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Mr Li Zhong Xue warned the cavers of the flood danger.
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1996 Yangtze Gorges Expedition
Da Wan Dong
Jiang Kou Area
The next day a team went to retrieve the rest of the ropes from Dong Ba. Mr Li Zhong Xue, who had been working nearby, became agitated and started pointing at the sky, making rain noises and indicating the cave entrance. It was very clear he was warning the team of flooding. It was fortunate they took notice and didn't go in, because later there was a torrential downpour. The water flowing into Dong Ba rose waist deep and the low crawl after the first two pitches was filled with water. The cave remained flooded for five days. Ben Lovett and I then found a 4 inch air space had opened up and we raced down the cave to complete the survey and bring the tackle out.
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Chamber Da Wan Dong
Photo: Adrian Gregory
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Da Wan Dong had been discovered 2 kilometres to the north east of Tien Xing. Adrian Gregory (Greg), Pete Francis and Kevin Munn had gone down an 8m climb, a 16.7m pitch and a short section of horizontal passage to emerge into very large chamber 80m wide by 40m high. This was decorated with a scattering of 6m stalagmites and enormous flowstone curtains. |
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Photo: Adrian Gregory
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Two days later Kevin and Greg returned with Dave Brook and Steve Mulhull to rig a 13m pitch leading to another large chamber. Beyond this a series of cascades flowed downwards in a passage containing a strong draught. 574 metres of cave was surveyed. The next day they all returned, accompanied by Ben Lovett and roped down a steep incline for 22m and a vertical drop of 12m. At this point the rope was needed for Dong Ba and it wasn't until four days later that exploration resumed. Unfortunately it rained and the team retreated, uncertain how the cave would respond. The next day Ali, Ben and Kevin dropped down the forth pitch to find the passage had shrunk from 20m to 1m and the draught had gone.
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'Heading into the passage I noticed the others didn't follow, so I wasn't the only one with doubts. The passage lowered to stooping then crawling, but now there was a draught. It was faint, but just enough to spur me on and soon I was walking and then running towards the sound of flowing water. Elated I emerged into a larger passage ...' - Ben Lovett
Photo: Adrian Gregory
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Ben was the first to crawl through the low section and found the passage enlarged again and joined a 4m wide streamway with a sloping flat roof. Going upstream they entered a chamber, containing a line of giant stalagmites standing like sentinels. A 20m square passage sloped downwards at an angle of 45 degrees. Descending this they passed a climb and a pitch.
They turned back at some pools of water, which were later crossed by Steve Mulhull, Eoghan Lynch and Anne Gallagher. (The latter two had been in the Wulong area with Jack and Laurie Sheldon up until a couple of days earlier.) However the passage then became very narrow.
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Photo: Adrian Gregory
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On the last day of exploration in Da Wan Dong, Steve, Eoghan, Ben and I, went south after the crawl, but the passage again dropped to a very narrow slot. Climbing up a rift led to a high level passage and another streamway averaging 12m high and 3m wide. We were eventually stopped by a short drop and a deep pool after about 350m of survey.
Da Wan Dong is obviously a very complex cave, with fossil passages and active streamways. The narrower passages in the deeper parts of the cave are characteristic of the area and caused by rapid down cutting of the major rivers.
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Exploration in Da Wan Dong stopped because of lack of time and the fact that our reconnaissances had revealed even more spectacular caves.
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