The Vercors Pages
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Speleo Vercors
French Caving Terms
Accede - leads to
Affluent - inlet
Allure - appearance
Amarrage - belay/rebelay
Amont - upstream
Argileux - muddy or clayey
Au-dessous - underneath
Aval - downstream
Bas - low
Bateau - boat
Bloc coince - jammed block
Boyau - crawl
C - on survey indicates climb up, with height
Calcaire - limestone
Canot pneumatique - rubber dinghy
Carrefour - cross road or junction
Cascade - climb, generally upwards
Chatriere - squeeze (may be hands and knees crawl)
Collecteur - streamway (not necessarily active)
Coloration - dye test
Concretion - formations
Conduite forcee - phreatic passage
Corde - rope
Cordelette de rappel - abseiling rope
Coulee barrage - stal blockage requiring an up and over climb
Coupe - section (survey)
Courant d’air - current of air
Crue - flood
Developpement - length
Diaclase - vertical joint or fault
Dessobstruction - ex-obstruction
Doline - shakehole
Dynamite - blasted
Eau - water
Eboulis - rocks/boulder choke
Echelle - ladder
Effondremont - collapse
Entree - entrance
Escalade - climb
Etiage - low water
Etroite - tight
Faille - fault
Falaise - cliff
Fiche d’equipment - tackle list
Fils des fer - traverse cables
Fistules/fistuleuse - straws
Fond - bottom or back
Foret - forest
Fractionment - rebelay
Glaciere - ice cave
Gouffre - pothole (usually starts vertical)
Grotte - cave (usually starts horizontally)
Goule - rising/resurgence
Humide - damp/dank
Itineraire - route
Lac - lake
Laminoir - bedding plane
Lapiaz - limestone pavement
Libre - free
Lucarne - rock window
Marmite - deep circular pool (usually in streamway)
Meandre - narrow twisty passage often requiring traversing
Mis en charge - fills with water/liable to flood in unstable weather
Orage - storm
P - on survey indicates pitch, with depth
Parcours - journey/route
Paroi - wall
Perd dans - disappears into
Peu de - few
Plafond - ceiling/roof
Plan d’eau - deep canal
Plaquette - hanger
Plongeur - diver
Pontonniere - chest high waders with shoulder straps
Porche - large entrance
Profondeur - depth
Prolongation - extension
Puit - pitch
Quatre pattes - on all fours (crawling)
R - on survey indicates climb down, with depth
Raide - steep/daring
Rapel - abseil
Remonter - climb back up to
Reseau - system/series
Ressault - climb (generally downwards)
Rognons - chert nodules
Rolars - belay/rebelay (literally a breather)
Salle - chamber
Scialet - another term for a gouffre
Shunt - bypass (alternate passage)
Silex - flint nodule
Siphon - sump
Souterrain - underground
Speleo - caver
Spit - bolt
Surplomb - overhang
Thalweg - dry river bed/small valley/fault line
Topo - survey
Traversee - traverse
Tremie - boulder choke
Treuil - winch
Troncon - section
Trou souffleur - draughting hole/blowhole
Vagues d’erosion - scallop marks
Vire - ledge