Category: 2017

Eastern Massif, Picos de Europa, Northern Spain

Things to do in a Pandemic (part 1)

With no expedition in 2020 I was left with plenty of time to go through reams and reams of data, surveys and photos from the past 10 years of the expedition. About 10 years ago on one of the expeditions I took a small video camera, with the intention of creating a video log of…
Read more

2017 Summary

Cueva del Nacimiento – Jurassic World – Terror Firma The ‘final’ aven at the end of the cave was climbed to over 40m, a split in the aven was followed to a new height of 534m above the entrance, but closed down.  The second aven remains unclimbed and is ongoing  Cueva del Nacimiento – Jurassic…
Read more

Torca del Oso Caido (Fallen Bear)

On the northern slope of Samelar is an area called Brañaredonda, where Torca del Oso Caido or Fallen Bear is located.  In the 70’s LUSS explored down the main pitch and discovered a few smaller pitches before leaving the cave to explore elsewhere.  AD KAMI revisited the cave in the 90’s and allegedly moved a…
Read more

Cueva de la Marniosa – Terminal Sump 2 dive

Gareth had been having trouble sleeping over the few days previously, possibly due to the heat. This meant going on a push trip to the end of Cueva Marniosa to the Terminal Sump 2 would not be sensible. Josh was still determined to go but was not keen on the idea of a solo trip…
Read more

Cueva de la Marniosa – Further setup

It was decided that an assault on the final Sump 2 would need full cylinders, since the ones currently in the cave had been used to the point where it’d likely not be worth taking them the distance. Since GD decided to have a rest day after the previous days trip had caused much aching,…
Read more

Marniosa

AR and GD dived through sump one, as it was AR’s first cave dive GD carried the srt kits and gear for aid climbing the 80m aven which was the aim. After a hot brew we headed upto the ledge found a few days earlier to assess the aven. Using a tight beam which AR…
Read more

Quick Updates

More details to follow but a quick taster Cueva del Nacimiento – new height reached at back end of cave Fallen Bear – new leads discovered Torca de la Carneros – possible leads on hill above Tresviso Cueva de la Marniosa – Sump 2 (previously undived) passed last night…   Oh and Pozo Castillo –…
Read more

Second trip down Agua, Joe’s Crack

Alex again, Phil and myself embarked on another three day trip down Agua on Saturday 15th. With significantly lighter bags, the trip to Death Race was much quicker than the first time. I was able to appreciate the cave more on this trip, the trip to Death Race really is a good varied day of…
Read more

Combine Harvester Traverse

Sam and myself went down Agua looking for a traverse discovered by Derek the year before; the traverse starts at the top of Boulder Hall, it was not fully crossed so the far side was new passage. This excursion have me an opportunity to bolt and rig a traverse for the first time. The traverse…
Read more

Trip to Death Race

Alex again, feeling good if tired. After going across the lake on the leaky boat again, we picked up the bags from where we stopped the day before, and headed on into the cave, psyched up for the biggest caving trip I’ve attempted. The trip in was hard but good fun, with some really varied…
Read more