Durmitor Caving Expedition 2016

MarkS

Moderator
The 2016 York University CPC expedition to Durmitor in the north of Montenegro is now nearing it's end. Although the team was small, averaging around 10 people on the mountain, the second deepest cave in the region (Bunda Jama, largely explored on the 2013 and 2014 trips) was rigged down to the sump at -622 m and a rather basic campsite set up close to the bottom.

Dive kit was also carried down, and Tony Seddon had the pleasure of the first ever cave dive on Durmitor. After the 30 m long sump pool (the first 10 or so metres of which you can see in the photo below) he laid around 80 m of line before reaching his depth limit at -35 m. This (possibly - we're not completely sure yet) now makes Bunda Jama the 3rd deepest cave in Montenegro.

Most of the team are still out there and it sounds like the derig is well underway.
 

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MarkS

Moderator
Just 3 years later, and the report is online! :-[

http://durmitor.yucpc.org.uk/reports.php
 

MarkS

Moderator
I meant to add a few choice quotes from the report. It was an eventful trip in many respects.

"The team on the first Friday had an exceedingly grim walk up in a full blown thunderstorm and downpour, getting soaked to the skin despite full waterproofs. [...] At camp, Andy V was able to collect ~150 L of water just from run-off from the tarp and from shovelling hail."

"...does little to convey the feelings of Mark and Adam after having spent a couple of hours and a lot of energy creating what proved to be a large area of almost liquid mud, which the rest of the team were relying on being a suitable camp site."

"The following thirty metres saw the diver swimming in the roof of a moderately large passage, around three to four metres wide, with no floor in sight."
 

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David Rose

Active member
An interesting report, especially for those of us who know the area.

And it reveals that the potential of the enormous resurgence I photographed during a rafting trip down the Tara canyon remains untapped. I took this photo in August, after several weeks of dry weather. The resurgence is blocked with boulders, but the cliff behind it is riven by a high, vertical cleft. I would say it is several times the size of any of the resurgences in the Cares gorge in the Picos, including Culiembro, the outlet for all the caves in the Ario area and beyond. 
 

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