La Speleologie en France en 1964 et 1965

by Robert de Joly

With the exception of those detailed below, there were no explorations or discoveries of great importance in the caves of France during the years 1964 and 1965. On the other hand a number of accidents, some of them fatal, were to be deplored; all were due to faulty organisation and could have been avoided, in certain cases the reason was that the explorers themselves were not properly fit.

Dordogne. Monsieur Berny, who lives in the small market town of Domme, two years ago found a hole in the courtyard of his house. The cave which it revealed proved interesting, it had been inhabited by palaeolithic man. Recently Monsieur Berny has found a new painting representing an ibex and bones of that epoch have also been brought to light.

Hérault. At the bottom of the gorge of the river Herault, at St. Guilhem le Desert, which used to be one of the halting places for pilgrims on their way to Santiago di Compostella, a large cave was discovered at the end of the last war by speleologists from Montpellier. Since it was splendidly adorned this group decided to arrange it for tourists; this has now been done for a section; the whole cave is not less than 5 Km. long. While the work was in progress the contractor went into a passage where a charge had just been exploded, he had not taken proper precautions, was asphyxiated and could not be revived. This cave is of special interest, containing as it does many Aragonite crystals and exceptionally fine stalactites, some more than 4 metres long.

Basses Pyrenées. The Paris Speleo Club, under the direc­tion of Max Couderc, has carried on with its exploration of the immense cave La Pierre St. Martin. It found new galleries and descended to a depth of 1,100 metres.

Haute Garonne. There are big caves near Arbas which have been the object of exploration for several years. In the ‘Pont de Gerbauf four pot-holers were blocked by a flood which washed away some of their tackle. They had to wait till the water fell and were able to get out as soon as the flood torrent ceased to pour down the pot forming the entrance.

Isére.   The Gouffre Berger, deepest pot-hole in the world to date, was visited by the Pegasus Caving Club of Notting­ham; they followed on after a Belgian group. They found im­penetrable siphons. It must be borne in mind that the plateau of Sornin is very extensive and all the water of this catchment area is drained by this enormous cavity into the Isere; the weather was not kind during their stay underground.

Alpes Maritimes. Michel Siffre, who acquired much notor­iety by his absolutely useless sojourns in caves, is preparing a new adventure for his friends in a pot-hole inland; Mademoi­selle J. Laures and Monsieur Senni are to be his guinea-pigs on this occasion.

Lot. Here it is a dozen women who are to be isolated in the cave of Lacave. This ‘adventure’, as useless as those men­tioned above, will at least serve the purpose of ensuring good publicity for the cave, which is open to tourists.

Ardèche. The most important discovery of the year was made by pot-holing parties from Trebuchon, in the cave of Orgnac. Thirty years ago R. de Joly, who! discovered the cave, noticed two blowholes at the end of a chamber but the Municipality, who own the property, did not see fit to grant the means whereby they might be enlarged. This is what Trebuchon have now done, with sensational results. After a very large chamber they found another ‘cat-hole’ which gave access to an even bigger chamber, with wonderful formations. This chamber is not less than 200 metres long, 100 metres wide and 60 metres high; a side gallery goes down 90 metres. Every­where there was a wealth of formations, some of them quite remarkable. After a third squeeze, which had to be enlarged, they found a great space with gigantic stalagmites and with crystals forming in saturated solution. There are beds of fossils and even a fish embedded in the wall. Not less than 1,400 metres were added to the 700 metres already known. Orgnac is becoming the biggest, most remarkable and best decorated cave in Europe.

Saint Marcel d’Ardeche, already big when first explored by Martel, and the known part extended in 1945 under the direc­tion of R. de Joly, has been further explored by Belgian parties who have discovered a new system.

Gard. The Nimes Caving Group made an interesting dis­covery near the River Ceze; the pothole ‘La Salamadre’ is a big chamber, well adorned at a depth of 45 metres. It is indeed remarkable for such a cave to be discovered in 1965. Its position a long way from human habitation and hidden in thick woodland is the reason for its late discovery.

{Translated from the French by the Hon. Editor).