Expedition Name (& Club): Brezzvezdna Noč 2009 (ICCC)

Destination country: Slovenia
Region:

Lat: 46.2528 Long: 13.7609 Elevation: 1862 m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Jarvist Frost

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

Connection of Sistem Migovec (11493m - 5th longest in Slovenia) with Sistem Vrtnarija (5700m - 11th longest). Underground camping enabled by streamway found at Dangermouse in Captain Kangaroo (-350m). Pushing of new caves discovered on Tolminski Migovec (in particular E1). Surface exploration in virgin territory: unexplored plateau north of Tolminski Kuk.

How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

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

As I'm sure you will note, the aims and personnel of this year's expeditions are almost identical to last year's. We have an extremely committed core of young people who want to get back to Migovec and make good on our promise to connect the systems! This year, though a 4 week expedition, will entail larger costs as we need to prepare underground camping kit for the frigid 1C caves. Preparations are already in place for the summer expedition, with fairly considerable efforts spent drill aid climbing over the winter tour, in order to be able to apply ourselves to a number of promising climbs discovered in 2008 around the vicinity of the potential connection. Imperial College Caving Club has made significant contributions to the exploration of Slovenian caves. The report of our recent expeditions (1994-2006) has recently been published and copies are available in caving libraries around the world. Our lengthy commitment to the exploration of these caves is possible thanks to the unique pool of expertise provided by the ex- ICCC elder members. As well as making valuable contributions to the exploration of new cave systems, our summer expeditions allow for skills transfer from the old to the new guard, training a generation of cave leaders. Our expedition is well known in Slovenia both within the local general community and the national caving groups. The Migovec explorations are testimony to genuine international exploration. Last year we hosted 7 of the Tolmin caving group in the UK, introducing them to some of Yorkshire's pot holes. Our college, unfortunately, has withdrawn almost all funding and support from the Slovenia project and seems to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of caving exploration. The low cost of our expedition is not due to a lack of ambition in our plans. On the contrary, it reflects the seriousness and high chances of success of our exploration. We do not need to hire outside training, as our older members have trained us during the year in British caves. Much of the equipment needed is already available thanks to our previous expeditions, we already know what gear will work and what will not: funds only have to cover wear and tear. Years of contact with local speleological groups mean that per capita costs can be low, nevertheless without subsidy fewer members will be able to participate, making the chances of significant new discoveries slimmer and reducing the expertise and prestige of the Union in caving. We will be able to afford less equipment, again reducing chances of success and making explorations more hazardous. The first £1000 of any external grants are earmarked for caving consumables (rope, bolts, slings, replacement of bolt kits, survey instruments, tapes), which will directly and proportionally feed back into benefits for the speleological community.

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.

Our main aim is exploration, with survey to BCRA 4b and prompt publication of any notable passage once returned to the UK. We believe that photography is part and parcel of documenting the cave as we discover it. 2008 saw a large effort towards the connection, in rerigging and extending the M2 cave (unvisted since 1970s, -350m), and a large amount of cave discovery on the Vrtnarija side of the potential connection. In Vrtnarija we found a series of shafts, one of which is active and will form the focus of 2009 in enabling an underground camp the far side of three notable squeezes by supplying water in an otherwise very dry area. Having extinguished all the easy options in 2008, the possibilities for connection are now generally either now quite tight or require aid climbing to progress. We have started to acquire skills geared towards overcoming barriers. The underground camp itself is a fair logistical undertaking, and we intend to go as a group to Daren to familiarise ourselves before the summer. Immature caves discovered in 2007 & 2008 will also occupy our time, as will hopefully a visit to the lower plateau north of Tolminski Kuk where the potential is huge and absolutely zero work has been done in this area (due to inaccessibility - the quickest way there is to walk past our bivi on Migovec).

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.

We have run expeditions to this area in: 94,95,96,97,98,99,00,01,03,04,05,07,08, and smaller recces in 95,06. The main JSPDT presence was in the 1970s to explore M2 (-350m) and then more briefly in the 1980s to explore M16 (-500m). Complete information on these expeditions and discoveries (except for 2007 and 2008 which we are yet to publish in a finalised form) can be found in "The Hollow Mountain (1974- 2006)", published in Dec 2007 and of which we have donated two copies to the GPF.