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1994 Yangtze Gorges Expedition DiaryBrian Judd
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1994 Expedition Tony Baker |
In August 1994 twelve cavers from the UK went to China to take part in the Yangtze Gorges Expedition. This is a personal account of the 1994 expedition, it does not attempt to be complete or balanced. (see 1994 Maps and Caves for official report)
When I was asked to join the expedition I felt a mixture of excitement and a little anxiety. I knew it would be a fantastic experience, but I was worried about the cost and what my family would think about my being away for more than six weeks. The aim of the expedition was to explore deep caves in the area of the Yangtze Gorges. The entrance shafts were reported to be 200 to 300 metres deep and one 'doline' was said to be 666.2m deep. I wondered if this could really be true. 666.2m deep? I knew I would have to improve my Single Rope Technique (SRT), as we would be descending and climbing out of the caves using 9mm static ropes.
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Map by Kev Senior
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These ropes were slightly thinner than normal, but we needed to conserve weight in order to get everything for the expedition on the plane. Meeting the weight requirements for a six week expedition, without incurring excess baggage costs or freighting equipment ahead meant we could not take everything we would have liked. We also had to make sure we could be self sufficient in terms of rescue and basic first aid. I practised rope climbing in the weeks before the expedition on a local bridge in Yorkshire! At the end of July we flew to Beijing and then on to Chongqing, where we took a crowded ferry boat down the Yangtze river.
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Cable car at Chongqing
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Chongqing was a hugely bustling city and like much of China new buildings and roads were being built at a furious, if seemingly chaotic pace. The temperature at this time of the year reached 42 degrees centigrade and we were fortunate to be travelling by river.
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| We travelled for two days down the Yangtze and because it was still hot the crew sprayed water on the metal decks to cool the passengers.
Many of the towns and cities along this stretch of the river will be flooded when the Yangtze Dam is completed. It's hard to imagine this, until we actually saw what that will mean and realised how many millions of people will be displaced.
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Barges on the Yangtze at Fengjie
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