You are what you read

 

Of my 47 years of life, 29 I did cave exploration. This was my life and continue to be. This is what I live for and this is who I am.

Everything started back in 1992 in "Avenul cu gheata din Piciorul Babelor" a full exploration from zero (discovery and exploration and a couple of years later survey) that marked my entire life and vision about nature. There is nothing comparable with exploration, knowledge, the will and the feelings that I live when doing this.

In 1991 I read the BIBLE of romanian speleology "Omul si Pestera" (The man and the cave) by Marcian Bleahu. Never, ever somebody will write such a masterpiece again! Period. 

The first chapter of  First Part and the Second Part captured me complete. You can't be untouched by such a universe from thousands of years ago created by the author As a teenager hungry for information I read it in a couple of days. Then I went back to it to read it again. Then again, and at several years again. It's like a ceremony every few years, not to forget where I came from.

Mr. Marcian Bleahu died two years ago, in the summer of 2019 when I was in an expedition in Albania, in Maja Arapit. I didn't had time to greed such a loss. That guy changed my life forever  I wish, wherever he is, to write the continuation of that book with present days, so I can read it when we will meet again on the other side. 

After this bible, followed "Relieful carstic" (The karstic relief) also by Mr. Bleahu, that is a natural continuation of "Omul si Pestera" because beside exploration history and evolution of the equipment you have to understand what's going on in these dark corners of the Earth, called caves.

This book cover geological aspects, designations and several theory of how caves were formed wrote in a normal manner, not academic, so everyone could understand. After I understand the meaning of those books, I started to take speleology serious, not just as an adventure in week-ends.

There are more books, of course, for example "Aventuri sub pamant" (Underground Adventures) by Norbert Casteret, probably the best cave explorer of all times regarding what era he lived. People were afraid of the dark (like today, sic !) and only the idea of passing sumps underground was considered some mental disease. In Europe, E.A.Martel founded the "physical speleology", caving as we know it today.

These pioneers had to fight with a system that was stuck in the past and held back by religion, with a community that considered this activity a dangerous non-sense. Well, because of speleology we now have the history of evolution, almost intact fossils, tools form Pleistocene.. If those objects were outside the cover that the caves provide, the dramatic changes in climate would destroy them. But in caves, time have other scale. In caves, the watch is at geologic scale. One thousand years is a small stalagmite. Ten thousand years could make a column or a human size stalagtite. Human life is just a calcite crust....

Today explorations are more and more difficult because of one simple reason: while the surface of the Earth is the same, more cavers are looking for the new ones. The era of big entrances unexplored situated near villages are over. Either you go in alpine areas difficult to reach, countries with lack of speleologists, or try to find continuation of old passages that were let unexplored by former explorers. Of course there are exceptions, but a few.

 

Getting older also doesn't help, but the experience can substitute physical condition due to age. I think more where I plant a bolt, how I charge a wall with legs or hands while climbing . The only problem that can't be overcome with experience is the weight of the backpack. Well...I think it is time to write a book !

 

Kreuzhohle 2020 cave exploring expedition

 

This was the last exploration expedition here. Every corner we checked ended somehow. Every cave have an end and this expedition marked the end of Kreuzhohle's 10 years of explorations... . We need to make another trip down there to remove the ropes, carabiners, bivouac materials etc. . What we will not remove is the hard work and the passion we invested in this "dark palace". The endless hours on ropes, the cold, the stone flying near you in the middle of the shafts, the happiness when we saw a new hall around the corner, the winter that suddenly came outside while we worked for six days in cave. The evenings and mornings in bivouacs when we reported each other what we went through. All these, can't be drawn on maps, can't be shown in pictures, can't relive while watching films, all these stay with us forever. This is what caving bring to cavers. Life at it's apogee.

With a depth of -782m on one side and -700 in other two shafts in totaly different areas and a development of almost 4500m, Kreuzhohle doesn't shy to it's neighbors.

And now back to the story....

Between Lofer Camp that took place at the end of August and this expedition I stayed in Germany, afraid that if I would go back home it would be impossible to return due to COVID thing. So, at the end of Lofer Camp I let at hut some stuff to "rest" for 3 weeks. I came by train from Neuwied to Worms changing 3 trains and from Worms I joined Oliver in his car to Austria. We picked Mark from the way also. Petr came alone with his car from Stuttgart. 

Friday evening we met all four at Peyerl guesthouse in Lofer. We were the only clients of the guesthouse. Lofer was also empty. Covid-19 crisis is changing time as we live it. Nothing is normal anymore. There is a good thing tho: overcrowded places are quiet places now.

Saturday morning we had a great breakfast in a sunny weather and we went to park the cars in Loferer Hochtal. At 9:37 we started on the trail to von Schmidt Zabierow hut. 

