Predavanje: “Arduous Exploration in One of the World’s Deepest Cave Systems / J2 2009 – naporno raziskovanje v enem najglobljih jamskih sistemov sveta”

Tudi letos smo se odločili pripravljati predavanja za javnost, sezono bomo začeli drug mesec, kakor se spodobi z Mehiko. Predaval nam bo Matt Covington.

While Everest has already been climbed, the deepest cave in the world still awaits discovery.  Given the current knowledge of world geology, there are a select few areas where it is likely to be found.  One of these areas is the Sierra Juarez of southern Mexico, which contain the current deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere, Sistema Cheve.  Sistema Cheve is the cave system with the world’s largest proven depth potential, with nearly 2,600 meters of elevation change between its highest entrance and where the water emerges at a spring.  If these two were connected, it would produce a cave system that is nearly 400 meters deeper than the current world record holder.  However, in 2003, exploration of the main Cheve river passage was blocked by an impenetrable collapse. In 2004, we began searching for a new entrance between the upper entrance and spring that might bypass the collapse.  During this search, a new cave called J2 was discovered, and it is hoped to hold the key to accessing the still unexplored central portion of the Cheve cave system.  However, J2 has quickly become a respectable cave in its own right, now over 1200 meters deep and the 6th deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere.  It is also one of the most remote places ever explored underground, requiring travel through 10 km of passages and about three days of travel time one-way.  During 2009, we returned for a 3-month expedition to J2 to continue exploration beyond a submerged tunnel that stopped us in 2006.  This required the use of newly designed rebreathers that were light, durable, and provided long hours of diving with only a small amount of oxygen.  Despite years of training and preparation, and months of hard caving, the cave did not give up its secrets easily. /
Medtem ko je Mount Everest preplezan, najgloblja jama sveta morda še čaka odkritelja. Eno izmed območij, pod katerimi verjetno leži, je Sierra Juarez v južni Mehiki. Tam je trenutno najgloblja jama zahodne polute, Sistema Cheve, katere globinski potencial je blizu 2600 m. V letu 2004 so na odpravi U.S. Deep Caving Team-a pod vodstvom Billa Stonea odkrili novo jamo, J2. Jama je raziskana do globine 1222 m in do oddaljenosti približno 10 km od vhoda, s čimer se uvršča med najbolj odmaknjene dosežene dele podzemlja. V letu 2009 so na veliki odpravi raziskovali dele za odtočnim sifonom. Kljub letom priprav in mesecem vloženega truda na sami odpravi jama svojih skrivnosti ni izdala zlahka.

Predavanje bo v torek, 4.10.2011, v prostorih NTF na Aškerčevi cesti 12 v predavalnici P05 (v pritličju) ob 18. uri. Vstopnine ne bo. Predavanje bo v angleškem jeziku, vabim pa tudi tiste, ki ga morda ne razumete. Prepričan sem namreč, da bo zaradi fotografij zanimivo za vse. Predavatelj nas je navdušil že januarja, ko nam je predaval o jami Lechuguilla.

Vabljeni!