allowing us to easily share three-dimensional models with a wider audience through the Internet and interactive video animations using 360° cameras, which are now increasingly implemented in the film and advertising industries as well.

Cenote 2015 In 2014, the project “Inside the Glaciers” scheduled the exploration and laser scanner survey of the Paolo Verico Chamber in the Cenote of the Dolomites abyss, a beautiful cave that develops between ice and limestone to a depth of about 280 m, located in the natural park of Braises and Fosses in the heart of the Ampezzo Dolomites. Because of the difficult conditions to access the entrance of this abyss, the expedition was unfortunately postponed to the following year and finally, in November 2015, we managed to reach the base of this impressive salon and to carry out a survey with a laser scanner.

To perform a complete survey of this cave, we made eleven scans from which it was possible to derive precise volumetric calculations, plans, and sections of this impressive hall, with a floor made up of a constantly evolving rock-glacier. Moreover, thanks to the placement of an aluminium platform specially made by our friend of the Treviso Caving Group and installed at 110 m of height in the final shaft, it was possible to perform a scan in the high part of the salon, obtaining very useful data to also study the stratigraphy in the most inaccessible areas, up to a height of about 200 m above the floor.

This survey represents an important starting point for the continuous monitoring of this environment, with the aim of obtaining new information about the morphological and paleo-climatic evolution of the glacial deposits in the Alps. It will be very interesting to return there in a next future to collect new data and compare it with the data acquired during this first expedition.

Acknowledgements These surveys were possible thanks to the support of UPcamera company, who provided a drone and technical equipment to survey the Gorner Glacier and, as for the survey of the Cenote, of Laserscangst , a new sponsor of our Association. We hope to bring forward this and other projects with them.

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Tepui, In The Lost World

Toward the Aracá Tepui, Brazil

A THOUSAND METERS ABOVE AMAZONIA Expedition on the Aracá tepui, Brazil Alessio Romeo There are remote places that, because of their isolation, become a dream for those who love exploring. They are lonely locations, wrapped in an aura of mystery, peppered with myths and legends… These places, in my experience, become dreams to fulfill.

The Brazilian Aracá tepui is located in the heart of the forest in the state of Amazonas, north of the Amazon River and not far from the Venezuelan border. Like most of the emerged areas of the continents, the Aracá has also been reached by man, and, like most of the planet, it has been subject to exploitation.

Coltan is a black sand that contains two rare minerals (columbite and tantalite), which companies use in electronics to increase the battery performance of our hightech devices. These minerals are worth like gold and, for that reason, in many parts of the world coltan is sadly known as a “blood mineral”. I don’t know how much Amazon miners are paid for tantalite, but the price is probably quite high, because in the past there was an illegal mine in this remote place, with a landing strip for aircrafts. This track has now been destroyed by the Brazilian authorities that periodically make raids in remote places like this, days away from civilization.

However, miners are not the only ones to have reached the summit plateau; research expeditions and caving explorations have arrived there, too. In 2006, the Italian

The meandering course of the Rio Negro

association Akakor discovered a series of caves on the south-western border of this tepui. In particular, they explored an abyss 670 m deep that became the deepest cave in Brazil and the deepest quartzite rock cave in the world. The cave was dedicated to a French caver, one of their collaborators, very active in this state: Guy Collet.

This discovery and the mine are somehow linked, because miners and ex-miners are the only ones who know the trails that lead up to the mountain: both those that give access to the mine and those that allow them to escape from it during police raids. Tatunca Nara is one of these ex-miners: he was the guide and the discoverer of the entrance of this chasm in 2006.

In the ‘70s, writer Karl Brugger published a book called “The chronicle of Akakor”, a best seller for the hippie world, but also for people fascinated by stories related to the extraterrestrials and the role that they could have had on small and large civilizations in the past, those able to build magnificent and indestructible buildings, or to show astounding scientific and astronomical knowledge.

