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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

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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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