 

Four hours later we had a meal in the hut. There, Marvin was waiting for us. He came there earlier and did some things like installing CaveLink antenna. Unfortunately the SIM contact of the CaveLink was not working and it would be impossible to receive forecast updates while we will be underground because nobody will stay outside to text us the forecast, just from the comfort of the sofa back home. So, we will have connections between the two teams inside but no words from outside. But, we have waterfalls noise and airflow direction to interpret the weather outside :). 

We divided the materials that needed to be carry to the cave entrance in this day and the next one. More than half of the equipment necessary to the expedition we brought already by Saturday.

Back to hut, we had a great dinner and I chose again to sleep outside. I do this every time the weather permit it. Is phantastic. I can watch the stars while falling to sleep. And beside that, nobody is snoring or farting around.

After the breakfast we took our 2nd part of equipment needed for exploration and went to cave. As usually we did the picture before the entrance.

 

Mark went with Petr in front, then I went with Oli. On the big shaft of 96 meters I realized is not my day. The descender got stuck several times and I had to push the rope in descender harder then ever. In the first rebelay I was unsure if I should mount the rope in "zero" or on normal way. I decided to let it on normal. Big mistake ! My stop was jammed no matter what. I started to push the rope with my right hand like crazy. Descending like this 30 meters and then 50m left me with an crazy muscle burn in right hand. When I reached the bottom Oli asked me if I am ok. 

- Well...I am not going back now, let's go !

We continued on the path that we know like our home until we reached Hall I from The Ruins where is our main bivouac since 2014. Plans were simple: Petr and Mark are trying to push through in the deepest part of the cave. Me and Oli would erase the last 3 question marks on the western part of the cave. Derigg anything if possible while coming up.

Monday, after the first night in Hall I where we stayed all four as a team, we split. Mark and Petr dressed with garbage bag of 120 l over their caving suits were ready to meet the Niehamwassa shaft. 

I went with Oli through Hall II, IV, III and then the muddy shaft that goes to Hall V and we turned right in Hall VI where a shaft left unexplored was waiting us. A rope stored for that was also available on site. Oli started to rigg, I came with DistoX and the tablet behind. There is some water flowing in the pitch but not much. After -27 meters we reached a crack that led us to another shaft with a big stone that looks like a rabbit. Here some serious water is coming from above. Bolt, sling, bolt and down !

Looking from above this place looks familiar, so I was thinking with loud voice:

- Hmm, I know this place, wtf !

Was the passage we explored four years ago coming from the bottom of Hall VII that goes in an dead end. Good, we have another connection !

We went back through Hall VII just for fun, to have a nice round trip. We derigged the new shaft and went back to Hall I in bivouac. Messages in CaveLink from Petr and Mark came late. Big problem: They forgot to take the stove ! We checked the Hall I bivouac and we saw it. Well, they had at least the back-up: the spirit stove. So, problem solved for now. 

Next day, next question mark: a pitch with water (Duschecke) left unexplored by Petr in 2013. The waterfall in Hall 1 was louder than usually. Because we didn't had connection with outside word, we could only guess what's going on at surface....rain.

The survey lines in the area we had to go that day showed that Duschecke pitch is going to Hall VI but you never know. We found the old bolts from Petr and Oli went through planting two more bolts. The view was crazy. The whole Hall VI and it's upper part that come from Hall V was visible from a side. 

Then we went to West meander to derigg West Shaft. Oli went down In West Shaft to "visit" this place. He came back with the rope from the shaft. I was sooo sad. This shaft goes to Labyrinth bivouac and to Bell Shaft, the deepest point on this part, - 700m. Exploring this side was like a puzzle. Piece by piece we deciphered the entire area that have several crawls and side passages. Now, without the rope from West Shaft the Mother Darkness is taking back it's dark kids. Nobody will come here too soon for sure. 

 

We bring up to Hall I all the stuff from West Meander. On the way we collected some clay deposits that were so black that Oli expected to be vulcanic remains. Last pictures here and off we go.

Back in Hall I bivouac we had messages from Mark and Petr: digging site one closed, they are trying other way. Kreuzhohle is closing every crack we search. I went to sleep in my place under the monster block that separate Hall I from Hall II. Usually here, on my left was Uli then Tom. Now, is the lady dark... . Oli is sleeping in his "place" between the rocks of Hall I. This way, the place looks more populated. Only the waterfall dripping on the bottles that we use to collect the water is breaking the silence. We are just some ants that disturbed the Mother Nature, period. Who doesn't realize how insignificant we are, need to start exploring. He can understand a lot of things much better. Be humble and bless what you live. This is so rare today.

In the morning,coffee and tea, musli with milk powder. Salami and cheese and back on track. Question mark 3: the small hall from the end of Crystal Meander and the deep narrow shaft that is developed below Hall V, after descending a 27 m shaft. In the Hall V Oli went down on P 27 to see the deep crack that I was there in 2014. He decided that is impossible to enlarge it. The rock fall more than 10 seconds so probably is the deepest pitch here, but we can't get through. Younger cavers in 100 years from now should check this out ! The tight area is vertical and is at least 10 meters deep. Crazy hard work to enlarge it. So, dead and end for us and question mark on map. After that, we went in the river bed from the bottom of Hall VI to have a last look.