The storyteller of the chronicle of this city, called Akakor, was Tatunca Nara, the head of a people called Uga Mugulala, beloved by the extraterrestrials. A crazy story, because of its intricate structure, which still attracts curious people, admirers, and journalists who travel to the remote town of Barcelos to meet him. We leave for

We glide silently on these rivers for two days, even at night, aided by a bright full moon. We have waited until late June before embarking on this journey, because the water of the river must be high, otherwise we would

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Along the Rio Aracà

On little boats, we sail along water courses into the forest

this adventure with the hope of meeting him, to maybe get some news of speleological interest and, who knows, some crazy stories about the “chosen people”! The fame of this character is not only linked to the book, but also to other stories of crime and disappearance! We are already quite excited for the journey that awaits us, and we decide to leave this emotion for our return from the Aracá!

The journey We are nine, all speleologists: four Italians, members of La Venta, and five Brazilians, four of which are members of the Bambuí group from Belo Horizonte, a really well known team active in this country.

The main objective of the Brazilians is to find the Guy Collet abyss and to bring back home a comprehensive documentation to complete the book on the caves of Brazil they are working on.

The expedition, for us Italians, has instead an interest linked to the “Tepui Project” that La Venta has begun over twenty years ago and continued with exceptional

Moving forward in the forest

The trip starts in Manaus, capital of the Amazonas state.

This decadent city was an important economic center at the beginning of the last century thanks to the trade of natural rubber, which was produced at the edge of the jungle in huge amounts. Then came artificial rubber, produced from the processing of oil. The prices and exports of Brazilian natural rubber dropped, and the beautiful colonial buildings of Manaus were abandoned; nowadays they have been transformed into shelters for the homeless and drug addicts!

We leave this city to reach, after 400 km on the Rio Negro, the town of Barcelos.

The following day we begin a slow, incessant ascent

not have been able to get close enough to the mountain.

When we reach a secondary tributary of the Rio Aracà we change type of boat. We have trailed all the way here six motor launches where we will load everything we need for these eight days of expedition. We had estimated four hours of sailing to reach the camp where we would have landed, but it will take seven hours instead.

There are many trunks of fallen trees barring the river, especially in the upper part, and they must be removed each time with the use of chainsaws, axes and, when we are lucky, only with machetes. A long and tiring work.

Finally landing After three days in a boat it is strange to approach dry land and take the first steps. In less than an hour we load ourselves with huge, heavy backpacks and begin a forced march toward the first camp. The jungle is dense but we can see some hints of a trail winding through giant trees, river crossings and logs. Boars seem to be the main threat, moving in large groups (even a hundred animals) and being very voracious – “leave everything and climb

The use of a chainsaw is often essential to make our way through

The impressive waterfall of El Dorado

discoveries in the last six years, crowned and promoted when Francesco Sauro won the Rolex Award for Enterprise. In December 2014 Francesco, together with our Brazilian friends, overflew the mountain, spotting some new promising entrances in the north-western sector of the massif. Our goal, then, is above all to verify that the summit plateau of the Aracá is walkable; in that case we will try to reach new caves to explore, starting from the Guy Collet.

In this part of Brazil there are no helicopters to hire in order to facilitate our journey, so we have to reach the tepui through the river, and then we will climb it on foot with the help of local porters and a guide.

Arriving on dry land

from the Rio Negro to the Rio Aracá aboard a traditional wooden boat with two floors, with a particularly thinned keel. We are on board with the captain, the boat drivers, the porters, the guide (ex-miner) and of course the cook, for a total of sixteen people!

The water of the rivers in the surroundings is really dark and, when it is not being ruffled by the breeze, it becomes a natural mirror. The reflection of the immense sky merges with reality on the horizon. Only a thin line of forest separates them, and we feel like we are flying.

The porters prepare their backpacks with forest leaves

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The El Dorado waterfall seen from the top

the nearest tree if you see them”, the guides tell us. We soon realize, though, that in this place even ants are not really to be underestimated!

We camp by the river that descends from the Aracá and we see the first fragments of the huge tepui here, rounded quartzitic sandstone ranging from white to pink. The water is reddish due to the tannin released by the vegetation, a typical characteristic of the tepui water, and throughout the rest of the expedition that will remain the color of the water we drink.

A thousand meters above the Amazonian jungle The way to ascend the Aracá chosen by Moreno, our guide, must have been his previous route to escape from the mountain. We will never forget the 4th July: overloaded with personal and group equipment, we climb up the mountain convinced to set the camp before the evening. Instead, we set up camp almost in the dark… but in the same place of the night before!

