Expedition Name (& Club): Colosuss 2009 (SUSS)

Destination country: Greece
Region: Crete

Lat: 35.3140 Long: 24.0830 Elevation: 1934 m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Rob Eavis

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

A small team to inspect and continue the exploration of "Colosuss", a cave in Crete discovered by SUSS in 2008. The entrance is at 1934m and has a 150m entrance shaft to a streamway with a series of pitches. It was explored to 230m deep and is open wide at the end with a strong draught.

How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

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

As a student based club, the ambition to explore a cave with such an impresive depth potential rarely becomes a reality. While this trip may only be short, we hope that on the basis this work we will begin a new chapter for our club, and to properly join in with the great british student caving 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.

On the last day of the 2008 SUSS expedition to the White Mountains of Crete a cave was discovered with a massive entrance shaft (compared to all the over 350 caves we have explored over the the last two expeditions). 80m freehang to a ledge, then another 70m to the floor, with an average diameter of about 10m. Here a small streamway is followed down a passage, passing a huge chamber which has not yet been entered, and down a series of short pitches. After about 70m horizontally (an extra 65m depth) a T-shaped passage 8m high is entered at roof level on a very prominent bedding steeply dipping to the north. At this point we had to return as our ferry back to Athens was the next day, however there was a large echo ahead and a very strong draught down into the hill. 3km to the north, on the same summer, the French extended a recently discovered cave (Lion's Cave) from 420m to 1100m in depth, at which point it sumped. However a number of large streamways enter throughout the system and the draughts seem to point towards a possible connection with Colosuss. If this massive distance can be traversed and the two caves connected it would make by far the deepest system in Greece at around 1400m. If Colosuss does not join Lion's Cave, or finds a bypass to the final sump, a cave of world class depth is highly possible. A short, small manned trip is being organised because we want to be more sure of the cave's development structure before commiting time and effort into a hard attack. We will take the gear to explore/survey/photograph to a depth of about 700m, by which point we should have more knowledge about the system to organise any return trips, and also at that depth may be requiring a change in trip logistics (very long trips, camping underground, etc). We know the cave will descend a further pitch or two, but if it were to end then we still have enough leads to explore/bolt into, and bits to survey and photograph, that this trip will be extremely useful. We will camp on the surface very near the the entrance, using solar panels to charge the drill batteries. The trips will operate at first in two teams of 3-4 (depending upon Greek support) each day. Water is not present on the surface, so all drinking water will have to be hauled up the 150m entrance shaft from the streamway at the end of each pushing trip.

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.

SUSS Easter 2006 SUSS Summer 2006 SUSS Summer 2008 No other teams have explored this area of the White Mountains since 1982, which was actually SUSS as well.