Then, we went to last point: the small hall above the bottom of the Piatra Unirii intersection consisting of Wunderland Meander and Crystal Meander. The rope was in place and I went down. Oli came to join to revisit something that we reached together six years ago coming from Wunderland meander. Then he went up to bolt a traverse line to the small hall from above. The hall is not larger than 4 meters diameter and isn't going anywhere. Because the drilling machine ran out of accu, he named it "No Power Hall". We took the rope, slings and carabiners from here and went back to Hall I bivouac.

In the main Hall nr.1 from The Ruins there was a connection between two floors left unexplored. Because was near the bivouac area, we went there after we had just a tea. The entrance in the shaft begins on the way to Steingarten. It's an opening to the left that goes vertical. I planted 3 bolts and went down where I reach a very nice horizontal passage. There we found survey points. 

Now the problem is to see which one. We surveyed the segment and turned back. In bivouac Petr and Mark arrived from their site. Happy reunion ! 

While having dinner we reported each other what happened for the last 3 days. The cave is done. We were not very sure if this is a happy moment or not. I was actually shocked. Well, I spent to much time here I guess, and became a second home. So, I need to start to be happy. Meanwhile the waterfall in Hall I became louder. Nothing fancy outside the cave, either heavy rain, or snow.

We opened a bottle of wine to mark the last night here before the exit. Mark came to sleep on Tom's place. Petr took it's place on a huge block. Each one have it's own "bedroom".

Friday morning we packed and cleaned the bivouac site. Petr went first on rope then Mark followed. I went third. I asked the guys to stop in the Big Hall because I want to make a picture. The view is so cool:

Then we went further pushing two kitbags each. In the old bivouac, at -175m, we noticed the airflow was different so definitely outside was some kind of rain. We took a short break for a hot water drink and then we continued. In 2 hours we reached the bottom of the entrance shaft. I went up the last. After the second rebelay Oli came to pitch head to tell me he have a surprise for me. "Hmmm, maybe a lift would be good, I thought".

Well, the surprise was the half of meter snow all around ! Christmas time on 25 of September ! What a madness. No more dancing on the big stone in front of the cave. What stone ? Was covered.

We didn't took all the materials with us on the way to hut. I got most of stuff in the backpack, but some metal things like descender and carabiners. The way to hut was a complete whiteout. Instead of 2 hours we arrived in 4. The bigest problem was to keep the trail because on the top side is pretty steep and you don't want to descend with "G". Oli did a good job finding the path.

Back to the hut we scared some guys that were hanging around with lots of beers. Well, was Friday, and the last week-end the hut was open. Especially after such a big snow fall.

Saturday the snow was reaching the windows ! All clients went down in the valley but us. The sky kept snowing like crazy. Oli, Petr and Mark went to Kreuzhohle cave entrance to try to rescue the materials left in  cave entrance while I had to use the shovel to make paths in snow around the hut. An Ice Bar was a nice ideea, but for who ? Well, there were 2 more tourists in the hut. They waited us to go down together the next day. The attempt to reach the cave was a failure.

In the evening the clouds were gone and a astonishing sunset covered the mountains in orange.

Sunday we had to say good bye to our guests and went down swimming through fresh powder. Sunny dream winter day.

Descending to Lofer in a total opposite landscape then one week before was an enchantment. The sun, the blue sky and the fresh powder... .

I went with Oli and Mark to Munich where they droped me in the airport. Back to civilization, I had to clean somehow my backpack before check in. In the evening I was home. Sometimes thing are happening so fast that you don't realize what's going on.

Equipment that I used underground:
Helmet: Edelrid Ultralight Junior
Main light: PETZL Duo S
Secondary light: Petzl Tikka (2017)
Undersuit: Steinberg Alladino
Oversuit: Aventure Verticale Titan red
Socks: 1 x Lorpen TETA, 1 x Lorpen T2 Hunting Extreme Overcalf
"second skin": Fjord Nansen Are
Balaclava: Black Diamond
Jacket: Down jacket Simond Makalu light
Gloves(caving): 2 x Ansell Marigold Multiplus 40
Skin gloves: Quechua
Gloves: Quechua Forclaz 20
Boots: EtcheSecurite Clark
Knee pads: Warmbac
Harness: Aventure Verticale Muruck
Chest harness: Petzl torse
Footloop ascender: Petzl Ascension
Chest ascender: Edelrid Wind Up (2016 model)
Descender: PETZL stop (pre 2018 model)
Cowtails: from dynamic rope Singing Rock Icon 9,3mm
Cowtails carabiners: Edelrid Pure
Descender carabiner: Edelrid Oval Power Triple
Backup ascender: Petzl Tibloc 1 + Petzl OK Triact
Braking carabiner: Kong oval steel straight gate
Harness maillon: Peguet 10mm zicral
Footloop: Petzl footcord  x 2 pcs. + 2 pcs. Edelrid nineteen carabiners
Tackle bags: Steinberg Ovoidale, Yana Ovoidale
Tablet bag: Petzl Boltbag
Auxiliary carabiners: Simond Rocky screw, Edelrid Bulletproof, Petzl Djin
Sleeping bag: Simond Makalu II Light (-9 comfort)
Bivouac bag: Vaude Biwak I
Bivouac lamp: Petzl Noctilite + Petzl Tikka 2017
Survival blanket: 3 pieces Aptonia.