Our guide has taken the wrong path, opening a new one that, at about 600 meters of altitude, ends on an impassable ridge! We are very fatigued after ten hours of walking, and full of bites of all kinds of tiny creatures.

We’re all thinking about murdering Moreno, we can see it in each other’s eyes, there is no need to say anything: we thought he was nice until the day before, but now we hate him, ironically speaking!

Ezio and Moreno, without luggage, leave again to look for the right path, and they find it only late at night.

The following day we decide to lighten our backpacks a little bit, because the mere idea of walking again for ten hours in that hot and humid weather, and eventually not reaching the goal, leaves us breathless.

The path is right this time, and it takes only five hours to arrive on the border of the Aracá in what will be our

One of the cavities explored during the expedition

base camp for the following week of exploration. It’s 4:30 PM, and we still have several hours of light to settle ourselves in and to organize equipment and tents.

The area of the camp has been occupied in the past: there are pitches for tents and some scraps of string, stakes and nylon. A small path leads to a valley crossed by a small rivulet that will provide water for drinking and washing.

Two small trees are connected by a strong thread that definitely served as drying rack, it is the same string used in this region to wrap the handle of the machete for a better grip. I notice some words written on one of the trees, engraved for some time now: they say: “Tatunca Nara”.

The caves The geographical exploration of the area and the search for the Guy Collet are the objectives of the first day. The time we lost wandering in the jungle slightly changes our programs, but we try to do what we planned to. Our GPS coordinates of the abyss are correct and, though after many hours of walking, we reach the entrance, opening our path with a machete. This is the cave we were looking for, the two anchors we find can confirm that, and the pit entrance resembles that described in the 2006 report.

We return to the camp, worried that the other group, in external exploration, may have encountered difficulties finding an easy access route to the heart of the tepui. We know how complex it can be to move around surrounded by this vegetation, often walking on marshy ground.

They are already there when we arrive, and our worries are confirmed. The difficulties, as our friends tell us, become even more insurmountable where there are hills and elevations, even small ones, because in that case the vegetation becomes an impenetrable wall.

The following day we split into two groups again: some people will try other ways to access the tepui, while three of us will devote themselves to the abyss. Descending in this cave is not quite a recommendable experience, especially for the quality of the rock, and surely it is not fascinating from an aesthetic point of view. But if this

is the deepest quartzite cave in the world, then let’s see it! The first descent lasts many hours, the majority of which is dedicated to the removal of stones and to the search of pieces of rock solid enough for the karabiners.

We descend a 50 m pit ending on a landslide floor. The report we have says that there is more to see here; we go through a narrow passage and descend another 20 m, but the cave does not continue further. The day has passed by, and the effort I made to equip and, above all, to secure these 100 vertical meters is unparalleled!

We leave the cave equipped, even if we have already surveyed it. It would be better if others verified eventual continuations.

We set up a camping tent an hour from the entrance; it is 1.00 AM when we reach it and we can do nothing but sleep, waiting for our companions, supposed to arrive the following morning. The new team is also composed of three people who will devote themselves to the parallel pit, laden with ropes and karabiners, ready for their journey toward the depths of the mountain. We return to the base in a couple of hours, to relax a little and to document a small cave, where the stream below the camp slips into, explored and surveyed the day before.

In addition to the pictures we dedicate ourselves to the sampling of rock in various stages of alteration, to water sampling and to the measurement of pH, temperature and of whatever can give us information about the genesis of this cavity. Even strange and original concretions will end up under the microscopes of the University of Brasilia.

On the 9th day, we discover from our friends at the Guy Collet that they have not been able to go beyond 100 meters of depth: the bottoms of both pits seem to close, without possible continuations and without air from any direction. It really seems that this abyss does not exist anymore, maybe obstructed by a collapse. Now it is only an ugly marshy fracture on the border of the Aracà.

Moreover, the search of easy ways into the internal sector of the massif has not yielded results; it would be a long, exhausting trip with little chance of finding caves.

Our disappointment is big, and so is the frustration of having travelled a long way for such a miserable result!

