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Summary In the Summer of 2008, members of York University Cave & Pothole Club travelled to the Gouffre Berger in the Vercors region of France on a two week expedition. The Gouffre Berger was discovered in 1953 and until 1964 was considered to be the deepest cave in the world. To obtain a permit for the Berger an application form (demande d’inscription Gouffre Berger) can be obtained by telephoning the town hall in Engins (Mairie d’Engins, tel: +44 476944913) and the completed form must be returned before the deadline (November of the year prior to the requested permit dates). Click here to download the original report by Mark Sims. The main website for the Berger is: http://latronche.free.fr/berger.html#recom_en YUCPC originally applied for the Berger permit in October 2006 but due to a change in the permitting system, had to reapply and in February 2007 we got the news that we had got the permit from the 21st to the 31st of July, so planning immediately got underway… Expedition Members: Andy Gilmartin The team we had was significantly smaller than we had originally anticipated and several of the members weren’t around for the whole time we were there. This combined with the fact that there were a fair few relatively inexperienced members (3 who a year previously had never been caving) meant that our expectations for the trip were fairly open ended. A special mention should also be given to Matt Gosling, who unfortunately was struck down by appendicitis the day before we were due to leave, and to Ade Turner who, despite not being able to go in the end, gave a large amount of help with the expedition planning. Accommodation We decided to stay in the Agora Café, situated in Autrans about an hours drive from the car park nearest the cave. This was largely because this was where YUCPC’s previous Berger expedition had stayed, and with flexibility for the number of people staying, a large room for gear storage and being fairly cheap (approx. €110pp/pw) it worked extremely well. We had the whole place booked most of the time which was also useful as it meant arriving back at 04:00 wasn’t going to wake up any other guests! Travel Due to the amount of gear we had to take we knew that at least one car/Land Rover would have to be taken, and in the end it worked out cheapest for 3 cars to go with some people joining us by train later on. Although by car the journeys from York to Autrans took over 20 hours with breaks & waits for the ferry etc. it wasn’t too bad, especially on the way as we went from cold damp England to hot sunny France! Preparation Due to quite how different tackling the Berger would be in comparison with our standard Yorkshire caving trips a large amount of preparation had to go into both the sorting out of gear, and into training ourselves: Training: We were all well aware that with the size of the Berger & our relatively small team of people, fitness (more specifically prussiking fitness!) would have a major effect on the success of our expedition. As well as this we all knew it would be very beneficial for people to be doing long trips underground as our usual 4-5 hour trips weren’t going to be very representative of our trips in France. For these reasons we tried to organise trips down the longer caves in the area, such as Pen-y-Ghent Pot, Rowten, Black Shiver, King Pot, Vespers, Brown Hill Pot, Quaking Pot etc. Along with this we also encouraged (bullied?!) each other into doing the long prussik in the sports hall – prussiking up a 100m rope rigged over a pulley. Another aspect of training we worked on was rescue practices; as well as regularly practicing mid rope rescues in the sports hall we had a trip down Jingling to try these techniques down a cave and also to practice rigging & using Z-rigs. There was also a trip arranged down Sell Gill where we practiced hauling a stretcher from the bottom. Merchandise/Sponsorship Of course something that couldn’t be overlooked for the expedition was the merchandise! After the narrowing down of proposed designs (regrettably rejecting a “Berger King” logo!) we settled on 2 similar designs: We also applied for sponsorship from various companies and were kindly given a much appreciated 10kg of porridge from Morning Foods! So, enough of the organisation! On Thursday 17th July we started packing the cars… Thursday 17th July A day before we were scheduled to leave and there were still ropes to be cut and 2 of the cars to be packed. Mark spent an afternoon in the container cutting & marking the ropes and in the evening Mark, Andy V & Steve started the packing of the cars. The main problem with this was that we knew the cars would have more people in on the way home than on the way out, so we had to try and account for the space they would take up on the return journey! Despite this the packing was finished by 10pm with