Equipment that I used on surface:
Jacket: Simond Alpinist Light Windproof
Pants: Simond Alpinist Light stretch
Technical T-shirts Short sleeves: Vaude
Technical T-shirts Long sleeves: Simond 1/2 zip sweatshirt
fleece vest: Retezat Skyrace Intersport 2018
Socks: Simond Alpinism
Fleece: Simond hoody
Gloves: Simond Sprint, Simond Cascade
Bandana: Simond edge turquoise
Beanie: Edelrid Rope Beanie Light
Boots: Simond Alpinism light
Backpack Fjord Nansen Nanga Parbat
Backpack raincover: Fjord Nansen
Sunglass: Orao SG 500
T-shirts cotton: Kreuzhohle logo

Electronics:
Tablet: Lenovo TAB3A7 essential
Video: GoPro Hero 5
Photo: Sony Alpha 5000
Power Bank: Hama Pipe power pack 10400mah + Promate 13200mah
Distance metering: DistoX 2 (leica X310 modified)
Accesories: 6 x Petzl Duo-S accu, 3 x GoPro Hero rechargeable battery, 1xUSB C cable

Kreuzhohle cave exploring expedition 2019

Finally I catched the time back... .
After 24h and 21 minutes drive, I arrived in Lofer. I enjoy driving so much that I was almost sorry that the trip ended. Was on 22nd of September 2019.
I found Lofer more peaceful and quiet than usual. Even the Shell gas station was closed. Nobody on the streets so I went with the car straight through the roads of the center of the village. Only on the asphalt some chalk drawings disturbed the landscape. I think it was a festival or something.
I managed to fall asleep in the car at 2:30 a.m. My body was shaking because it forgot the lay down position. I slept "dead" untill 9:30. Of course I needed coffee so I went to search for it back in the center of village. All traditional shops were closed, of course so I had to rely on the trusty Dankl restaurant where I usually eat before each expedition.
My backpack was ready made from home but I wanted to double check everything. Missing something was the last thing that I wanted. After one full hour of repacking, I still forgot something in the car: the mp3 player ! I will have some very quiet nights in bivouacs... .
I lifted my monster "Fjord Nansen 100l Nanga Parbat" and went to the trail that goes to the hut. This is a new type of trekking with such a luggage: slow and steady. At least that's what I tried. I found both springs dry, without any drop of water. There must have been some really dry summer here. I never saw the springs so dry. Fortunately I had with me a Powerade bottle of 500ml. Unfortunately it had only 500 ml... .

I arrived at von Schmidt Zabierow hut after 6 hours and 30 minutes. Instantly 1l of Coke disappeared in my mouth. Then a big coffee. The others, Oli, Mark and Tom, did two trips between hut and the Kreuzhohle entrance to carry the stuff from this year, including their personal gear. Bad thing was that I had to carry everything the next day, when we enter the cave. Good part is that they offer to help me and split the weight. That's team spirit !
We've eat a big dinner and had some drinks and while talked about what's about to happening this year. Oli and Mark will go straight to their bivouac from "Hall of Dreams" at -700. Me and Tom have to move the bivouac from "The Ruins" at -380, to the area where "The labyrinth" begin, at about -600, the segment that we explored last year.
They went to sleep at 20:30 in the room with lots of beds from the last floor of the hut. I looked outside the window and saw the stars embracing the peaks all over. I decided to sleep outside to get in touch again with this beautiful place.
For me, every place have it's own spirit and untold tales that you have to listen not from the people, but from nature itself. Everything happened too fast with my arrival here this time. I usually take my time one day to clear my mind and get in the mood of a tough exploration. This time was way too fast.
I managed to sleep very deep, barely hearing Tom calling me at breakfast. Was 7:00 a.m. I got eggs with ham, beside coke and coffee of course. Then I started to pack my gear. Mark took all my SRT gear in his backpack. Oli took my oversuit, the gloves and knee pads. Tom took my 6l drum full with accu's for my Petzl Duos S, tablet and DistoX. So, in the end, I had just few things to carry with my back till the cave entrance. The weather started to be really bad. Tiny drops of rain and fog. The forecast was not great at all for this first day in the cave.
Oli and Mark went already in the cave when I arrived at the entrance. Me and Tom had 5 kit bags.

