Expedition Name (& Club): Morocco 2012 (SUSS)

Destination country: Morocco
Region:

Lat: 31.4209 Long: -6.8857 Elevation: m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Thomas Smith

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

The expedition aim is to discover and explore new cave systems in the local area north-east of Jbel Ghat and to teach expedition skills to students. This will involve systematic surface exploration, together with underground exploration of all entrances located. Cave entrances will be recorded, and surveys drawn for all significant finds. Photographs will complement this documentation process.

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.

A remote base-camp will be set-up and systematic exploration of the nearby area will occur over x man days. Entrances will be logged using GPS co-ordinates, written descriptions and photos. All caves >50m in length or depth will be surveyed, as will any cave of scientific or archaeological interest. Prior to the expedition, a training weekend will teach new student expedition members skills such as bolting, rigging on naturals, surveying, wilderness first aid and active risk assessments. This will also refresh those with prior expedition experience. In the field, we will facilitate all novices to put these new skills into action in the exploration of new caves. We hope to be entirely self-sufficient, and as such members will also experience living in a wilderness environment. A recce trip is planned at Easter to establish a suitable location for the camp, and identify water supplies, food and establish a good relationship with locals. This will be a small team of 6 persons travelling by plane.

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 have previously been to three other areas in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco in between the 1960s and 70s; however documentation of these expeditions is limited. Other UK clubs have visited other areas in the past decade, including Imperial College and the University of Bristol, including to Jbel Ghat. However, to the best of our knowledge there are no current projects in the area. French caving clubs have also explored areas of Morocco, but there have been no significant expeditions to the near vicinity of our planned area.