Gouffre Berger ? L?esprit d?equipe

After 4 years of work, the book, Gouffre Berger ? L?esprit d?equipe (Team Spirit), will be officially launched and available to buy at this years Hidden Earth in Leek. Hard backed with 256 pages this high quality, large format, coffee table book features the stunning photographs of this fantastic cave system by award winning photographer Robbie Shone and a team of dedicated assistants. As well as providing a history of the cave?s original exploration it also contains valuable information for those thinking of organizing their own summer expedition.
Since 2010 the project has seen 7 photographic expeditions to the Berger as well as a number of other visits to help with the large international expeditions organized by local members of the FFS to clean up the cave.

ALL PROFITS from the sale of the book will support the work of the GHAR PARAU FOUNDATION and the NICOLA ASSOCIATION.

The book has a cover price of ?40.00, reflecting the quality of the publication and the considerable efforts of a large number of people, both in the UK and France, it is published with both English and French text.

The book is now available to pre-order (pre-pay) via the dedicated website www.gouffreberger.org at a discounted price of ?35.00 for the first 500 copies, which will come in a limited edition presentation slipcase.

To save on postage and collect the book from Hidden Earth, contact me through the website and I will send you a link to pay without postage. To discuss bulk orders or orders outside of the UK, again contact me through the website before you place your order.

Whether you are a past visitor to the Berger or have only heard about its significance in caving history, we hope you will share in the Team Spirit of supporting cavers into the future and purchase a copy.

Many thanks,

Mark Wright

I'll definitely be purchasing a copy!

Don't forget those flyers you were going to send! 

Pitlamp,

I've not forgotten. They are at the printers and I will send them up to you as soon as I have them.

Cheers,

Mark

Nice one.

Good luck with the project!

I have bought one :halo:

Thanks mrodoc, I spotted your payment when it came through.

If anyone else wants to get hold of a limited edition book in a slipcase you will need to be quick, there's not many left.

Many thanks to the many people who have already supported the project.

Cheers,

Mark Wright

Very many thanks to all those who entered into the Team Spirit over the Hidden Earth weekend and purchased a copy of the new Gouffre Berger book. We took ?4,410 in sales (126 books) with an additional 90 books collected by clubs who had taken advantage of the special offer of 1 free book for the club library in return for purchasing 10 or more books as a bulk order.

I shipped 400 books to France last week and I was very privileged to be able to give the first copies to Jean Cadoux, Jean Lavigne and Louis Potie, authors of '1000m Down'. They all loved it. 

The project is now well into profit and we should be sending out the first donations later this week. For starters the GPF will be getting ?5,000 and the Association Nicola will be receiving a payment for ?2,000.

The special offer price of ?35.00 (cover price ?40.00) + p&p is still available on the website, but not for long.

Apart from PayPal fees, the entire book price will be supporting cavers into the future. We have about 600 copies left.

In the new year we will be putting the pitch descriptions and tackle lists etc. on <www.gouffreberger.org> in a format for you to download, print, laminate and take down the cave with you. We will hopefully have the new Berger survey on the website just as soon as it becomes available. 

Thanks again to everyone who has supported the project.

Mark Wright
       

Glad everything's gone so well Mark!

When will books ordered via the web site be sent out? Ordered my copy the day your original post appeared.

An amazing effort - well done Mark!!

Huge,

The packing and shipping starts tomorrow and will hopeful all be done by Friday. There are a lot to ship out to 9 countries.

Thanks again for your support.

Cheers,

Mark Wright

Thanks Mark. Can't wait!

Berger book is awesome, many thanks for all the work Mark, Robbie and others...  :bow:

Just an update on the Gouffre Berger book deliveries.

I managed to get over 100 International orders shipped out on Friday. These were shipped to 12 countries. The UK shipments will go out on Monday and Tuesday so you should have them by the end of the week.

Orders are still steadily coming in and so I'm hoping to be able to increase the donations I promised at Hidden Earth to the GPF and the Association Nicola. I am currently in discussions with Graham Naylor and Benoit Joly of the Association Nicola and I have a meeting with Andy Eavis of the GPF this afternoon. I should be able to finalise the donations later this week.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported the project. If you're still thinking of buying a copy then take advantage of the special price of ?35.00 and buy through the website.

www.gouffreberger.org

As soon as I have received payments for a few books that have already been collected, the website price will revert to the cover price of ?40.00. This will be later this week.

Thanks again,

Mark Wright

It certainly is a fabulous item, and congratulations to all involved. My knowledge of the Berger system was admittedly almost zero until now, so this is an excellent way to find out what's what, and visually stunning. And great to see 'Published in Sheffield' on a luxury hardback book too...

My copy was delivered yesterday. Absolutely brilliant, a superb achievement, especially so with all profits going to two, caving related, charities! 

Packed full of info and fantastic photos - I want to go back!

Please don't tell me you dispatched them via Hemes........

Traff,

The books have been shipped via a number of companies including Hermes, TNT and UPS. I've not had any bad reports from anyone. The UK delivery charge of ?7.50 only just covers the postage and the delivery box and bubble wrap through Hermes. All other shipping companies charge double this amount. You and the Gouffre Berger project benefit from a 'signed for' service and the GPF and Association Nicola benefit from the insurance cover that is provided by the service.

Let me know your real name and I will let you know which delivery company shipped your book. Some of the later orders only went out today.

Cheers,

Mark

Mark,

Hermes is a shocking service, you get what you pay for. I have personally have had three parcels just thrown over the fence onto hard standing (and damaged). Furthermore I made the bad mistake of using them to ship some ebay sales, the signed option is a waste of time, on my account there are several old consignments still showing 'in transit'. I could go on.

The issue is if you have a job like I, getting the parcel delivered is practically impossible. At least with other couriers you can arrange for delivery elsewhere or collect.
As such I guess the package is on it's way back to you.

I recognise the charitable effort, but considering that you can send a 2kg package via Royalmail signed service for under a fiver I struggle to see that Hermes was a good option.

Apologies for the public rant, the name is Trafford.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11025501/MyHermes-delivery-service-leave-parcel-on-Hove-man-Benjamin-Wards-roof.html

I wouldn't worry too much about Hermes, we've been using them daily to ship for some time now and have sent hundreds of parcels, without a single complaint.

Royal Mail are good but hopeless on the odd occasion when something goes wrong. If you are VAT registered Hermes are also cheaper.