us all slightly surprised that 1000m of rope only took up half of the boot of an Astra! We also got a call from Matt that night telling us he had stomach ache and that a nurse had said something about appendicitis. He was insisting it was just dodgy chicken though… Friday 18th July Finally we were leaving! The day got off to a real downer though when Matt confirmed that he did indeed have appendicitis and so wouldn’t be able to join us on the expedition. Nevertheless, the plans had to go ahead with 3 cars leaving that day: Si, & Debbie travelling from London picking up Charlie, Andy V leaving from York picking up Luke, and Steve & Mark leaving later from York. Saturday 19th July The plans were fairly flexible for the drive through France depending on how awake the drivers were feeling. Steve and Andy’s cars had to meet to exchange drivers and so travelled down together, picking up Laura and doing a big shop in Grenoble on the way. Si’s car, meanwhile, had stopped for a long sleep but still managed to reach Autrans before the others, having not been delayed by the shopping trip or Grenoble’s one way streets! That evening no one was in a state to do much, having been travelling for the best part of 24 hours, so it was an early night all round. Sunday 20th July After a not particularly early morning we decided it would be a good idea to walk to the cave entrance so we all knew where we were supposed to be going. We found the car park without too much difficulty and largely due to Steve’s memory, also had few problems finding the entrance. We weren’t feeling too optimistic about the water levels at this point though, as it was drizzling on and off throughout the day. The Sunday afternoon/evening was set aside for sorting the gear, as to save on space in the cars we had decided not to pack the tackle sacks before we left. It was probably at this point that we all realised just quite how much gear we were going to have to carry. In total we had 14 tackle sacks of rope, 4 camp bags, a dingy and 2 brew stop bags. Monday 21st July The first day of our permit! We decided two teams should go down the Berger with the first team (Steve, Debbie & Charlie) intending to rig as far as possible before they were caught up by the second team (Andy V, Simon, Luke & Ben). Laura & Mark stayed above ground & set up the tent at the surface. The result of the first day was that the cave was rigged as far as the traverse above Gontard’s by the first team and the second team managed to rig to the top of Aldo’s, but parts of the meanders would need re-rigging. Tuesday 22nd July Two teams went underground on the Tuesday, this time with the intention of reaching camp. Steve, Charlie and Mark were in the first team and successfully rigged from the relay pitches through to camp, also managing to communicate with surface camp using the Nicola radios, whilst Andy V, Laura & Ben moved tackle sacks down to Aldo’s. Wednesday 23rd July By this time we realised that to get further than camp we’d need plenty more bags moving down, so Si, Debbie & Luke went down to camp carrying the extra camp bags plus as many rope bags as they could carry. Meanwhile Andy V and Mark drove down to Grenoble to go food shopping and to pick up Andy G & Lauren from the station, and Charlie & Ben were on the surface manning the radios. Thursday 24th July An early start for Steve, Andy V & Mark who set off to try and rig as far as they could beyond the camp. The day’s other trip saw Andy G, Lauren & Laura carrying yet more tackle sacks down to camp as an introduction to the Berger for Andy & Lauren. The first team managed to rig down to Cascade Abelle, further than the original aim of reaching the canals. Despite the good progress, however, we realised at this point that bottoming the cave would be one step too far as a result of the relatively small number of people we had combined with the time we had left. This time it was Si & Debbie’s turn for a fairly long stint at the surface radios to contact both teams. Friday 25th July Almost halfway through the permit and we decided a day off from the Berger would do us good. While Andy V went down to Grenoble to pick up some more food & alcohol and to meet Dave at the station, everyone else went to Lans en Vercors for a round of minigolf. Saturday 26th July Now we were half way through the permit, it was decided that this should be the final rigging day, so Steve, and the two Andys went underground with the intention of going as far as they could beyond the canals, intending to derig whatever they rigged that day. They managed to reach the top of Puits Gaché, 860m below the surface before returning without camping for a 22 hour epic. Having got a taste for the outside, the others wandered down to take their lives into their hands at the Devil Karts along the road, apart from Lauren & Laura who were manning the radios. Sunday 27th July