The next day we head toward El Dorado, the highest waterfall in Brazil: 352 meters flowing from the edge of the tepui, a one-hour walk from the camp. We find some signs of a cave and peek in the waterfall area. We know from “The Chronicle of Akakor” that the most import-

During the exploration

ant city of the “chosen” people was called Akaym and had its entrance behind a waterfall of over 300 m to the north of Brazil. We dream once again of entering the heart of this mountain, and we imagine doing it through a decorated tunnel until we reach the ruins of a magnificent city covered in gold. We come back joking about the disappointment caused by another missed discovery.

But we are actually satisfied for such a fascinating journey; an adventure that required great effort, but that we lived with a smile and with a good team spirit, despite the strange “Esperanto” we use to communicate, made of a mix of four or five languages.

As we sail back, it is time to ask our crew about Tatunca Nara. The boat driver knows him well and tells us that he is a shy and fearful man now: he carries a gun and does not allow anyone to approach him. We ask him what kind of man Tatunca is, and he has no other words to describe him: a real rogue!

After all, it would have been curious to meet him, but if he had told us of caves and dreamy underground worlds, would we have asked him to accompany us, knowing that some of his customers never returned from the forest?

Water, reddened by tannin, descends from the Aracà, well visible on the background

Conclusions and future outlook The doubt of having left out something inside the Guy Collet remains, even though there was plenty of time to complete a careful exploration. From the reports of the first explorers it seems that, during expeditions carried out after 2006, a number of collapses may have prevented access to the bottom. The Brazilians, given the shorter distances and greater flexibility in organizing a new expedition even in a short time, are willing to return there and verify the size of the abyss, perhaps accompanied by those who know it better.

As for La Venta, the Tepui Project continues in Venezuela with new expeditions in the coming years, but we do not rule out a return to the Aracá.

Using a helicopter would make a huge difference in organizing another expedition; the other possibility would be to enter from the other access (the one for the mine) and explore the northernmost areas where the surveying flight made in November 2014 revealed the presence of possible wall entrances. Reaching them would be a real adventure and, one day, we may find the right conditions to embark on it.

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FLYING OVER THE AMAZONIAN TEPUIS Francesco Sauro 2,600 km of flight between the basin of the Caronì and the Upper Orinoco, 25 hours in the clouds, spotting mountains like islands in the sea of woods, eighteen takeoffs and landings on dirt tracks and flower fields, 2,978 photographs of valleys, walls, waterfalls, grietas and huge entrances of unexplored caves. These are just some of the numbers of the “Amazonas Tepui” prospecting, which was concluded in the month of March 2015 in Venezuela. A journey that clearly showed us the potential of massifs that, until recently, we could only dream of, and that have now become a real landscape, much beyond the expectations of our dreams.

We began this journey by taking off from Puerto Ayacucho, the last town on the border of the Upper Orinoco. Flying over granite mountains and endless forests,

Marahuaca tepui

we landed in the valley of Culebra, a heavenly place surrounded by the highest massifs in the quartzite of the Amazonas: the Duida to the south (2,358 m high, 1,089 km2 of plateau), the Marahuaca to the east (2,832 m high, 131 km2 of summit area) and the smaller but very elegant Huachamacari to the north (1,900 m high, 8 km2 of summit area). Our main goal was to fly over the Marahuaca, the second highest mountain in the Amazonas after Neblina Peak, and the highest massif with the morphology of a real tepui.

The Marahuaca is a mythical and very little known mountain. Its towering walls, over a thousand meters high, have been the dream of many mountaineers and explorers of the Amazonas, including the Italians Alfonso Vinci and Walter Bonatti (who made two attempts to

Huachamacari tepui

climb them in 1967 and 1973), but only the expeditions of the Terramar Foundation reached the summit plateau for the first time in the years 1983-1985 with the use of a helicopter, carrying out studies on the fauna and flora of the plateau. Since then, no one has ever returned there. With this reconnaissance tour we managed to arrive there with two Cessna, and to fly over the plateau to evaluate the speleological potential of the massif. Flying through the clouds, among moments of uncertainty and a healthy dose of fear, a wild world of rivers, plateaus, deep grietas, and sinkholes suddenly opened in front of us, confirming the ideas that we had gotten watching satellite images: the Marahuaca is one of the Amazonian massifs with the greatest speleological potential, with a morphology and elevation that can host very deep abysses, still to be explored.

