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Photo: Tony Baker |
1994 Yangtze Gorges Expedition Back In Xin LongA China Caves Project
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| Back in Xin Long we catch up on the news from the rest of the team and prepare for our next trip into the Downstream Doline cave. A group have been pushing the Upstream Doline cave. We have not seen them, because they have been arriving after we have already gone underground and leaving early to return to Xin Long. Conditions have been hard without wet suits and buoyancy. They have had to cross lakes too, forcing upstream against the current and climbing waterfalls. They have been permanently lining the lakes and using inner tubes for buoyancy.
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Kev Senior and Dave Checkley have rigged the 'Great Crack - Di Feng'. Here a spectacular, narrow and deep gorge drops down to a cave. The pitches are of 50m and 175m. DC reports it took him 50 minutes to climb out of here. There is a lake at the bottom, but they have not yet been able to cross it. The water is presumed to flow to the Great Doline, about 2 kilometres away. Kev has taken photographs with Steve Openshaw. Later Steve Openshaw and Phil Goodwin continue work on the Great Crack. They cross the lake using inner tubes to passage beyond, but Phil nearly drowns in a rapid, until Steve pulls him out. Phil wears shorts on the way out because of the heat and his harness rubs him raw. He is out of action for the rest of our time in Xin Long. Dave Checkley, and Richard Bartrop who has been to the Upstream Doline cave, both come down with Bronchitis and are also out of the caving. Pete Francis is suffering from a bad stomach upset.
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Di Feng, The Great Crack
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Injury to Phil Goodwin |
Adrian Gregory, Dick Willis and Paul Seddon have continued exploring 'Black Rock Cave'. This cave is not quite as spectacular as the Doline caves and the Great Crack, but has the potential to link in with them. Adrian Gregory later makes a daring pendulum and climbs into a passage to continue at a higher level beyond a sump. Tony Baker and others have been taking photographs for the expedition. The team have also been investigating other reported caves and surveying the finds. One cave is said to take three days to travel through, but our team can only find three hours of explorable passage in 'Three Day Cave'. It would help to find out exactly where the Downstream Doline Cave water resurges. The plan is to send a group to the hydro electric power plant and the most likely resurgence. They will go with Professor Zhu and Zhang Yuan Hai, the Geomorphologist from the Guilin Karst institute, both English speakers who will guide and translate for them. I had hoped that some team members could be spared to help push downstream and that we should also concentrate on the 'Great Crack', but the expedition has too many objectives to spare anyone.
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Zhang Yuan Hai and I go into town to buy line and inner tubes, while Colin draws up the survey. We have some difficulty persuading everyone that we need a kilometre of line, just for the Downstream Cave. We also need line and tubes for the 'Great Crack'. The other problem is actually finding it to buy and when we've found it negotiating a price. The market economy has caught on quickly and the government no longer controls prices. The price inflates drastically with demand and for foreigners who seem rich. Zhang needs to do some hard bargaining. After two trips we manage to secure 1200m of line and several inner tubes. After a day in Xin Long, Colin and I return to the Doline. Having studied the map we know that the potential resurgence is further away than first thought and we still don't know how much it will fall vertically.
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Zhang Yuan Hai |
 Into The Lake
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 Leaving The Sun
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