'World's longest salt cave' discovered in Israel
- Thread starter Graigwen
- Start date
David Rose
Active member
I had the pleasure of a trip into this cave with the Israeli cavers Reuvi Zakai and Yuval Sobolyev on Friday. (Great guys who were on Joel Corrigan's Dachstein expedition last year.)
It's an amazing place: a big, walk in entrance close to the shores of the Dead Sea, and 10.4km of passage beyond with 19 shaft series entrances on the top of Mt Sedom above. The formations are quite extraordinary, the passages varied, the ambience very different from anything most cavers would be used to.
Malcham (with the stress on the second syllable) is only one of many caves in the mountain, which is 10km long. We went into another one with two big pitches (50m and 40m) leading down to an underground lake where you can float in the warm brine and paddle along for about 100m, gazing up at the crystal encrusted roof, marvelling at forests of salt helictites.
Recommended.
It's an amazing place: a big, walk in entrance close to the shores of the Dead Sea, and 10.4km of passage beyond with 19 shaft series entrances on the top of Mt Sedom above. The formations are quite extraordinary, the passages varied, the ambience very different from anything most cavers would be used to.
Malcham (with the stress on the second syllable) is only one of many caves in the mountain, which is 10km long. We went into another one with two big pitches (50m and 40m) leading down to an underground lake where you can float in the warm brine and paddle along for about 100m, gazing up at the crystal encrusted roof, marvelling at forests of salt helictites.
Recommended.
David Rose
Active member
I'm writing an article for Outside Online, which will have some photos.
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