Back to Puerto Ordaz, thinking about how we could organize an expedition there, the group soon left for another prospecting, this time to the well-known Sarisarinama tepui, part of the Jaua massif, in the basin of the upper Caura, halfway between the tepuis of Gran Sabana and the Amazonian massifs. This mountain is well known for the two large simas that characterize it, Mayor and Menor, explored by Venezuelans and Polish cavers in the ‘70s. However, no one has come back later to explore it, and from a careful analysis of the satellite images it was clear that the speleological potential of this quartzitic massif has been barely scratched.

Thanks to Raul Arias’s organization, we managed to get two Cessna for this new operation. From Puerto Ordaz, we flew to the Yek’uana village of Kanarakuni at the base of the mountain. During the flight, slaloming between heaps of fog and strong winds, we finally managed to photograph a new area of great interest. In addition to

known simas, we identified at least five other major entrances that promise a big development. However, they are also very difficult to reach, because the tepui is covered by a dense forest. Still, down there, a huge system of underground tunnels, just waiting to be explored, certainly exists.

Refuelling, La Culebra

FILMING WITH THE BBC

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Vittorio Crobu Exploring means above all documenting, and to make it up according to the tradition of “La Venta”, a continued effort is required in order to undertake more and more ambitious projects. Publications, books, exhibits, and audiovisuals have become a habit of post-expedition work but, more than any other activity; we feel the need to be very careful about video documentation. Filming is a very up-to-date prerogative, almost essential in the world of communication and Internet.

The main purpose is to show our activities for the sponsors and for the external audience, but we increasingly use this mean also to make local populations aware of the need for the conservation and study of caves and environments, or to establish partnerships with the institutions and governments of foreign countries. In fact, a video makes it possible to illustrate our activity in a direct and immediate way, more than any other type of presentation. Unfortunately, film productions, small or large, face difficulties in travel documentaries because of their nature and complexity.

Producing good quality documentaries, with all the work and the additional costs that they need, from shooting to editing, always implies the presence of specific professionals that must also move on the scene, a circumstance that is not always possible in extreme conditions.

Filming videos is not completely new for our association, having both a long experience in this regard and a fair number of professionals in the field as members.

Anyway, in the wave of the discoveries made and the achievements reached, such as the prestigious “Rolex Award for Enterprise” won in 2014 by Francesco Sauro with the Tepui Project, a growing number of ever more attractive collaboration requests are proposed to us by TV channels dedicated to nature and documentary producers. This type of collaboration is often identified with the name of “service”, as it provides specialized assistance and support to make an episode or a documentary, an opportunity to express the characteristics and the potential of the association, in other words, logistic organization and perfect knowledge of the areas subject to exploration.

In May 2015 another appointment was scheduled with the BBC, the second in a few years. In 2012 the BBC dedicated an episode of the series “The Dark: Nature’s Nighttime World” to the Akopan Tepui in the “AkopanDal Cin” cave system, with George McGavin as a presenter. The difference is that this time there were optimal conditions for La Venta and the tepui exploration to be the main themes of the film-subject. It could seem an excellent framework to somehow skip the costly and Grieta de los Guacharos, Auyan Tepui

The BBC team at work

complex processes of an internal production, but this does not mean there were no difficulties, which instead consisted of several months of consultations before issuing a final agreement thanks to the efforts of Francesco, Tono, and especially Freddy from Venezuela. In this way we quantified image copyright, costs, insurance and liability, equipment management and shooting schedule, logistics and ticketing for the journey, encountering complex problems of various kinds. In short, a rather difficult role for a group of explorers who are used to dealing with natural elements in a more technical and dynamic way, rather than in a strictly bureaucratic one.

With a growing market for adventure documentaries, perhaps a new challenge for the future is open, stimulating the natural inclination of the association, which mainly focuses on exploring and documenting in the most remote places of the planet: this is a new area of specialization and, most importantly, a chance to grow for what concerns the services we can offer.

During the negotiations for the television episode of the BBC One channel, it was finally agreed to film in the cave of Imawarí Yeuta, currently the largest in the world in the quartzite, discovered and explored by La Venta in the Auyan Tepui. It was a good opportunity, mainly for obtaining new images, for the diversity of environments, and above all to embrace a range of scientific topics matching the style and the objectives of the program.

