Cavers get funds to explore deeper NAOMI ARNOLD - The Nelson Mail
Last updated 12:30 14/12/2010 (http://inl.adbureau.net/accipiter/adclick/CID=fffffffcfffffffcfffffffc/aamsz=240x45_SPECIALOFFER/POS=RELEVANTOFFER1/acc_random=65877778307/pageid=9369 769032/site=s/area=s.stuff.nelsonmail.news/SOURCEDOMAIN=www.stuff.co.nz/KEYW ORD=Fund%20NewZealand%20Cave%20DISCOVERY%20zealand%20Outdoor%20Kayak%20CHIEF EXECUTIVE%20KAYAKING%20Ice%20Coast%20NATIONAL%20HISTORY%20GRANTS%20Chief?&_= 1292307306015) A group of cavers who discovered the deepest cave in New Zealand has been awarded a second Hillary Expedition Grant to explore their discovery further. The group, led by Waitomo's Kieran McKay, aims to find out if the Ellis Basin system in Kahurangi National Park's Mt Arthur could be one of the 10 deepest in New Zealand. Earlier this year, a team of three cavers, including Mr McKay, discovered New Zealand's first kilometre-deep cave by making a connection between two known passages in the Ellis Basin cave system. The system went from 775m to 1026m with the discovery and is one of the top 80 deepest caves in the world. It was the same grant that allowed the Extreme Caving Team to explore the system in April this year, hailed at the time as the biggest piece of news in the history of New Zealand caving. The latest grant will help the team, which includes Nelsonian Jane Furkett, to buy the technical equipment needed to explore deeper. Their expedition is scheduled to begin next month and will take two months, with follow-up trips throughout the year. Sparc allocates Hillary Expedition Grants every two years, with each one ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 out of a total $100,000 fund. Other groups to be awarded grants are a New Zealand expedition attempting to be the first in the world to sea kayak the rough waters along the Borchgrevink Coast in Antarctica's Ross Sea, an attempt to make the first speedflying descent off an 8000m peak in Tibet, paddling a waka ama from Dunedin to Gisborne and kayaking remote rivers in Papua New Guinea. Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin said the adventures planned by the expedition teams were "truly awe-inspiring". "All New Zealanders are fascinated, and feel proud and inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary's feats. These grants honour that history," Mr Miskimmin said. "The people on these expeditions will need to be physically and mentally tough. They'll need to plan well, yet be ready to deal with the unexpected. They are the high-performance athletes of outdoor recreation and I hope that, like Hillary, these adventurers go on to create their own inspiring stories for New Zealanders." Previous expeditions have included crossing the Greenland ice cap, big-wall climbing in Pakistan, making first ascents including of a previously unclimbed tower in the Aisen Province, Chile, and new routes on peaks in Antarctica. _http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4456332/Cavers-get-funds-to-explore -deeper_ (http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4456332/Cavers-get-funds-to-explore-deeper)
