A trip to the end of Oyu le Madre
Recently been out on an exploratory project in Spain. In simple terms, we spent a few days loading the cave, then a single day pushing the end, then several days unloading the cave (though as always, it's never that simple really). I'm not good at trip reports, but here's an account of a trip to the (old) end. The pictures have all been taken on different days so may not line up well with the story. On the trip was Jason Mallinson, Emma Heron, Rich Hudson and myself. Supported on the last day by local caver and cave diver (respectively) Isabel Diaz Novo and Adrian Gonzalez, and Nel, the local shepherd.
I woke up about 6am in our little campsite on top of the mountain. I wandered through to the cooktent hoping to have a nice breakfast before setting off.
Jason had got there first though, he handed me a pint of sugary tea and told me to pack a bag, we were going. I quickly chucked two 7 steels (60cf?) into a rucksack and Jason and I set off on the walk down.
Now this walk down was my nemesis all week. I hated it. On the map it looked simple enough, about 2 miles with 600m (2000ft) of downwards height difference between camp and the river. Except, nobody mentioned the undulating nature of walking from one valley to the next or the thick ferns/bush all the way down (seriously, we took machetes most days), the steep slippy mud or the relentless Spanish sun... I did not like the walk. But about 40 minutes later the walk was done and we were at the entrance climb.
The entrance climb was about 60m (200ft) of near vertical climbing on wet grass and mossy rocks, with large bags on, landing you at the entrance itself (bottom of rockface with tree on right in picture).
Once we got to the entrance we made a quick trip to the sump pool to set up the gear. To do this you start by traversing around on a tensioned line above the canal, then a short freeclimb to the bottom of a tyrolean (tensioned rope on an angle) for hauling the gear up an awkward pitch.
Picture taken from the top of the tyrolean. After the tyrolean there's a bit of stooping cave before it opens up into large walking passage, eventually ending in a bit of a downwards climb towards the sump pool where we put our gear together.
After this we nipped back to the entrance to put on our drysuits and headed back into the cave. Now, whilst the tyrolean is great for hauling gear up, its not really the way to send people. We go up a nice little chimney.
Good job otter suits are tough! But they were going to get much more hammer today... we soon got to the sump pool. Now the first sump is actually sump 2, we walk past sump 1 on the way in. It's about 150m (450ft) long and only 10m (30ft) deep. A nice simple dive. We set off wearing five 7L steels (60cf?) and a 3L (19cf?) steel with various ropes and other associated crap secreted about our persons.
About 5 minutes later we exited sump two and started heading towards sump 3. To get there it's about 100m (300ft) of passage with a 10m (30ft) freeclimb up a waterfall half way along. We put a tyrolean on this to haul up the four 7L (60cf?) steels and a 3L (19cf) steel we'd need for the diving, but both being a bit impatient, we both decided to freeclimb up this waterfall with all the gear on. Not our finest hour but funny to watch.
Sump 3 starts immediately at the top of this waterfall, so we just had to put fins and masks on, check gear and set off! It dips down quickly to 36m (120ft) before ascending slowly over the next 200m (600ft) back to surface. This takes about 10minutes to pass.
After sump 3 there is about 60m (200ft) of dry caving along a fast flowing stream with deep pots in it to reach the start of S4. We were starting to feel quite strong by this point though, now only wearing three 7L (60cf) steels and a 3L (19cf) steel.
Sump 4 starts in the most beautiful phreatic pot you've ever seen (see video) but we were both slightly apprehensive as this would be the first time it had been passed open circuit. The sump dips down to 30m (100ft) immediately, then up to about 4m (12ft), then down to about 30m (100ft), then up to about 6m (20ft), then down to about 20m (70ft), then up to about 2m (6ft), then down to about 30m (100ft), then finally surfaces. I'd never been in it before, now, let me tell you, I've been cave diving all over, but this place is stunning and worth the work. Unfortunately, when I went back to video a few days later, my camera ran out of battery exactly as I started this dive.
You surface in a small area of cave and immediately start climbing. So with a single 7L (60cf) steel and a single 3L (19cf) steel, we set off to get to the end. You start by climbing about 20m (70ft) upwards in a narrow rift up quite a difficult climb, that pops you through a squeeze onto a larger area, not so easy wearing cylinders, exploratory gear and a drysuit. I'd love to say from this point on, it's easy, but it just gets worse. The cave gets smaller, the rock gets sharper, you go up and down and up again, then up some more, before dropping back down and having to climb more. We were miserable.
But before long we were at S5, this was only about 10m (30ft) long and 2/3m (6/10ft) deep, but was large and with good visibility. I had great fun pottering along this with no fins on walking along the bottom. Jason didn't, there wasn't any vis by the time he got there!
S5 catapulted us out into more misery. Tight, sharp and climby. I've blocked most of this bit from memory...S6 was about 60m (200ft) long and 10m (30ft) deep, its a big collection of fallen boulders in zero visibility, so route finding is quite difficult through it, but it kicks you out into large walking passage! Finally!
We stomped across a few huge chambers and a few large boulder chokes before finding ourselves in a small muddy chamber with an ongoing passage about 4m (12ft) above our heads up a vertical, featureless wall:
Jason: "This is belay belt climb"
Me: "Why's it called belay belt climb?"
"Well, when I got here last time, I didn't have any rope, so I had to jump and sling my belt into that crack at the top so I had something to pull on"
Fortunately this time we'd brought some rope. However, after stomping along a large passage for all of 3 seconds, we were confronted with this...
Now, I don't know if the video is good enough for you to tell, but that's a 30m (100ft) high downwards climb, with next to no holds, smooth walls opening outwards that are covered in mud, over 1km (3000ft) inside a cave, 5 sumps from the entrance, the entrance being miles from anywhere! "I forgot about this bit, I think we're out of rope", grins Jason, before throwing me a 7 (60cf?) and heading off down the climb.
Several minutes of sheer terror later, we're at the undived sump 7.
Jason geared up and headed off in. I think I've got undiagnosed ADHD and got bored after about 30 seconds of waiting for him, and went back to climb the walls in a large chamber we'd walked past on the way in.
I climbed up this chamber for about 20m (70ft) before reaching a large, pretty, balcony that must have been about 30m (100ft) wide and 5/6m deep (15-20ft). I could see a very pretty passage leading off to the left and overhanging walls heading up at least another 20m (70ft). But I had no rope and no climbing gear, and did I mention I was still wearing my drysuit? So decided I'd pushed it enough for today. Just about then, Jason appeared back at the bottom of the chamber, wow, I knew this chamber was big when we came through originally, but seeing him at the bottom made me appreciate just how massive it was.
I quickly (in my mind) climbed down to discover that sump 7 had immediately gone to 60m (200ft) depth, Jason had pulled off one of his famous ballsy dives on two 7L (60cf)steels and pushed through laying line for 100m (300ft) before getting to what he thought was an elbow leading to surface and came back. A lead for next time, with a bigger team.
We headed off outside to meet Emma and Rich who'd come to help us carry stuff back up the hill.
An awesome day all in.
I took a video of the dives on a different day when I went to climb and discover some passage in an airbell most the way through sump 4, I had a little fall and ripped my drysuit and had a very interesting dive out in the 6 degree (42F) water, but thats another story.
And yes, I know I grunt in my regulator...god knows why...
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Originally Posted by OutOfTest
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