The next section of derigging was done by Dave, Debbie, Mark, Si and Charlie who derigged everything between the canals and camp, managing to move an impressive 10 bags to the bottom of Aldo’s. Meanwhile Lauren, Andy V, Andy G, Steve and Luke stayed above ground enjoying icecream, with Laura and Ben this time on radio duty. Monday 28th July This was probably the biggest derigging day, with Steve, Ellie & Luke derigging from Aldo’s to Gontard’s; Andy G and Andy V moving bags between Aldo’s and Cairn, joined by Mark for their second run, and Lauren & Laura hauling an impressive 13 tackle sacks up Cairn, getting 10 to the surface! Tuesday 29th July The final day of derigging saw Andy V, Dave, Si and Debbie finishing off the job underground, whilst Laura, Ben, Andy G, Mark, Charlie and Lauren came to dismantle the surface camp, haul up the 9 bags from the entrance pitch and carry everything they could from the entrance back to the cars. Ben and Charlie had earlier gone to try the French equivalent of Go Ape which was just up the valley from Autrans. Steve, Ellie and Helen decided on a day’s climbing. Wednesday 30th July Wanting to make the most of the days we had left in the area, we decided to split into two groups, one going canyoning and the other going down to Grenoble to try a via ferrata and to drop Ben off at the station to catch his train home. The group going canyoning (Steve, Ellie, Helen, Dave, Charlie, Andy V, Andy G, Lauren and Mark) had to find a place to hire wetsuits en route, and after a fair amount of touring around eventually found a shop. Meanwhile the problem for the group doing the via ferrata (Si, Debbie, Laura & Luke) was also finding a place to hire gear – after much touring around they found somewhere to hire lanyards, only to later realise that there was a shop a few hundred yards from the via ferrata itself! Thursday 31st July We had decided that it would be a shame to be in such a nice caving region and not do any caves other than the Berger, so two groups went off to do the Grotte de Gournier (Andy x2, Lauren & Mark and Si, Debbie, Laura & Luke) with the intention of finding the streamway and following it as far as time/cold levels would permit. Meanwhile Steve, Ellie & Helen went to do the via ferrata in Grenoble and Charlie and Dave relaxed back at the Agora Café. The via ferrata was a little hot, but really good fun. The first section was great! Plenty of exposure and monkey bridges and wooden bridges. Friday 1st August Most people went down to Grenoble for the via ferrata (for the second time for some). Steve, Ellie and Helen went on a (successful!) marmot hunt in the morning near the Berger car park, picking up Luke later on with the intention of going canyoning but with the result of going to the Grotte de Charanche show cave! Marmot hunt: Success!! With careful observation the little critters could be seen lolloping along the grassy terraces. The tourist info was correct. Saturday 2nd August After some frantic final cleaning first thing in the morning, most people set off on the drive back to the UK, but Si & Debbie were heading south for an extra week’s holiday and Laura caught a coach to Florence. Reports by Members 17th July 2008: 22nd Dec 2008 Mark Sims With a birthday collage made form the Expe catalogue, a caver cake, mini-golf, a meal out and party games this was a fantastic birthday! 22nd Dec 2008 Laura Bennett Finally, after about 5 hours of trying, we sorted the travellers’ cheques. The via ferrata, hmmm, well I’m really glad I did it and the longer the time since it was over, the better I remember it. It was fun and very exhilarating but also very scary! There was a tightrope bridge which was very wobbly and scary, but the vertical climbs were also a bit scary! The wooden bridge was also wobbly but not very scary, however the wooden plank seemingly balanced on rock edges was a bit worrying when you put your whole weight on it! All in all though – fun! – Debbie(?) 22nd Dec 2008 Debbie Flowers Canyoning was a lot of fun! Bit of faff hiring wetsuits, but it was a gorgeous day so everyone was happy. The canyon was very pretty and we found some fun jumps and toboggans! The worst part of the day was seeing a butt naked French man washing in the stream – EWWWWW! Horsefly extravaganza when we were getting changed. Also I got an angry parking notice from the mayor and got a line painted around the car for some bizarre reason! 22nd Dec 2008 Lauren Ellis The second section starts with a really steep wall – the crux of the section. At a “terrace” (which I expected to be a large rock ledge, not a park bench bolted to a vertical wall!) you go straight up for an easy finish, or to the right for a hard section. This “hard section” was a lot easier than the start wall (Ellie and Helen did the easier route). 22nd Dec 2008 Steve Gilbert
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