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Phil Goodwin |
1994 Yangtze Gorges Expedition ExplorationA China Caves Project
The passage was about 20 metres square and a mass of chaotically fallen boulders. At any moment we felt it might become blocked, but instead our excitement grew as it continued. After awhile we saw more and more stalactites and other formations. It was impossible to move without crunching on mud coloured crystals. It was like walking through frozen snow, except this was thousands of years old. We tried to limit the damage, while looking for the best route forward. Our lights weren't very powerful. Kev was caving on a fading electric light and my carbide lamp needed recharging and kept going out.
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| Every so often we saw black marks on the floor and formations. It looked like soot. We wondered if these had been made by people with flaming lanterns or if smoke had billowed through the cave at some stage in the past. We decided in the end that this was some sort of natural deposit. I felt we should turn round and save the exploration to survey at the same time. I was easily persuaded by Kev to keep going for another five minutes... and another... and more. After some scrambles over the rocks and fallen flakes, the going got easier. We walked over dusty mud banks with crystal formations all around us. If anything the passage was larger; we thought we could detect a faint draught. A good sign. We stopped at a pile of fallen stalagmites and rock, just beyond a column encrusted with aragonite crystals.
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Photo: Tony Baker
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| Back in Jiang Kou we found the others had not been so lucky. All the other leads had surprisingly led nowhere. This put quite a lot of pressure on Professor Zhu and the team leader, Richard, trying to keep twelve team members happy. New activities would have to be found for up to eight team members. At least four of us could continue exploration and survey of Furong Cave; but some were saying this was a bad area for caves and the rock was too folded and broken for anything major to be discovered. They were also unhappy that we had no maps of the area. Naturally Kev and I didn't want to leave without exploring the passage in Furong. Later, Richard asked us if we might think about giving up the 'lead', to others who had not had so much luck on the expedition. Kev was reluctant and I felt I wanted to be there if not actually in front. We decided to be first the next day. Greg and Dick were to follow to survey and then we would swap the lead. Actually most people felt it was our discovery and we should do it. My feelings weren't that strong, it was a team effort. I felt that there was still a lot to do in the area and didn't want to move.
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Zhang Yuan Hai
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Back in Jiang Kou we found the others had not been so lucky. All the other leads had surprisingly led nowhere. This put quite a lot of pressure on Professor Zhu and the team leader, Richard, trying to keep twelve team members happy. New activities would have to be found for up to eight team members. At least four of us could continue exploration and survey of Furong Cave; but some were saying this was a bad area for caves and the rock was too folded and broken for anything major to be discovered. They were also unhappy that we had no maps of the area. Naturally Kev and I didn't want to leave without exploring the passage in Furong. Later, Richard asked us if we might think about giving up the 'lead', to others who had not had so much luck on the expedition. Kev was reluctant and I felt I wanted to be there if not actually in front. We decided to be first the next day. Greg and Dick were to follow to survey and then we would swap the lead. Actually most people felt it was our discovery and we should do it. My feelings weren't that strong, it was a team effort. I felt that there was still a lot to do in the area and didn't want to move.
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 Crystal Passage
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 Nine Seconds |
