Expedition to the cave Krubera-Voronya.

Messages from the basic camp.

News from 17.07.2004.

Hello.
It was raining the whole night, but at 7 a.m. already Povolotsky and Provalov went down into the cave. Approximately  -600m under the ground they met the nocturnal rain. Nevertheless the rope was hung till the point -900m and the cavers came back before supper. There’s too much water on the surface. It’s extremely cold and windy.

Kabanihin, Moohin, Dzaganiya, Shoomeyko, Kovzikov are going to set up a camp at -1200m. If everything goes well, they’ll make a similar camp at -1400m tomorrow. But in fact it depends on the weather outdoors. The rain has caused a great river in the cave. It flows down till the point -900m. Today Vatik brought some sweet things and the late-comers in his lorry. The list of the late-comers:

Bye! Provalov Denis

Photos here.

News from 19.07.2004.

Hello.
The weather is incredibly bad here. The rain falls in torrents. Naturally there’s flood in the cave. Last night the group run by Moohin made a camp on the Sandy Beach (-1400m). Today Fagot and Utrobin hung the rope till the siphon and brought two gas-cans there. The guys passed the night in the camp -1200m.

Yesterday Andrey Shuvalov came down to the camp -1200m with cargo and returned to the surface. (The Ural girls were delighted with this feat of speleology). Sapozhnikov and Govor pitched camp at -500m and turned up on the surface only this evening (The Ural girls are glad to see them).

Gosha broke his illuminating carbide device and fell in love with the lantern “tikka”. Finally a barrel with 120 kg of carbide is brought to the camp. Shuvalov and Ashelon are real heroes!

Thunder-storm is raging now, but the current generator works. Katya Moohina saves her woollen socks and walks barefoot on the puddles. Everybody remembers the lightning at a depth of -1200m that happened last year, therefore the underground telephone is switched off.

Today we took the first pictures of the cave.
We plan to make an early start tomorrow and reach the Sandy Beach (-1400m). Greetings from the mountain to all of you! Wish us good weather, please.

P.S.
On the 22 of July start watching reports about this expedition. At 20:20 – sport news of the programme “The country and the world”. Every two hours in NTV news blocks. On REN-TV, in every news-block during the day.

Photos here.

News from 21.07.2004.

Hello.
Moohin, Sklyar, Max Dzaganiya, Ilya Zharkov, Shoom are in the camp - 1400 now. Yesterday they brought some cargo from the camp -1200m down to the siphon. Today they are going to swim through the siphon, but the one, who’ll dip into it, is not chosen yet. The men are tired and it’s impossible to guess who’ll take the most difficult part with the siphon upon himself.

We agreed to get in touch with them this morning at 8 o’ click, but they keep silence. Meanwhile Raysner and Alan have left the camp -1200m and in high spirits are descending to the Moohin’s company. Both of them are experienced in under-water work, thus they can help others to hang the rope behind the siphon. By the way 19.07 Fagot, Utrobin and Kabanihin had to wait till the flood was over at -1200m and only after that managed to rise to the surface. At odd moments they invented a new flood-prevention method: to wrap a head in a sleeping–bag. One doesn’t hear the rumble of a waterfall, thus doesn’t feel afraid. But the most important thing is that the water level goes down! Late at night Anton Chicherov and Andrey Skorov returned to the surface camp. Chich had torn his clothes and rubbed ditches in his stopper and other equipment by the rope. But this morning he looks cheerful. On the contrary, Ashelon was like a clockwork toy at night but today doesn’t give any signs of life from the tent. In whisper he asks to bring him a cup of coffee into his sleeping bag.
There exists one serious problem: there’s no video and photo equipment near the siphon. All our suitcases with cameras and flashes are left in the camp -500m. It’s sad but probably we won’t make photos of the siphon passage.

Now Natasha Kuzmina and Larisa Pozdnyakova, accompanied by Igor Nikolaev, leave the basic camp for the cave. Their arm is to repair the camp -500m and to drag out the rest of the last-year rubbish. Besides during the trip they are to sketch the naveska-scheme (the way the rope is hung). Shuvalich movingly sees the girls to the cave.

Katya Moohina has blossomed white her father is deep under the ground. She put on a beautiful T-shirt “BAON” and short trousers. Weather is fine: it isn’t hot and there’s no rain. We look forward to the news from the camp -1400m and worry about our friends.

Bye. Provalov Denis

Photos here.