After the "Faraonic block" at -200, two more kit bags were wainting for us. They were stored there by our colleagues in the pretour this summer.
There was some energy consumption moving all the stuff around in the cave, but surprisingly, we've been moving very fast actually. At the "Faraonic block" we didn't found any kit bags so we thought the others took them for us. What a nice surprise !
We arrived in the first hall of the Ruins, after 3 hours and 30 minutes only ! It seems to us much longer because of the weight of the luggage. We could still hear Oli and Mark that just left the Hall to go further to their bivouac. Tom asked me if we should continue also to our new place for bivouac near the "Labyrinth".
"Hurry slow" is my motto, so we stay in Hall nr.1 for the first night here. We were just preparing our first soup when we heard Oli and Mark coming back from "Niehamawassa" shaft. The rain from outside transformed the entire shaft in a cascade so they had to wait till the water calm down.
So, plan B: all four will rest in "the Ruins" the first night. We eated our pasta with cream soup and had lots of tea. Then we went to bed early, to have at least 10 hours to sleep. I still felt tired after so long drive, so I fell in the dream's land soon.
We woke up at 7:00. The breakfast was musli with milk and lots of teas and coffee's. Oli and Mark had the things already packed so they were already ready to go. The sound of water on "Niehamawassa" shaft was much lower than the previous day. Me and Tom prepared all our stuff. 100m of Courant "meetic" of 9mm, 80m of Beal Spelenium "Unicore" of 8,5 mm, 25 bolts with hangers and carabiners, Edelrid slings, Bosch Uneo Max with two accu's, bolting kit, survey equipment and of course, food for 4 nights. We had also 2 new mattresses, cooking pot with MSR multifuel stove, should I continue the list... ? Well, SEVEN kit bags ! Six of them of 30 l and one of 35l. Mark helped us with two kit bags till where the climb to Hall nr.4.begin. After that, the fight begun.... The team work that we did was so great that we managed to move all the stuff in 4 hours. Of course we felt the effort but the time was incredible good.

We then, started to "decorate" our brand new bivouac place from -640m. The place is actually pleasant and dry. You can hear constantly the waterfall that comes from "West Shaft" and by the sound of it, we could also take notice of the weather outside.

Tom installed the CaveLink antenna and terminal and we started to eat. We got a new message from outside through GSM antenna with forecast so we were assured that we are connected somehow to the world. The other team also wrote us that they finished setting up the bivouac so a feeling of calm embrace us. We went in the sleeping bags early, was 18:30. We couldn't sleep so we talked about different things. We finally closed the headlights and went in the land of dreams... untill some time in the night when the noise from the waterfall woke me up. Was so loud ! I fixed my "Skull cap" better on the ears and went deeper in my new "Makalu" sleeping bag. In the morning Tom didn't heard the watch ringing so we wake up after 13 hours of sleep !
We had a consistent breakfast and after we fixed our gear we went on rope. The passage that we had to continue starts above our bivouac. In 2018 Tom did a traverse from the main shaft and we fixed a rope in this segment to use it this year. Doing the trip second time here, we saw a window in the floor that goes directly in our cooking pot from the bivouac. That was sooo funny. So, we could rigg a rope and descend directly to hot tea and coffee when we return. The passage is very nice, with white calcite marks here and there over the brown limestone walls. It ends in a hall full of blocks that fallen to many years ago.

These stone blocks actually block what was actually a large shaft. Fortunately we can pass between them. Here starts the "Labyrinth". Descending carefully through blocks we discovered several other ways to do it, but most of them had to be rigged with rope. So, we kept the footsteps of last year exploration. We had to use 7m of rope on one step but otherwise, climbing down is not difficult. What was a nightmare was to survey the thing and the draw of the overlaping segments is insane. I am still working on it.
We reached '2018 last point and we went to the crack where we dropped a stone last year. I started to plant 2 bolts for the lifeline and 2 more for the pitch head then went down. The rope was touching the wall just before the bottom so I used another bolt for this rebelay. Tom came to explore together this new bottom. The water come from the opposite wall of the shaft and is flowing through a meander. A classic meander here, wow ! Corrosion, errosion waterfall steps. I didn't expected that. Unfortunately the meander is becoming too narrow after just 30 meters, so that's a dead end.