Finally we agreed to combine the episode with a subject

that dealt with the climbing of the large vertical walls of the Gran Sabana and so, with the help of Iván Calderón, a Venezuelan friend of La Venta and a world-level climber, the production team’s idea was put into effect.

The Pemon village of Kavac was, as usual, the meeting point of the three teams (climbers, cavers, and the BBC) in a very pleasant environment before the ascent by helicopter on the high lands of the Auyan for the shooting with La Venta. In particular, the BBC team consisted of seven people, director Ben Lawrie, sound technician Andrew Yarme, main camera operator Keith Partridge, Hugh Campbell as a second camera operator, Aldo Kane as security supervisor, Max Goldzweig as production assistant, and host Steve Backshall, presenter of naturalistic documentaries, plus nine members of La Venta and Ven-

Filming in the cave

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ezuelan group Teraphosa. That is to say a lot of luggage and equipment had to be carried to the external camp at about 2000 m of altitude beside the Sima del Viento, a great depression where some entrances of the cavity are located. Raul Arias, a friend of ours and an enthusiast on tepui caves, did not lose the route with his trusty helicopter even during fog and uncertain weather. This was thanks to him and to his excellent pilots, experts in the climate dynamics of those regions, which always makes the difference when flying over, and eventually landing, with people and equipment in the solitude of this suspended world.

The base camp consisted of two large tents and a series of small ones. It was settled beforehand, along with a hundred meter cableway to transport materials to the cave entrances, and the placement of tapes in the more delicate galleries to avoid accidentally stepping on crystals and pavements; a series of preparations that took place two days before the arrival of the film crew. The camp was the starting point for the activities in the external or subterranean environments, and in the following days another camp was set inside the cave to facilitate movements toward the most distant areas of the cavity.

Hundreds of pounds, including filming equipment, lights, personal materials, and food, were transported towards the cave as well as while traveling in the internal areas, a week-long task sharing that was not always easy.

The weather was lenient for a few days, showing the immense proportions of the plateau and even causing some burns on our skin, but we did not miss several evening

At base camp

thunderstorms, some very strong, while we were getting ready for a good dinner in the base camp tent. The bad weather conditions were filmed many times, an interesting circumstance to show the difficulties of being isolated on a tepui. The rainy season was approaching and the weather was therefore perhaps even more unstable than usual, at least enough to also flood the cave and the internal camp.

There were no particular consequences, but suddenly everybody woke up in the middle of a flood, a fairly unusual event in the season when we normally frequent the cave.

Days pass by and fatigue visibly increases, but with determination we prepare scenes and scripts, extras and interviews. A series of very powerful lenses for the HD camera, Slide Camera, Gimbal, three cameras for filming, 20,000 lumen headlights: equipment was swarming in and out of bags and backpacks at every stop. Among this frantic activity in the darkness, we also planned a visit to areas of the cave that had not yet been mapped with Steve, the presenter, who fulfills his desire to explore and experience this disorienting maze of interconnecting tunnels, consequently increasing also his passionate comments in front of the camera, as he himself was witnessing the typical activities of a real exploration.

It is well known that this cave is full of peculiarities, a natural archive that we can appreciate with every step, and many topics mentioned during the long interviews focus on La Venta and its knowledge. Francesco, walking alongside Steve, immediately becomes the second

On the Auyan plateau

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presenter, answering specific questions about the phenomena that lead to the formation of amazing speleothems, up until erosion and mineralization formations.

They certainly focus their attention on geological topics, but they also discuss about microbiology and bio-speleology, as regarding the unusual behaviour of the Guacharos that build their nests on the floors of the tunnels.

Steve’s knowledge on nature provides commentary on a

An opossum, a rare traveling companion on the Auyan

long series of scenes, for example about of the bones of a feline lying on the floor, the presence of which is still mysterious, or the strange larvae that live in the waters of the underground river, or the new minerals discovered.

These large areas are characterized by an almost disturbing peace, and make one think about the eternal rhythm of this ancient cave. We discuss the mysteries of life and of the strains of extremophile bacteria in these pristine cavities, yet to be studied.

