Gouffre Jean-Bernard Surveys Online

[langcliffe]

The Gouffre Jean-Bernard is a cave that will be familiar by repute with many of the older generation of forum users. It is a remote Alpine cave situated about 60 km north-east of Annecy. Currently 1,612 m deep, it held the world depth record for almost 20 years and is still the seventh deepest in the world. I have recently been helping the French with a Wikipedia article on the system. The available survey was superb, but a PDF file and difficult to use. I therefore implemented a Deep Zoom version for both the plan and cross-section to help me get my brain round the system. I have now been given the go-ahead to make these versions generally available for those that may be interested.

 

[Ian Ball]

I doff my cap! superb survey.

 

[langcliffe]

I doff my cap! superb survey.

Have you seen the height of some of the meanders?

 

[snebbit]

Yeh the cross-section looks bizarre. I get the impression it's a pretty wild and forbidding place from the trip reports I've read before, is it?

 

[langcliffe]

I've been told so, although having a plethora of entrances must help. The French conduct their expeditions in winter, when the flow is reduced, but you have to be pretty hard to get all the equipment to 2300 metres, and then camp! I think it's an amazing survey.

 

[Fjell]

I have been down the nearby Mirolda and that is certainly pretty hostile in Jan. Pretty cold to camp in. Makes the bottom of the Berger seem like Upper Long Churn. More scary than any other French or Spanish cave I have done.