We spent more time looking around and thinking how to survey the passage because there were 3 ways to go down in the meander. We surveyed all on our way back to bivouac. We derigged the entire passage including the "Labyrinth" part. Nobody will gonna come here again too soon. From the Labyrinth entrance we rappeled straight in our sleeping bags, just for fun. We went for water in the main shaft and we started to cook. Unfortunately this was the bottom part of our exploration. We reached about -710 on this side. Did some Cave Link messages exchange with Tom and Oli that were trying to push beyond - 780 from their side. They found something also but the cave does't allow us to go deeper, the development is rising tho. Planning for next day was kind of lottery. There are about 4 passages to check left from previous explorations. We picked the "Crystal Meander" end from last year where we found a shaft at the end of the meander. Actually everywhere in this sector of the cave there are shafts. Some of them are connected, some are not. You never know till you explore them.
I started to cook a meal to refill the calories that we burned and wrote some notes in my notebook. I exchanged some messages with Roxana also. There are some things that can't be written. The feeling, the moment, the darkness. These are just inside you.

We went to sleep at 22:00.
Tom woke me up at 8:00. Coffee, coffee and some musli with milk. We had to climb up about 200 meters elevation, till "Hall V" to enter in "Crystal Meander". In "west meander" we collected some soil samples. Is black and may be volcanic. This meander is also fantastic because it have two floors and the one that we step is above the other. We explored the other part till it became too narrow in 2018. We called it "Micro meander" because is tiny, like a model scale meander. From "west meadner" we continued through Hall VII, VI and V where a rope rigged 4 years ago is leading us to "Crystal meander". Everytime I come back here I try make some good pictures but always is not time for this. The small crystals from the walls are trying to scratch your caving suit. We try to be carefull with them. Are at macro scale and are pretty sharp. The floor is full of clay and suddenly you carry with you some other kilograms on the legs without asking for it.
We prepared the material and I started to drill. The pitch head is pretty narrow so drilling wasn't comfortable at all. Looking from above, the bottom of the shaft started to look familiar and I was thinking where is this "picture" from ? I went down straight after setting up 4 bolts. The rope was long enough. It still has the smell from Courant factory. I just took off my descender off rope and I saw a red dot on the floor before I could yell "rope free" to Tom. Hmm, this is red dot from some survey... . Where the heck are we ? I kept looking around speaking for myself. I looked up on the opposite wall, also looks familiar. There is a corroded rock that some years ago I used it for a rebelay. Well, in that moment I realised... . Yes, was the red dot from our survey from 2015 when I reached this place first time, rigging from the "Wunderland" meander together with Oli. This is Piata Unirii !!! I can't describe how happy I was in that moment. I started to tell Tom where we are. We just made another connection. There are two ways now to reach this place from The Ruins: through Steingarten - Wunderland or through Hall V - Crystal Meander. We are deciphering some mazes.

On the way up to pitch head of the meander, Tom tried to check a crack on the wall which looks like a chamber. Was just a chamber with no continuation, but we let the rope there for "visit" next year expedition. We went back in our bivouac with a happy mood. We told the others what we did....
We eated a nice dinner and spend the time with the tablet to make invetory. We planned our exit. Tom and Oli will leave straight outside the next day. Me and Tom will take a break in the old bivouac at -175m for a last night. The problem was, how many things we had to pack.

This bivouac place is very comfortable but far from future explorations. So, we had to get everything up, but the mattresses.
The next morning we started to pack everything. We managed to have only 5 kit bags on the way outside, leaving the 5th full with rope and exploration materials in "Hall V". I sent a last message through cave link that we plan to exit on Saturady between 12 and 2 p.m., so maybe Oli and Mark could come to help us carry the stuff. On the way back we spoke about the other places of explorations. It's like we are afraid to put a point to the exploration of this magnificent cave which served us many surprises each year. We arrived in "Hall 1" bivouac after 5 intense hours. We made a break of almost two hours. We refilled our bodies and also made the inventory with what we left in this big hall for future expeditions. We ran out of sugar that day. So, we used chocolate bars in teas and coffees to make them tasty.
We then, continued up. I set up my camera on a stone while Tom was ascending from "Hall 1".

I heard the reverb of the darkness "rope free" and I went on rope myself. We managed to reach the old bivouac in 3 hours. We had energy to exit but we stayed to the plan. We will sleep here for last night.
Brand new stove and eating accessories. This place is windy and colder than the others. I remembered when we use it for the first explorations here. At that time, we felt comfortable in this place. Now, we have options. Three more bivouacs are in this cave now.

We also made the inventory of this site after we used a part of aliments and we went in our sleeping bags. We used 2 mattresses each to have a comfortable lay down position. Was a good night.
Next morning, we had the usual breakfast. According to the plan, we should be outside between 12:00 and 14:00. We started slowly to enter in rhythm at 10:30. Just 3 hours ahead of us was the exit and the we hoped for a blue sky.
Passing kitbags in tight passges, tandem walking and motivation was all. We reached the bottom of the monster shaft of 93m in less than 2 hours. Tom went ahead. I had plenty of time to prepare my 2 footloop system consisting of 2 independent footcords from Petzl, one for each leg. I don't use footascender like my colleagues, I got used in time with double footloop and now I tried something different. The key is the lenghts of these. Should be exactly the same so I kept one fixed with a knot and the other one the way it's designed from the factory, with a stopper to increase/decrease the lenght as you desire. I connected both with my tiny Edelrid "ninteen" carabiner to my ascender. I can improve the system by adding a second "ninteen" so, the footloops would be completely independent. In the new Petzl ascender lower hole there is enough place for this system. I like it !
It took me as usual, 25 minutes of "pomping" on the rope. After the first rebelay, when you hang in complete darkness at 60 meters above ground, you have plenty of time to think if your gear is in perfect condition :). After 3rd rebelay, you can touch the wall finally and the smell from outside is invading your nose. Suddenly you realize that another life experience has ended. You are catched between the feeling that you are stepping outside and the one that calls you back in.
I started to hear voices and I realized that is Tom talking with Oli. The guys were on the trail to us. Perfect timing !

