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SpeleoVercors Blog
 
 

October 2015 - started re-build of site on new platform

October 2013 - PC crashed. Lost access to this site!

 

23/10/11: (hard frost, cold but sunny) High Plateau walk – a Grand Day Out. Left Coche at 11am and arrived at the Cabane Pre Paynet at 13.00 (10k and about the correct timing according to the way marks). I wanted to do this as in the summer Bev and I did a circular walk as far as the Gerland hut and I noticed that Pre Paynet looked to be about another hour (which it was) so that opens up the possibility of going that way to the Roman Quarries next year.

 

21/10/11: Today dawned crisp and clear so I’ve had a day out on Font d’Urle, where it is decidedly cool. Managed to locate the entrance to Scialet des Comperes (hopefully the back door to Chuats II) and had my lunch at a high point at the southern edge of the plateau looking down at the cloud filled Die valley and two chamois grazing just too far away to get a good picture. Then circled back to the cairns for a spot of image trickery before heading north west to locate the entrance of another new discovery, Scialet de la Porte Derobee, discovered in the winter at the side of a piste due to the snow melting at the entrance.

 

11/10/11:  After many months of faffing, finally completed the migration of the web site from WebPlus X2 (on XP machine) to WebPlus X5 (on Win 7 machine) and included some additional pages (Via Ferrata page, initial work on Download page and Blog page)

29/08/11: High Plateau walk checking out holes in the ground.

27/08/11: Scialet des Drayes photo trickery project (solo photo trip)

24/08/11: Pic St. Michel walk. Been meaning to do this for years, no idea why it took so long to get around to it ‘cos it’s a brilliant walk! It has a bit of everything but nothing extreme - and great views.

20/08/11: Prospecting on Font d’Urle - could have found a dig…

16/08/11: Checked out Trou de Vent again – no sign of recent activity, and the water flowing in the valley smelled strongly of sewage (being down stream of the “works” across the road from here) so decided not to go in…

 

24/05/11: Scialet des Drayes: Intended to install some P38’s in readiness for my summer ‘photo project, but when I got there, I found that someone has already installed a variety of ring hangers. Had a quick trip into the first gallery, but as I was in shorts and T shirt, didn’t go any further.

 

22/05/11: Cave hunting. LSD has information on two new caves in the La Chapelle area, so spent a couple of hours looking for and logging the entrances to Scialet Bidon and Trou de Vent (both quite near SV HQ). Still no news on the new cave near les Barnoux and despite several attempts, I’m still to locate l’Aspirateur

 

21/05/11: 47th Rhone Alps Speleo Congress (at Vassieux). Collected latest Scialet and LSD and attended a lecture on Scialet II des Chauts II, which is now over 12k and still going! The problem with exploring beyond the temporary sumps below le Grand Noir (P90 – takes you from –93m to -223m) has been overcome by the discovery of La Voie Royale, a series of pitches direct from the floor of the big entrance chamber. Exploration upstream is more or less complete as they are nearly popping out through the cliff face at a known mud filled tube, and see no point in expending further effort in that direction (however the discovery of Scialet des Comperes almost immediately above the upstream end of the cave, could provide another entrance). Down stream is still being pushed and water tracing is planned for this summer, as they don’t actually know where the water goes (because of the fault zone they are in.) Will it be the Cholet or will it be the Bournillon? Time will tell.

 

13/08/10: Scialet Veyou (aka Dead Deer Cave or Not The Dead Deer Cave…) Having spent 3 days searching the Font d’Urle plateau looking for the entrance, and eventually having found it on 14th July - this was it! The excavated crawl at the bottom of the 13m entrance pitch leads directly into a surprisingly large and well decorated chamber. The entire floor has been a lake in the past, but now dried out, so is taped off to preserve the deposits. There are bones everywhere, going back to before the last ice age, but the calcified deer skeleton is not there! So my plan for an entry at HE entitled Cave Life (and Death) now has a big hole in it! Back at SV HQ, we re-read the LSD description to see that the dead deer was removed in July 2007 for study and to save it being removed by others...

 

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Vercors Caving - An Overview

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The Vercors became popular with UK cavers following the outrageous British expeditions to the Gouffre Berger in the early '60's led by Ken Pierce. The more discerning cavers realised that there was a truly beautiful and secret corner of France beyond the Sornin plateau. Word has spread slowly ever since.

