GrottoCenter Blog

The Speleology Club "Z" organizes a new caving   expedition in Laos, between February 14 and 4 March, 2019. They are inviting   keen cavers ,   mountaineers, photographers, climbers and biologists to join them Explorations will be in Kammouane and Bolikhamsay counties. The main objectives of the expedition are exploration and mapping  the large Pha Soung system (21,012 m development in 2018) and Tham Nam Kouan Moo Yo (1,684,1 m already mapped in 2018), Tham Dan Makhia (2,026,0 /2018), Tham Kammatan (exploration on 1.5 km and no map in 2016-2018) , Tham Lom Yan (941 m length /2018). Near Nahin locality will be explored and mapped several limestone cliffs hiding a lot of labyrinthical caves. In Bolikhamsay will explore Pha Hong mountain, a 35 km long and up to 4.7 km wide highland plateau. In this plateau is hiding perhaps the deepest pothole and cave of Laos. It only waits to be discovered.... Contact: liviu.valenas@gmail.com

THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION AND EXPLORATION OF CAVES, in Kyrgyzstan is  conducting a series of research expeditions throughout Central Asia. There are hardly  any  active cavers in Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, they are eager to  cooperate with cavers from other countries. They are  inviting dedicated cavers to take part in their caving projects in 2019  Here is their webpage:  http://speleo.kg/projects-en/

The European Caving  Federation ( FSE )  has just published its October newsletter . The Wikicaves team of translators works in conjunction with FSE to make it available in French and in English  in order to inform  as many cavers as possible about the many  projects of the FSE... Enjoy ;-) T he English version of the October 2018  Newsletter  is here:       http://www.eurospeleo.eu/images/stories/docs/europeleo-news/EuroSpeleo%20Newsletter%20October%202018%20English.pdf Here is the French Version:   http://www.eurospeleo.eu/images/stories/docs/europeleo-news/EuroSpeleo%20Newsletter%20octobre%202018%20Francais.pdf   

The annual caving congress' Caussenard' for 2018 was held in  Saint Martin de Londres (Herault). The congress attracted almost 700 cavers from all over France but also from abroad (Switzerland, Belgium and Spain).  GrottoCenter was of course  there in order to exchange with fellow cavers ,  users and future users. Our goal is to get some feedback whenever possible and to make the next version even better. We would love to hear from you  if you could not make it and would like to give us some feedback, too.

Middle East Speleological Symposium, MESS, is back in its 4th edition from the 3rd till the 6th of October 2018 in Antalya, Turkey. Cavers from the Middle East will meet their colleagues from all over the world to share the latest Speleogical news of the region. Expeditions, discoveries, geology, hydrology, topography and spelemedia, all will be discussed in a fun and friendly atmosphere hosted in a country with lot of potential to unveil. For more information, stay tuned to our website, where all updates will be posted. Hope to see you all in MESS4 , Antalya, Turkey www.mess4.com

International gathering for clean-up of Gouffre Berger (Vercors, France) July 29th - August 20th, 2018 About 500 kg of waste were extracted from Gouffre Berger in 2017. The work has to concentrate from now on the deep parts of the cave, between -800 and the camp -1000 m. The gathering 2017 knew a strong foreign participation; the objective 2018 is 150 European cavers. More than 300 cavers are expected during three weeks. Please, get in touch whith Rémy Limagne before March 2018! http://cds39.fr/BFC/B18/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/816551028409538/about/

Mountaineering Caving Club ’’Dvig’’ in collaboration with the Speleological Committee of the Mountaineering Association of Serbia organize an international caving expedition on Suva planina mt. (Serbia) in the period from 9th to 19th August. It is our special pleasure to invite you to take part in our expedition. Suva planina Mountain is located near the city of Niš. It is the highest limestone mountain in the Carpathian-Balkan region of Eastern Serbia, the highest peak being Trem, 1808 a.s.l. The central area of the mountain is a karst plateau called Valožje, at altitudes from 1400-1700m, which contains various forms of underground and surface mountain karst. The average depth of the underground karst caves is from 50 to 100m, and there are vertical caves with occasional or permanent ice and snow. So far, more than 40 speleological objects, predominantly vertical caves, have been recorded in the wider area of Suva planina. Most objects were explored only in morphological terms. ...

A caving book for children ? Kids don’t always like reading, so how about a book about caving ,  mystery  and environmental issues ?  Check out    The Mystery of Black Water Cave , by Dr. Kevin Stafford and Lisa Majkowski  available on the National Cave and Karst Research Institute  website: http://www.nckri.org/about_nckri/nckri_publications.htm

The registration is now OPEN for the 24th International Conference on Subterranean Biology. Important dates: Students travel grants deadline: 1 February 2018 Abstract submission until: 28 February 2018 Early registration until: 12 March 2018 How to register:  http://24icsb.web. ua.pt/index.php/registration/ how-to-register/ All the best regards, Ana Sofia Reboleira

From July 28 th to August 11 th , 2018 Tent camp at the caving club building in Blaubeuren - Seißen Recommended age for participants: 16 years and older Caves are geotopes and biotopes and thus sensitive climate archives which are worth to explore. Research and protection of those climate archives and their current climatological conditions being indicators for climate change is an actual and important European concern. Speleologists can support the exploration and protection of those climate archives by international cooperation. A good training is the best precondition for research and caving activities. Therefore we offer different training courses and a wide supporting program covering all important subjects of caving. Due to small groups the training will be very effective. An additional intention of the camp is to meet other young cavers. You can establish ties, talk about common interests, hobbies and culture and perhaps meet again in your home ar...

Everybody at the grottocenter team ( http://www.grottocenter.org )  wishes an excellent year 2018. May it be full  of  discoveries, meetings and explorations How does this sound to you?  interesting? The right way to go? Then , how about joining the Wikicaves project for  2018 For only 10 € , you will show your support  and you will be able to effectively take part  in the financing of a new server.