TECH: France

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A continuous guide line is maintained at all times between the leader of a dive team and a fixed point selected outside the cave entrance in open water. Often this line is tied off a second time as a back-up directly inside the cavern zone.

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Technical and cave diver Kurt Storms ventures into the famous Ressel cave system at the Lot in France

Photographs by Kurt Storms

Cave diving has been perceived as one of the more deadly sports in the world. This perception may be exaggerated because the majority of divers who have lost their lives in caves have either not undergone specialized training or did not have the correct equipment for the environment.

You feel like you are going to the abyss, and actually you are - an abyss below ground, and underwater. But now they were even more curious about the famous Pit 4 of the Ressel

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Finally! We can go to the Lot

again! The COVID conditions have already thrown a spanner in the works, but because we are all vaccinated, we can finally leave. This time for a week of training and then a week of holiday diving with my wife Caroline Massie. I have two students (Jo Croimans and Bram Van Gorp) with me for the training. The next few days, they will be busy with skills and dry teaching. Theory has already been given in Belgium so that we can get the most out of our dives.

The water in Ressel can be very clear

Why the ‘Lot’?

The area in France is famous because most European divers take cave classes so they don’t have to travel to Mexico or Florida. One of the most-famous caves around here is Ressel. Ressel is located in the village of Marcilhac-sur-Célé in the heart of the Lot. Most pictures you can see online show dramatic and huge blocks of white rock, flat structures, and the shafts of this cave. The facilities are nice, we have a large parking for our cars, and finally there is also a nice building with a toilet. From the car park we have to walk about 100 metres to get to the entry point on the River Celé. Here we can put all our equipment ready for our dive.

History

The Ressel was first dived in 1968, by two divers of the speleoclub Auvergnat. Martin and Debras reached 150 metres. It was only in 1973 that the line was extended to 300 metres, with a maximum depth of 30m. In 1975, Fantoli and Touloumdoian reached Pit 4 and went to a depth of 45m. Further exploration continued over the years, especially by Jochem Hasemayer in the early 1980s, where at 1,100 metres into the system he planted his knife in the rock and attached his line. This knife is still there.

On 12 August 1990, Olivier Isler was the first to cross Sump 1. The total dive time back and forth was 10 hours 35 minutes. End of Siphon 1 is at Lac Isler, and from here on you can continue to the next siphons. Ressel consists of five sumps, of which siphon 1 is the longest (1,850 metres) and the On 12 August 1990, Olivier Isler was the first to cross Sump 1. deepest (83m). From Pit 4 onwards, the deep section begins, which can only be done with trimix mixtures. In the following years the further sumps were explored by The total dive time back and forth was 10 hours 35 minutes gentlemen like Rick Stanton, Martin Farr and Jason Mallison. In 1999, the end of Sump 5 was reached. The total length on the main line is 4,415 metres.

Preparing to enter Ressel

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Spectacular views

To be honest, the visibility is spectacular all around. More than ten metres visibility, which was about 5cm before the start in the Celé River - quite a change. As soon as you get to the entrance, it looms up, and the water clears like snow in the sun. The first thought that ever crossed my mind was – ‘how on Earth did they find this cave?’ How, with the visibility of the river, can you see a hole that is 6m below the surface on one side, which is frankly not that big. Enquiries with the locals revealed that when the cave is full of water, you can even see a geyser in the river! Another impressive detail.

There is a rope that runs from the point where you get in, all the way into the cave, and it continues to the main line - you don’t need a primary reel here – so it’s really easy to find the entrance. Then there is a huge tunnel, with white giant boulders - impressive.

The first dives were only up to the T (180 metres), here the obligatory skills were practiced, so that later one can widen the comfort zone. This is also a very beautiful part, especially because of the large blocks that lie here. There are even two exceptional phenomena visible, these are two blocks consisting of white limestone, with a large black spot in it. You won’t find these black spots anywhere else. It is wonderful to be able to admire nature like this. We got in, and on the first dive, with sidemount sets consisting of two 80 cfts , we did the first T, taking the left corridor, and on the next T, we continued towards the shaft, to take a look, to a maximum depth of 30m. It is so impressive! You feel like you are going to the abyss, and actually you are - an abyss below ground, and underwater. But now they were even more curious about the famous Pit 4 of the Ressel.

Heading to the Ressel entrance Caroline in the Ressel system

To be able to do this dive, we had to bring the right amount of gas. The first dive was with Jo, he had his sidemount configuration with an extra seven-litre along, I dived with my Divesoft Liberty SM rebreather. There we went, all prepared. The way there is about a 28 minute dive. On the way I showed Jo the shunt that goes to the deeper part of the first loop. Enjoying the ride, we continued until we reached the point of the shaft. Here I asked Jo if everything was OK and we descended to a depth of about 40m. You could see in Jo’s eyes that he was enjoying himself. But we didn’t have much time to enjoy ourselves, because we had to go back again. If you have deco, you can do it all on the way back on a NX50. For the advanced divers, you can take your O2 at 6m and finish any decompression on O2.

It’s actually a great dive, and the cave allows for a variety of dives, just by choosing different depths in the tunnels to have different perspectives.

Once we got to the top, Jo was unstoppable about the amazing beauty of this cave, and especially Pit 4. This made Caroline want to go and have a look too. This dive was done a few days later, when both gentlemen had gone home. This time we did the dive by scooter, a big difference. At 13 minutes we were at the shaft, and again I saw a happy face. How nice it is as an instructor to be able to pass on your passion. This is what we do it for. Ressel is also one of the most-beautiful caves in Europe. It remains an easy, accessible system.

The Ressel is, and remains, a special cave. Last year, I did the deep loop (1,160 metres and 73m depth) with two friends. And I still enjoy it when I talk about it. We still have to come back to do the rest of S1. n