News from 22.07.2004.

Hello.
People go on working at a depth of -1400m. The first four men swam through the siphon. The two of them make a hammock camp behind the siphon. The others hang the rope till -1600m.

Communication with the surface is very bad. In the basic camp everyone feels anxious about the underground cavers. A group of people that will bring them some food and equipment is being prepared.

Georgiy Sapozhnikov

Photos here.

News from 27.07.2004.

Hello.
In 14 hours Utrobin-Pavlovskiy went down to -1200m for the cargo and came back today.
Last night all the speleologs (except Chich and Ko) from the both underground camps returned to the surface with trans-bags. The work behind the siphon was organized in this way:

22.07 – Moohin and Zharkov passed the siphon and hung the rope in the explored part of the cave. Dzaganiya and Shoomeyko made a hammock camp for them under the well Everest (-1500m) and swam back through the siphon.

23.07 – Being deadly frozen in the hammocks, Moohin and Zharkov continued their work and went down to the depth of -1720m. They refused to spend one more night in the hammocks and decided to go up to the camp -1400m. At that time Provalov and Alan passed the siphon and brought the bags with the rope and equipment to the point of -1680m. Then they slept in the hammocks’ camp.

Provalov: One can live in this camp if he doesn’t pay too much attention to the wind, water-dust and the waterfall which is roaring three meters of the hammocks.

24.07 – Early morning Raysner and Sklyar brought Alan and Provalov a drop of food, some carbide and carabines. Later Provalov and Alan reached the point of -1720m. Then they went down the main stream and didn’t examine any galleries and meanders, which crossed the river-bed. Soon they ran into a siphon (≈ -1800m). On their way back the guys took the measurements of the new part of the cave.

Provalov: At present we can maintain that the second siphon is located below -1800m. But as far as I’m concerned, it is even lower. However I may be mistaken because of the fatigue and the excitement after the trail-blazing trip. Precise figures will be known after the elaborating of the topo-materials.

This trip took them 18 hours and as a result they came up to their hammocks merely on all fours. The next morning Shoomeyko and Dzaganiya stopped their friends’ torments by shaking Provalov and Alan out of the cold sleeping bags and then stroke the hammocks’ camp. All this company successfully passed the first siphon and the camp -1400m was taken for the native home. Later they packed the camp for the evacuation.

The amount of water in the cave is diminishing before our eyes now. It was become much easier to move there. Surely enough all of us are tired, but we go on wrestling.

Today Ilya Zharkov left for Paris and Sasha Kabanihin – for Arkhangelsk.

Provalov Denis

Photos here.

News from 29.07.2004.

Hello.
We’ve been working hard both under the ground and on the surface lately. And there’s no time to describe the last 3 days. I’d better copy the journal of the cave visits. It’s up to you to make conclusions.

26.07 – Chicherov, Kakaliya, Yavor, Ashelon carried out the bags from the camp -1200m. The lifting time = 19 hours. Fagot performed another one heroic deed: he went down to the camp -1200m, put everything in order there, burnt the rubbish and climbed up to the surface with a bag without any rest in the camp -500m. It took him 20 hours!

27.07 – in 14 hours Klimchuk and Provalov took away the rope and the rest equipment from the depth of -1000m. Simultaneously they made photos.
Utrobin and Nikolaev  descended into the cave and raised the bags from -800m. Their trip lasted 14 hours.
Nearly in 4-7 hours Moohin, Alan, Sklyar and Fatik carried away the bags from the camp -500m.
It was Shuvalov and Larisa who stroke the rope from the meander “Crim” (the Crimea).
That’s the end of the cave-part of our expedition we leave the rope tied to the hooks.

28.07 – We woke up early today and sluggishly get ready to leave the mountains. Shoomeyko prepares the bags and we take them down to the Vatik’s car, which is already waiting for us at Orto Balagan.
We hope to pack everything before the darkness. This night we’ll give vent to our feelings and get drunk at some seaside restaurant.
And Dima Utrobin who doesn’t drink alcohol beverages for some secret reasons will be responsible for the saving of the drowned men.
According to the father’s order Katya Moohina is also a teetotaller. I hope she’ll help Dima take us out from the sea.

Provalov Denis
We express gratitude towards…

Photos here.

Sponsor's:

BAON, CAMP, Leatherman, Suunto, Optimus, журнал "Вертикальный мир", KONG.

Thank's for translate - Elena Shtapkina