Tresviso Caves Project

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KCG115: Torca de Juanin
Area:Oceno
East, North:360564, 4795277 (nearby)
Coordinate Quality:GPS
Long, Lat:-4.7189935044074, 43.297381522618 (map)
Elevation (m):1100
Length (m):500
Depth (m):-333
System:
Active Lead:
Survey Available:

Approach
It is in a large sinkhole in Las Brañas de Trespandiú, (Loma de Carraspión), near the town of Oceño, council of Peñamellera Alta -Picos de Europa, Asturias

Entrance
La Torca de Juanín is located in the middle of a large sinkhole

Description
La Torca de Juanín is located in the middle of a large sinkhole, at the bottom of which its wide mouth opens. The vertical part of the cavity begins with a first P10, which is followed by the rest of the verticals almost without interruption. After this first well we will find a P15 on a ramp, and then a P23, quite comfortable to descend because it is almost entirely aerial. We continue with a series of two 5-meter wells, the last one very wide and at the base of which we will find a small platform from which the two descent routes start. To our left and looking at the wall of the last rappel, we find the access to the Normal Way, and to our right, forming a descending ramp of 15 meters installed with a fixed rope, we will find Via Normal (or Wet): Instead of taking the R15 with a fixed rope, we approach, secured to a handrail, at the head of the spectacular P65. Access from the platform is easy via a narrow descending ramp of about three meters, which leaves us suddenly at the head of the well. Installing the headboard (in "Y") and accessing the vertical are especially easy from a comfortable ledge. The overhang is absolute until the head of the next P23, although the installation of a subdivision will speed up our progress, through a small pendulum at -28 m, at a point where a ledge approaches us. Taking this route, the P65 + P23 will become a great P90, since the sinuous P23 is a continuation of a reduced section of the previous well. In the rainy season this route is inadvisable, since it is very watered, but in low water it is usually completely dry and will save us a lot of anchoring and time. Via de las Señoritas: We begin by taking the fixed rope of the R15 that will leave us in a very high room in which its formations stand out. We continue descending a P23 and a P18 very wide at its base and with sand. On one side there is a room profusely decorated with stalactites and stalagmites. We then find a small handrail that will lead us through a P105 to the wide mouth of the Pozo Ciego (P20) and that, as its name indicates, the cavity does not have continuity along that path. At that point, where the two tracks meet, through a crack on the left, we find the head of the P23, which we will be able to descend after having divided into three points. At its base we will find an ascending ramp, muddy and slippery, with a fixed rope that will facilitate our progression until we reach the T Gallery, where the head of a new well is located, a P12 + R5. The head of this well, which is a bit far away, is accessed through a handrail on the right wall over natural areas and a spit. Once we have passed this well, we will reach some wide galleries, and we will follow the one that heads south until we enter the Flood Room. It is a very wide gallery, in which, at its beginning and end, all kinds of formations abound. Since the objective of every visit is to reach at least the Sala Azul (Blue Room), We will take the gallery again, but this time heading north and following the course of the river. After crossing a corridor between concretions –Sala del Resalte- we will come to a ledge installed with a fixed rope (E4 + R3). We continue advancing through a wide gallery -Gallery of the Medusa-, and without any loss, after making a simple climb, we will arrive at P14, for which it will be necessary to carry a 20m rope. Once overcome, we appear in the Confluence Room, of good dimensions and in which the torrent is added by a false floor, and entering through a hole at a point where the room makes a turn to the right, we will follow the course of the torrent until it joins through a really narrow place. It will be necessary to lie down, sideways and through a step that gets you wet. Just one meter above this point, a very small cat flap appears, a place where the progression in the cavity continues and the only way to the Blue Room. Those who just want to get to this room shed their progression gear and all accessory material before entering the narrow passage. That way it's easier to squirm and crawl through that narrow cathole. After the first few meters of this hole, our path widens, appearing a little room that makes us feel a little more comfortable. There are several dead ends and we must follow the one that appears at the top, and with the ground completely washed. Advancing through this gallery, with the river under our feet and after about 40 meters, above our heads the entrance to the Blue Room7 opens, a room of small dimensions but of incredible beauty, full of formations among which the bluish ones stand out. If we descend towards the gallery through which we have entered and continue in an easterly direction, we arrive at the head of another well, in which a fixed rope is placed, and the noise of the river is heard in the background. After this R3 + P14 and a succession of galleries that are presumed narrow and difficult to progress, you will reach the Sala Blanca (White Room).

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