Bear Bones

A China Caves Project

At our team meeting that night, there was again a strong demand to move to a new area. Professor Zhu had arranged that we might go to two other areas, Ba Xian and Fuling, on our way back to Chongqing. Some argued that this should be brought forward. Naturally those involved in Furong Cave wanted to stay and find out what was at the bottom of the pitch. The consensus was not in favour of splitting the team up, preferring greater safety and sociability in numbers. Richard agreed to meet with Professor Zhu and try and find out more details about the other areas.

Rigging the top of the pitch was a difficult and slow process. Most of the rock was covered with flowstone, which made it unsafe to put bolts in. We couldn't risk allowing the 9 mm rope to rub at all or it would break. I tied the rope to a big stalagmite and Kev went over the edge to get a better look. The belay was good, but I felt nervous until he had managed to put a bolt into some solid rock. He went down further putting in more belays. After awhile Colin, Sedbo and Zhang joined us. Unfortunately they hadn't seen the bag of carbide I'd left for them to bring. It meant someone would have to go back for it or we would run out of light. By this time I was quite cold from waiting and Sedbo agreed to come back too. It was a slow job retracing our steps, but while we were doing it Sedbo found a pile of bones.

Stalagmites

From Photo: Tony Baker

Colin Boothroyd

Colin Boothroyd at birthday party.

They were from quite a large animal and very fragile. We later found the bones were from a Giant Panda, now extinct. It hadn't been washed in, it must have got lost in the cave and died. It took three hours to get back to the others. Kev had just got to the bottom of the pitch and was shouting back up to Colin. It was very difficult to understand what he was saying because of the distance and the echo. Apparently there didn't seem any way on at the bottom! The pitch was 230 metres deep, with a cone of boulders in a large chamber. Someone would have to go down to help Kev survey. This time Colin was 'volunteered'. It was a disappointment of course, but we were lucky to have found anything in a cave the Chinese had invested so much in. On the way back we gave one last look round to see if we had missed anything. Under an alcove and in a little grotto we found some of the most delicate hair like white aragonite crystals in the cave. We never did photograph them. Hopefully they're still there and not been broken.

It was Kev's and Cuckoo's (Zhang Yuan Hai's Wife) birthdays and the Chinese had prepared a special surprise, but first we had to have a team meeting. Part of the team had tried to drive back along the road to some of the sites we had seen on the road from Xin Long. The driver had refused to cross the county boundary. Other sites had not yielded great results. However, Professor Zhu had managed to secure a map of the present area which was interesting. It showed what looked like Cone Karst and other cave producing features above Furong Cave.

The majority view was we should confirm arrangements to leave the area. I wanted to see what was above Furong Cave and arranged to take a jeep there with Zhang and Steve the next day. The rest of the team would go to other sites still around Jiang Kou and Wulong, or rest or go river rafting, which the Chinese had organised as a new tourist attraction. Richard and Professor Zhu had the main pressure of organisation. Certainly Zhu looked tired. Anyway we had a good night at the birthdays. The Chinese had made an iced birthday cake and a special banquet, which included a honey battered fish. Kev as guest of honour had to eat the head, it was excellent! We toasted each and everybody. The Chinese kept the beer coming and we embarrassed Kev by singing 'Happy Birthday'.

'Cuckoo', Adrian Gregory, Kev Senior and Professor Zhu Xuewen.

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