Expedition Name (& Club): Crete 2008: The Promised Land (SUSS)

Destination country: Greece
Region: Crete

Lat: 35.3140 Long: 24.0830 Elevation: m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Rob Eavis

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

To continue the speleological exploration of the Mavri Laki valley in the White Mountains of Crete. During the 2006 expedition over 200 cave entrances were discovered and mapped, but due to this sheer density of caves found, an area of 4km2 still remains untouched.

How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

Please explain the aspects of the trip which make it eligible for Ghar Parau funding.

The Crete 2006 expedition was a profound success, regardless of the discoveries. This is because for so many of the expedition members it was not just the only expedition they had ever been on, it was their first expedition! It made addicted expedition cavers out of almost all involved, many of whom have now moved on to even bigger trips. The fact that these young cavers carry all their food and equipment for 3 hours, camp in the mountains for the duration of the expedition, and still manage to find hundreds of caves, gives this expedition an edge above almost all others in Europe. It is organised especially for students. For those who have done some caving, really enjoyed it, but currently hold little hope in themselves of one day being part of a big expedition like Mulu or PNG. Crete 2008 will give them the skills, confidence, and above all the desire to be part of the continuing international scene.

Detailed description of objectives:

Give a more detailed account of the purpose of the trip, including any particular known caves you intend to visit, specific areas where you will explore for new cave, and scientific experiments you will attempt.

After a few days of the 2006 expedition it was becoming increasingly obvious that it would take longer than the available time to complete the exploration of the Mavri Laki valley. Therefore a ridge which runs east/west across the valley was chosen to be a physical boundary of that year’s exploration. It wasn’t until the last few days of the expedition that recognisance teams were sent to the area to the north of the ridge (nicknamed by the expedition “The Promised Land”) to assess its potential. As it turned out the surface karst features appear to be even more developed, especially on the 400m high western slopes of the valley, where large open shafts scar the hillside. It is due to the evidence from these recognisance trips plus the high cave density found to the south of the ridge, that the Crete 2008 expedition is being held. We will be camping in the same position as the 2006 expedition as it is well situated to the cave where the water is collected from (about 20mins walk) and we can access "The Promised Land" in about 45 mins. Also the carry from the road would be much more difficult is we were to move camp further up the valley. All cave data will be entered into a laptop computer in the field, which will be powered by the same generator used in 2006. This will also charge the drills and people's lights.

Previous work in this area:

Give details of any previous work in this area by your own and other teams. Include references to reports and articles published on the area, and the names of any local cavers or academics with whom you have discussed the Expedition.

British exploration of the caves inside the White Mountains started in the 1980’s with a group of 9 students from SUSS. They undertook a complete traverse of the range over a period of 4 weeks, exploring and documenting many caves on the way. Many of these caves were deeper than their equipment and their time would allow for, however their work fuelled further enthusiasm for the area. Since this initial recognisance tens of lightweight expeditions have been lead to these mountains, both from the UK and Greece, mostly centred around the more easily accessible westerly valleys, where roads provide easy access too and from the caves. In the last 5 years Greek led expeditions to the valleys to the west and the north of Mavri Laki have been organised every year, leading to the discovery of Greece’s deepest cave (Gourgouthika, 1208m deep) and a number of other active master systems at depth.