Summer Expedition to the Jura, France.
27th July – 10th August 2019
Lead contact: Gary Vaughan
Phone: 07836 727131 E-Mail: gary@dorsetland.co.uk
Grotte de Chauveroche
Length 10000m, Time 6-8 hours
GPS UTM 32T-0281660-5218090 410m
The Grotte de Chauveroche can be considered one of the classic
caves in Europe. The cave is LONG, VERY COLD and tiring, so a return trip
to the terminal sump should not be underestimated. Good weather, a good
wetsuit and some form of Bouyancy Aid are considered ESSENTIAL. Few get
to the very end. The initial section of cave is relatively straightforward,
comprising 1.3 km of generally large, dry and muddy passages. Beyond however,
lies over 3 km of very wet cave, a great deal of which must be swum in
very cold water. No fewer than 204 pools are crossed before the terminal
sump is reached, some 4.7 km from the entrance.
Take the D241 from Ornans towards Chassagne. Pass the swimming pool on the left then take the next left, Avenue Chauveroche. Follow this for 2km, and park in pine trees near a small bridge. Follow a well-worn path (furthest from the stream) steeply upward through the trees which leads to a cliff, located above the tiny gated resurgence. A fixed iron ladder ascends to the cave.
The bedding-plane opens immediately into a roomy passage, floored with glutinous mud, where a short duck leads to a drier section. From here, a long muddy slope leads to an evil muddy pool, which can sump for a long time in wet weather. Wade across the pool, where a scramble up the far bank reaches a high canyon passage. A long easy 1.3 km walk in some impressive but muddy phreatic passage, is interrupted only by a short mud duck beneath a memorial plaque, and an easy scramble over a boulder pile, before ending abruptly at a low duck. An obvious bypass up to the right, reaches La Plage, at the start of the lakes, where inflated inner tubes are often found. Water dominates the remaining 3km of the cave, which is essentially a continuous succession of pools, formed in a single passage. The first twenty or so lakes are quite long - up to 50m – and deep, and the gours quite high. Fortunately, swimming - which can be tiring in wellies - is fairly limited, and most are waded waist deep. These reach a percolation feeder, beyond which, ten appalling, muddy pools, lead into the large and very pretty main streamway. This is followed for 2km, crossing innumerable gours, including two tricky 4m high cascades, until (around the 75-pool mark), “The Confluence” - the only notable junction in the whole streamway - is reached. Turning left, the next 500m is smaller, roughly 1m wide x 2m high, and floored with shin-barking, shallow, eroded potholes. This is the most tiring section of the cave. Eventually, the passage assumes its former large proportions, but now with a gravel floor. At one point the passage appears to end in a deep pool, but a curious duck under an arch in the left wall at floor level, leads to the final 700m of streamway. Passing through the Salle de Chaos, the sump pool – Lac Rond - is finally reached, 4730m from the entrance !!.