Was a good plan to not push further the night before because outside rained a lot. The others came to get their gear also because when they exited the weather was awfull. They exited a day before and went to hut straight.
We managed to pack everything in the backpacks. I was afraid that I will need two tripsbut fortunately this wasn't necesarry. We also demounted the cavelink antenna and packed it, derigged the traverse of the exposure passage.
In two hours I called back home that I still exist.

For now, the cave reached 4,5 Km of development and a -782m depth.
Sunday, 29 of September 2019, we went down on the valley. The autumn already entered in it's rights. The brown, the yellow and the light green acompany us on our way.

I didn't had any sponsor or organization behind this, like always. But I would like to thank the persons that support my presence in this expedition: Roxana, Mr.Dan, Laura and Mr. Diaconu. A special thanks to Misu for the topo device ! You all were there with me !

Equipment that I used underground:
Helmet: Edelrid Ultralight Junior
Main light: PETZL Duo S
Secondary light: Petzl Tikka (2017)
Undersuit: Steinberg Alladino
Oversuit: Aventure Verticale Titan red
Socks: 1 x Lorpen TETA, 1 x Lorpen T2 Hunting Extreme Overcalf
"second skin": Fjord Nansen Are
Beanie: Edelrid skullcap
Jacket: Down jacket Simond Makalu light
Gloves(caving): 2 x Ansell Marigold Multiplus 40
Skin gloves: Quechua
Gloves: Quechua Forclaz 20
Boots: EtcheSecurite Clark
Knee pads: Warmbac
Elbow pads: Warmbac
Harness: Aventure Verticale Muruck
Chest harness: Petzl torse
Footloop ascender: Petzl Ascension
Chest ascender: Edelrid Wind Up (2016 model)
Descender: PETZL stop (pre 2018 model)
Cowtails: from dynamic rope Singing Rock Icon 9,3mm
Cowtails carabiners: Edelrid Pure
Descender carabiner: Petzl OK triact
Backup ascender: Petzl Tibloc 1 + Petzl OK Triact
Braking carabiner: Edelrid bulletproof
Harness maillon: Peguet 10mm steel
Footloop: Petzl footcord  x 2 pcs.
Tackle bags: Steinberg Ovoidale, Aventure Verticale
Rigging boltbag: MTDE Spitkit
Caving hammer: Kong speleagle
Cliff: Edelrid
Tablet bag: Petzl Boltbag
Auxiliary carabiners: Mammut Wall keylock
Sleeping bag: Simond Makalu II Light (-9 comfort)
Bivouac bag: Vaude Biwak I
Bivouac lamp: Petzl Noctilite + Petzl Tikka 2017 
Survival blanket: 3 pieces.

Equipment that I used on surface:
Jacket: Simond Alpinist Light Windproof
Pants: Simond Alpinist Light stretch
T-shirts: cotton Simond BeDifferent
Technical T-shirts Short sleeves: Simond merinowool 
Technical T-shirts Long sleeves: Simond 1/2 zip sweatshirt
Socks: Simond Alpinism 
Fleece: Simond hoody
Gloves: Simond Sprint, Simond Cascade
Bandana: Simond edge turquoise
Beanie: Simond Alpinism grey
Boots: Simond Alpinism light
Backpack Fjord Nansen Nanga Parbat
Sunglass: Orao SG 500
Poles: Northfinder Sherpa

Electronics:
Tablet: Lenovo TAB3A7 essential
Video: GoPro Hero 5
Photo: Sony Alpha 5000
Power Bank: Hama Pipe power pack 10400mah + Promate 13200mah
Distance metering: DistoX 2 (leica X310 modified)
Accesories: 6 x Petzl Duo-S accu, 3 x GoPro Hero rechargeable battery, 1xUSB cable, 1 x USB cable.

Petzl DUO S review

Now that I used it in real exploration situations for almost a year, I can write this full review. So, here you have it:
1) The design
Let's be straight: most of the caving lights from today look the same: a round metal housing in front, usually from aluminium and a metal or plastic case on the back of the helmet, that is holding the batteries or the rechargeable batteries. There are several brands out there (Scurion, Elspeleo, Phaethon etc.) but all look alike. Petzl approuch to powerful Caving light was different: plastic material, ovoidal reflector and a dedicated and patented system for accu's.