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Generally, caving in the Vercors is (due to the geology) split into regions. In the north east (from the Moucherolle up to the Sornin Plateau) the caves are very deep and demanding. They are also extremely weather dependant, and due to extremes of weather (it can be too hot to approach them in summer, and too risky to descend them in unsettled weather) are generally descended by local cavers in the depths of winter, when the ski infrastructure is used to aid access. In the north west (Autrans and Meaudre areas) there are many fine systems, few could be described though as "holiday caving". (Holiday caving; caves that can be completed in a day without adopting multi day "siege" tactics or requiring long approach walks).   

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In the south, the Herbouillty Plateau contains many caves of varying depth and difficulty and is the subject of a guide book of it's own (now sadly long out of print).  The area bordering the Vernaison  river valley contains many caves of varying difficulty, including the impressive Luire system, just south of St. Agnan, which resurges at the Bournillon (the largest cave entrance in Europe). In the south west can be found Scialet Michelierre (near Vassieux) and further west still on the Font d'Urle plateau are numerous excellent caves including Scialet II des Chuats, now over 42k long which also resurges at the Bournillon.  Generally, the caves of the southern Vercors are more suitable to "holiday caving". 

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Published Information on Vercors Caving;

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Given the number of caves in this region (in excess of 3,000 of various descriptions and development) it is frustrating to find so little published information on them. Long out of print are;

 

Grottes and Scialets du Vercors;  "the Bible" published in two parts (1978 and 1979) these listed the complete inventory of Vercors caves when they were published. The books are now extremely rare, although photocopies of them appear from time to time. The inventory is maintained by the annual "Scialet" (for the north of the Vercors) and "LSD" (Les Speleo Dromois) for the south.

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Also out of print are;

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Connaissance et Decouverte du Vercors Souterrain (Herbouilly area 1978)

Paysages du Vercors Souterraine (1981)

Moucherolle Souterraine (1988)

Speleo dans le Vercors (tomes 1 & 2 Edisud 1997 & 1999) are the most recently published guide books which contain accurate descriptions of a selection of classic Vercors caves, although both books are now difficult to find.

Caves of the Vercors by Des Marshall contains useful information on access, but as essentially a transcription of a much earlier French guide book, which was acknowledged to have many inaccuracies, should not be considered definitive in its descriptions.

Premiers pas Sous Terre (Didier Richard) lists caves suitable for novices and children butb is now long out of print.

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Expe (at Pont en Royans) stock some back issues of both Scialet and LSD.

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Some suggestions for a first time visit would be;

Grotte de Gournier; (requires a dinghy to cross the entrance lake) two trips, one to admire the enormous fossil passages and formations, the other to explore the active upstream system.

Scialet Mallaterre; a 400ft deep shaft of two 200ft pitches from a bridge across the entrance.

Scialet l'Appel; a superb active river system, reached via an entertaining fossil entrance series. 

Scialet Cloches; an easy ice cave with impressive ice formations if the previous winter has been hard.

Grotte du Berger; an easy afternoon trip in a horizontal system reached via an interesting walk on the side of a big cliff.

Scialet Graille; an easy trip into an impressive series of chambers containing staggering stal columns - take a camera.

Scialet Michellier; A fine series of pitches leading into an impressive fossil series, which is still being explored by local cavers. Care; the formations (calcite and mud)  in the main passage are beautiful and very fragile.

Trou Spinette; An impressive vertical system that provides superb caving down to -291m, after which it's character changes significantly (total depth 460m)

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The only caving shop in the area is Expe just outside Pont en Royans (good bars) Follow the D518 out of Pont in the direction of St. Marcellin and before going up hill, take the D531 to the left and Expe is on a small trading estate a couple of k's further on, on the right.

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Warning; All active caves in the Vercors are weather dependant and water levels within the caves react very quickly to rain. The catchment area for these caves is MASSIVE, so please be aware of local weather forecasts (the local Tourist Information office provides accurate weather forecasts - if you can read French!) Always remember that you are in a foreign country. The language is different and the Speleo Secours (French cave rescue) is not around the corner at Clapham!

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