About Pirin
Pirin mountain is located in the South West of Bulgaria, here is the second highest peak, Vihren, 2914m. Furthemore, Pirin is featured by many peaks reaching 2800m, narrow ridges and majestic karst area with its main karst ridge. The deepest cave in Pirin, Cave System 9-11, is -407m deep and 2200m long, with its entrance at 2532m.
One of the most popular starting points for approaching Pirin is the small town of Bansko, which is also a well known ski resort.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of caving experience. You may also wish to include role in your organization, function, personal features, activities, etc.
I’m a caver for 37 years. I’m exploring horizontal and vertical caves in the northern part of the Alps. In my club ( Verein für Höhlenkunde in München; www.tagfern.de) I’m responsible for collecting all the cave-surveys. I’ll do cave-rescue for over 30 years now. Since 20 years I’m in the mountain-rescue and in the cave-rescue. In ECRA, I’m the coordinator for the „passage enlargement committee“.
About Muda and Crnopac
Further to our interest in Crnopac (South Velebit, Croatia) this summer was dedicated to another exploration there. This time in the cave Muda Labudova (-682m, 6335m*).
Muda Labudova remains not yet connected to the cave system Crnopac, while most certainly is part of it. Its potential is nothing but very promising and it seems like it is only a matter of time for Muda Labudova to become part of Crnopac’s cave system.
About Biokovo
Mountain Biokovo is located in the Southern part of Croatia and more specifically in Southern Dalmatia, the starting point for climbing and exploring Biokovo is the seaside town Makarska.
The highest point is St. Jure, 1762m. There is an asphalt road to the very peak of St. Jure, facilitating the cave exploration. Biokovo is formed in limestone rocks with well expressed karst formations.
About Nedam
Since last year, Nedam is the 4th Croatian cave reaching depth beyond 1000m. Like with the other Croatian caves deeper than 1000m, Nedam is situated in North Velebit and more specifically in the massif of Hajducki kukovi, quite close to Lukina jama and Ljubuska jama. Until June 2020 its known depth was -1021m, the cave survey can be seen here. The cave follows an endless meander with narrow passages and active water flow in the deeper parts. The exploration here continues.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of caving experience. You may also wish to include role in your organization, personal features, activities, etc.
I started caving in the end of 1999. It was caving school of The Perovo caving club, Moscow. And in late Jan 2000 we went to our first expedition to Zabludshikh cave on Alek range, west Caucasus, just above Sochi. So, pretty soon there will be 20 years of my cave story and 20 years of Perovo-speleo team, as soon as most of us met in that particular expedition.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of caving experience. You may also wish to include role in your organization, function, personal features, activities, etc.
As I started caving in 1966, the beginning of my caving career was quite slow; exploring caves using ladders was not very efficient. In 1973 we started using ropes and I went to high mountains karsts to explore deep caves. My first job enables me to travel easily and in 1980 I was a member of the national french expedition the Papua New Guinea. This destination became my favorite. As I was travelling a lot for my job, I was at that time joining expeditions. Then from 1995 to now, I got involved in the organization of expeditions. The first I organized was the 1995 cave diving expedition to Papua New Guinea where we reached for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere the depth of 1000 m.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of caving experience. You may also wish to include role in your organization, function, personal features, activities, etc.
I’ve been caving for 22 years, mostly in the UK, but also taking part in international expeditions, most significantly to the Dachstein region of Austria. In 2018 I was part of the team that connected the WUG/Schmelzwasserhöhle and Hirlatzhöhle caves, creating he 9th deepest cave in the world. I have been in charge of the surveying project for the Dachstein expedition for a several years. I’ve also been heavily involved in digging projects in South Wales, and made several significant discoveries. I am also a Warden (team leader) on the South & Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of caving experience.
I began caving about 10 years ago. At first, I went caving once every few weeks, but today I visit a cave every weekend with my caving partner Reuven (Ruvi) Zakai and try to participate in at least one caving expedition abroad each year. My favorite caving activity is digging and exploring new caves or new cave passages, but I also take part in the effort to complete the survey of all known and newly discovered caves in Israel. From time to time we are also asked to help archaeologists and scientists enter caves to collect samples and findings.
Tell us something about yourself in terms of speleological experience.
I was born in 1989, graduated high school and later University and more specifically Faculty of Law. Although I am from Porec (a touristic town on the Northern coast of the Adriatic sea), I prefer mountains over sea, this is supported by the fact that I learned skiing before knowing how to swim. I joined mountain club Velebit in 2010 and since then I have been actively caving.