The weight
With it's 370g it weigh less than the competition (470 g for a Scurion). The accu is 168g.

The light beam
The light beam is wide on the horizontal axis, looking the same as the one in the old Ultra Vario model. Somewhere between 160* and 170*. In the vertical axis, unfortunately the light beam is narrower than was on old model. And I mean, I can see and feel the difference clearly, especially after I switched straight  from Ultra Vario to Duo S.
The color temperature of the light is on the cold side of the spectrum. Somewhere around 6500* K like the color temperature of photographic flashes. This is not bad by any means because anyway you get use with any color temperature very fast. I just mention this because is useful for "contre-jour" effects in pictures, because you can obtain a similar effect as one of a flash.

The accumulator
The accu case have the same dimensions as was for Ultra Wide and Ultra Vario, only visual difference is that is completely black, the cap is grey and is encapsulated in a black rubber and have the white Petzl logo painted on it. So you can be sure you buy latest model only by it's design.

The differences are inside these patented boxes: 3600Ah accu's that last longer than the old ones (2200Ah for Ultra Wide, 2600Ah for Ultra Vario). Well, how long it last then ? Depends on how much light you want, of course. But as a average, it can stand 6-7 hours before it switch to reserve mode. This is actually a full "normal" caving trip. I think this is the major improvement of this model over the old ones, the accu got real. Of course you should buy from the beginning a second accu together with this caving light. That's a must for long trip or for a bivouac.
The rated power on maximum is 700lm, and for sure it deliver it. You can cover easily with Petzl Duo S a 100 m deep shaft or a big chamber (imagine something like 50 m long, 50 meters tall and 50 meters height).
The modes are 5 and all are factory presets that you can't change:
Mode 1 is rated at 80lm and is more than enough to walk around camp, crawling in tight passages, walking slowly in technical sections of a cave...
Mode 2 is rated at 180lm and in this mode the light starts to get serious. Good beam surrounds you. You can travel comfortable in horizontal and vertical passages. I use this mode much often than the others. Is kind of "de facto" light of this caving light.
Mode 3 is rated at 330lm and is good for observing larger passages, taking pictures, filming and so on... .
Mode 4 is rated 700lm and it provide the maximum light this lamp can bring in the mighty darkness. You can see the bottom of a 100m  deep shaft, you can see the volume of a huge chamber, well...you can SEE !
Mode 5 is reserved for spot only and is 450 lm. Deep light indeed. Perfect for exploring distance spots at more than 100 meters.
There is also a "boost" mode of 1100 lm that you can use for a short period of time (5 seconds) and only if you still have enough power left in your accu. Is useful when you make a long exposure picture or anytime you need a bigger amount of light in a passage. I am not considering this mode a real thing even if on the box of the product it is marketing with big letters that it has 1100lm max light. It's a marketing gimmick.

It has also  a system called "face 2 face" that I didn't tested. This should provide instant dimming of light when you look at somebody wearing a "face 2 face" compatible light. It's a sensor that detects this. More details are here.

Waterproofing is provided by it's IP67 rating which is tested for sinking it at -1m for 30 minutes. I didn't had any problem with it until now regarding waterproofing. Also, the accu's I think are very good sealed because I am still using the boxes from the first model that I got back in 2011.
The reflector is smaller compared with previous models and for sure smaller than the competition. Which is good for tight passages especially. The plastic used seems alright to stand the test of caving for several years. The Petzl warranty is 3 years for the reflector and 1 year for the accu's.
Final thoughts
This lamp is definitly  an improvment over the old model from Petzl (Ultra Vario). The light beam is narrower on vertical axis while having about 160* on the horizontal axis. The volumes you can cover with it are big. Halls, deep shafts, no problem seeing them. It is also smaller which can be only a good thing. The accu mounting system is the best you can get. Clipping and unclipping an accu never been so easy and the system stood the test of time. The price is good compared with the competition (370 euros).
The thing what I'll improve and I am disappointed it doesn't have, is a larger angle of light on vertical axis.
Using 1 accu each day, you'll need to count how many days you'll spend underground and get the accu's accordingly.

The big one, Accu 4, is not made anymore. They were bulkier and heavy. Were not meant to be wear on helmet but I got one for curiosity. Inside of  it you'll find 4 Li-Ion cells instead of 2 but is way better to get 2 distinct smaller accu's than that monster.

The longest salt cave in the world project

The goals of 2019 expedition were:
- Continue with survey of all of the horizontal parts;
- Rappel in vertical shafts and check high windows and passages;
- Surface survey in order to find new openings to the Malham underground system.

We managed to push this cave at around 10Km (after the connections of the survey center lines) which make it, beside longest salt cave in the world, also the first 5 digit cave in Israel. 21.02.2019

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