In the Rató chamber, named after the God of water, we are overwhelmed by the bright sunrays reflected in the red tannin of the lake, a blue sky cutout in the heart of the cave, an unexpected glimpse of rock accompanied by the vertiginous jump of an abundant waterfall for about a hundred meters.

In the belly of the mountain we immerse ourselves going deeper and deeper, every detail is a subject to film for the crew that is almost embarrassed in this rare and beautiful treasure chest, but there is not enough time to film everything. Ben, the director, often consults with Steve and the team to evaluate every creative idea and possibility to increase the video footage with other topics, while time goes by quickly in the dark… we turn off our lights and there is silence again for another shooting, while we return from a long and exciting day.

Once again we think about the privilege of retracing and observing this unusual dimension.

Ours is perhaps a still immature anxiety. There are for sure about a thousand of, more or less plausible, scientific reasons that drive us to explore and film with more and more sophisticate equipment the endless world of the tepui.

We are aware that many other frontiers are just around Imawarí, waiting to be lit by the first curious explorer who will set his foot inside a new underground landscape.

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Memories from the dark Paolo Forti

LA VENTA Members

Pan Ku the creator (1869 reproduction of an ancient Chinese drawing, CIDS Archive) Very little is known about ancient Chinese mythology, since, in 213 BC, Emperor Shi Huang Di destroyed all the documents on this subject.

Among the few myths handed on to us, thanks to Taoist monks, there is one related to the creation of the world, where the giant Pan Ku played a fundamental role: in fact, starting from the primordial chaos (where yin and yang were intimately intermingled) he separated the sky from the earth, and then he formed everything else starting with sun, moon and stars.

The separation of the sky from the earth was a really titanic endeavor, engaging Pan Ku for 18,000 years; at the end, exhausted, he died.

Therefore, in Chinese iconography, this giant is often represented inside a cave, shattering rock with a big chisel and a hammer: this way he releases the air that, in the form of wind and with a swirl of clouds, escapes from the bowels of the earth, where it was trapped, and begins to form the sky.

Hence, it is evident that the ancient writers of this myth knew the behaviour of the cave atmosphere and tried, somehow, to justify the presence of strong internal air currents, which sometimes emerge from impassable clefts.

Roberto Abiuso Clarice Acqua Giorgio Annichini Giovanni Badino Teresa Bellagamba Alvise Belotti Alessandro Beltrame Tullio Bernabei Gaetano Boldrini José Maria Calaforra Leonardo Colavita Corrado Conca Carla Corongiu Vittorio Crobu Alicia Davila Riccardo De Luca Jo De Waele Umberto Del Vecchio

Antonio De Vivo Davide Domenici Fulvio Eccardi Martino Frova Luca Gandolfo Giuseppe Giovine Esteban Gonzalez Elizabeth Gutiérrez F. Israel Huerta Luca Imperio Carlos Lazcano Enrique Lipps Massimo Liverani Francesco Lo Mastro Luca Massa Marco Mecchia Rolando Menardi Fabio Negroni

Mauricio Náfate L. Jorge Paz T. Paolo Petrignani Leonardo Piccini Monica Ponce Pier Paolo Porcu Enzo Procopio Alessio Romeo Natalino Russo Tommaso Santagata Antonella Santini Francesco Sauro Giuseppe Savino Ludovico Scortichini Giuseppe Soldano Giuseppe Spitaleri Giacomo Strapazzon Peter L. Taylor

Roberta Tedeschi Argelia Tiburcio Gianni Todini Roberto Trevi Freddy Vergara Kaleb Zárate Gálvez Subscribing Members 2014 Loredana Bessone Tiziano Conte Adriano Morabito Honorary Members Raul Arias Giuseppe Casagrande Viviano Domenici Paolo Forti

Amalia Gianolio Italo Giulivo Ernesto Piana Rosanna Rabajoli Adolfo Eraso Romero Tim Stratford Marco Topani In memory Paolino Cometti † Francesco Dal Cin † Edmund Hillary † Adrian G. Hutton † Thomas Lee Whiting † Lucas Ruiz †

Third cover: the big wall of Árbol de Navidad, Chiapas, Messico.

Back cover: Lungo il Rio Negro, Brasile.