Category: Year

Eastern Massif, Picos de Europa, Northern Spain

My first trip to Andara.. (Part One)

I first visited the Eastern Massif (or Andara) region of the Picos de Europa in 1996, as part of a small Lancaster University Speleological Society (LUSS) expedition. LUSS’s heyday had long since waned, but a very small contingent of students (and ex-students) were keeping the club going during term time and trying desperately to kick…
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Sponsors 2017

Many thanks to the following, who have provided sponsorship to the 2017 expedition via money or equipment:

Expedition Pre-Meet

 Castleton, Derbyshire. 10th-11th June 2017 “Watch, you might learn something, this is how you remove a harness while at the top of a 70m pitch…” The BCA AGM weekend was chosen as a suitable venue for the Tresviso 2017 pre-expedition meet-up. A good turnout of the entire expedition contingent (minus 10 people…) meant a comprehensive…
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Monday 1st May 2017

The Death Race Camp is now ready for the July expedition, the first group to arrive should be able to cave in with minimal equipment and get cracking on the leads at the back end.  Successful trip

Sunday 30th April 2017 – Cueva del Nacimiento

A surprisingly comfortable nights sleep was had by everyone, the new sleeping bags, although cheap, proving to work quite well.  The temperature of the chamber was around 7 degrees all night, which helps.  A lot warmer than other camps in the cave. Over muesli some debate was had on whether to explore a bit of…
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Saturday 29th April 2017 – Cueva del Nacimiento

A leisurely morning was spent packing, avoiding leaving and, for some, three breakfasts.  Eventually everything was packed and excuses had run out.  The 500m descent down the gorge was its usual enjoyable self but due to the time of year a lot less tree cover, meaning we could see a lot more of the cliff…
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A day setting up camp

After a 30hr or so trip to deathrace we’ve stocked camp with enough gear for 5 persons and approx 50man days worth of wet rations and camp gear. Come July all that will be needed is exploration and personnal gear. A good trip without incident save a few navigational errors and out just in time…
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Did you pack this bag sir?

Friday 28th April Manchester Airport A leisurely morning packing a few final things soon turned into a frenzied panic when I reweighed and realised I had somehow packed only 8kg fully into a bag and, via a broken luggage scale, thought that it weighed 20kg. I thought I must have just been getting fitter and…
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Weather

Forgetting what time of year we are going this weekend, I’ve packed sunglasses and shorts….

Tresviso 2017 – the May Bank warm up

Over the weekend of 28th April to 2nd May, a team of 5 cavers are going out to Tresviso with the brave (or foolhardy) plan to set up the Death Race 2000 underground camps, ready for the summer trip. Over recent years the time and effort spent getting people and equipment to the furthest reaches…
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