28 OCTOBER 2006

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Arthur spent the day collating his cave fauna.


Dry Riverbed - the long walk in

Bruce had lined himself up for any easier day....or so he thought. Accompanied by Mr. He, two reporters and a son, they approached the Yen He Dong dry riverbed by road from the south which also had the shortest walk-in. Recent sorties to this area had been from the west, using the "North Circular" road past the showcave in order to avoid a new stretch of roadworks on their preferred route. Despite this, on their last trip, Bruce noticed that the film crew arrived just before them approaching from the south (roadwork approach). This was the reasoning for chancing this way in but turned out to be a flawed judgement. The concreting team must have been progressing with some speed and the impassable works stopped up a good 2.5km short of the footpath they needed. Not only was their walk now equally long as the alternative but they also had a greater vertical range to negotiate.

Not to be dissuaded, they marched on, at one point jumping aboard a passing truck which shortened their journey marginally.


Concreting in progress - a vibrating compactor bridges plastic-lined shuttering


The steps up to the farmer's front door are set in a cleft in the cliff

When they arrived at the "P20" hole in the riverbed, the rope that Shaun and Bruce left on the surface (25th) had been taken. Bruce anticipating this possibility had brought another rope which was just long enough for the job if the boulder belay was omitted. He descended the pitch in with plenty of care since this was one of his first abseil descents. Our dinghy was quickly inflated above the lake and the pair were soon on the water taking measurements with the laser meter and compass/clinometer.


Mr. He guides the dinghy through the narrow sump pool

The narrow tapering sump was investigated and one of the inlet leads was pursued to a sensible conclusion. This involved a couple of slightly awkward climbs. It was getting dark by the time they emerged from their tricky aquatic survey mission and they were pleased to find everyone waiting for them. A flurry of photos were taken before the equipment was hastily packed into bags. There was plenty to carry and everyone helped out. The slog back was tiring and out one chance of a lift turned out to be only a motorcycle. A small snake of unknown variety crossed our path on the way back.



Xiao Xi He valley – Xiao Xi He resurgence

Graham and Marci drilled 3 bolts by hand and descended into the big mouth of the resurgence. They couldn’t follow the amazingly big passage any further than 200m, because after the big entrance lake, which was about 60m long, the passage eventually sumped. Marci swam into the sump pool and noticed a tube inlet with small incoming stream.

Moha, Kutya and Emma surveyed another cave that was around 980m long. They called it Double Cave. Whilst eating they noticed a few rats in the cave which probably put them off their food. Kutya collected some interesting caves animals for Arthur which looked like flatworms.


That evening, Zhanghai treated the worn out cavers (Graham, Kutche, Marci, Bruce and Emma) to another massage parlour visit. The establishment, up the main street from the hotel, had been visited by some earlier on and was found to be of good reputation!