Thanks for sharing this. Those are awesome pictures. -----Original Message----- From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Sam Young via Texascavers Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 11:01 AM To: Texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] Krubera-Veronya
I am retired from the Mathematics Department at Auburn University. One of my colleagues, Andras Bezdek, had a Masters Degree student, Gergely Ambrus, who is a serious Hungarian caver. Ambrus returned to Auburn to give a talk about his trip to the deepest cave in the world. I have copied, below, the abstract of the talk and a link to the images. ....... Sam Young Gergely Ambrus ( Professor, Budapest Semesters in Mathematics) Title: Inverse Everest - Expedition to the deepest cave in the world. Abstract: In August 2016, a handful of Hungarian cavers descended into the deepest cave in the world, the Krubera-Voronya cave located in Abkhazia (former Georgia). Their goal was to make professional photographs of the cave for the first time in history. During the one-month-long expedition, the expedition members spent 16 days underground. Their longest trip, leading to the depth of 6800 ft, took 9 days. The expedition, co-ordinated by National Geogpraphic Hungary, was led by Gergely Ambrus, a former Auburn graduate in Mathematics. The deepest point of the cave have been reached by far less people than the summit of Mount Everest. In this talk, Gergely is going to present what a complex task organizing and leading such an expedition is. Starting months before the summer, the group had to find sponsors, make travel plans, purchase the necessary equipment both for caving and for the underground photography. Their endeavour started already before the expedition itself: a week before they intended to travel, the Russian army closed the border checkpoint of Abkhazia, therefore getting to the location was already complicated. He is going to describe what material and equipment is needed to withstand the extreme conditions. During their time underground, all their gear was constantly wet, due to the numerous cascades in the pitches. The temperature of the cave had been constantly around 35 F. The explorers carried with them three tackle sacs per person, weighing about 70 lb. They had to descend sometimes in 500-ft deep pitches, or in passages completely filled with water. Several times, the expedition members got into danger due to floods or worn out equipment and ropes, and they had to solve these issues instantly on the spot. Gergely is going to present a compilation of photographs and videos taken during the expedition, showing us what this unique underground world looks like. He will also talk about the scientific aspect of the expedition: the group has completed several underground biology, geology and measurement project Here are the images - text in Hungarian: http://index.hu/nagykep/2016/09/13/inverse_everest_bar/ _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
