Trips October 2017
Team: Max, Flo, Wilke und Steffen
Team Italy
Team Italy, consisting of Max and Flo, had planned after the last experiences at Lake Garda and Valstagna in the course of this weekend to explore the parts of the Fontanazzi that were unknown to us so far. In addition, the opportunity was taken to get to know Benjamin Pretterhofer and to catch up with him right away for diving. After a relatively long journey, marked by a lot of vacation traffic and traffic jams, we arrived at the Fontanazzi in the late afternoon. Benji was already waiting in the car and was happy about the finally complete buddy team.
Day 1
After a short chat and briefing the plan for today's dive was set: setup for the next day, i.e. placing a deep stage and diving the mainline to Pozzo Finale. No sooner said than done and so we set off single file towards the final shaft. The mainline in this area is between 20 and 35m and then ends in a large room at the beginning of which the line splits - one part runs along the ceiling where it ends in a dead passage, the other part leads down into the far end where it finally ends in the "deep loop". With the intention to dive this site from the other side tomorrow, we set a cookie at about 50m to help us orientate ourselves.
After about two hours we left the cave again, which had presented itself today with the best conditions.
Dive time: 120min, 51m, 9°C.
Day 2
On the second day we wanted to tackle the deep loop and so we dived additionally armed with scooters towards Pozzo 2000 to close the loop started yesterday. The deep part of the cave really adds another facet to the cave, because here the profile is more lenticular and more rutted. The descent into the shaft of Pozzo 2000 is also mighty fun. The only flaw is the now poorly maintained line and line segments lying around. Here a cleanup would not hurt.
Confused by the explanations of other divers we were unsure which of the ascending lines at the end of the deep part we should take and so we decided to make a short detour into the exploration part of the Fontanazzi and return via the same way we had come. After the unfortunately necessary trudge at the end we said goodbye to Benji, who was on his way home and let the evening end with a lot of pizza in the company of friendly cave divers.
Dive time: 170min, 80m, 9°C
Day 3
Day three awaited us again with lots of sunshine - please more autumn like this in the future. After a short scouting to the pool of Elefante Bianco we decided to dive there. The water level was extremely low, the pool clear and autumnally decorated with leaves. We had already done a great dive here earlier this year and wanted to follow up on that experience.
After several rounds of gear hauling we finally had everything up in the early afternoon and dove off in good spirits, we decided to scoot this time to use the bottom time as effectively as possible. The cave pool drops to ~20m where the large entrance to the cave then opens up. From 20m the cave slopes down to 48m where shaft 1 begins, since our last dive something has definitely been done here in the constriction and the jumps and T-branches have been renewed. Shaft 1 then descends vertically from 48m to 75m and then slopes down to 85m where the cave becomes a little horizontal for the first time and then continues to slope down to 120m. The rock is very bright and if the visibility allows the dimensions quite impressive.
Last time we had turned at the beginning of the horizontal passage to -120m, among other things because the line was interrupted there. This time the first pieces were already missing at -90m and Flo started to lay new line. Arrived at our last turning point we had just -115m on the clock, so a whole 5m less water column. We had not expected that despite the impression above. The passage runs horizontally again and so we continued to line it. Unfortunately, the decompression time threatens to explode quickly at this depth, so we tied off the line and headed back to avoid getting out of the water too late. Finally the way home was still on the program. For sure we will come back to improve the line situation and to go further into the cave.
Team France
The holidays around All Saints' Day were an obligation to dive and so Steffen and Wilke decided to go on a trip to France. The plan was simple and almost unspectacular: This extended weekend should be completely in the sign of the Ressel. The two booked via Airbnb an accommodation near the Ressel (Maison de Champagne) and started their little "project". The goals were quickly worked out; Steffen wanted to test his new scooter over longer distances under real cave diving conditions and Wilke wanted to dare first longer dives with the JJ.
Day 1
When the two arrived in France they promptly presented the best conditions. The Ressel had crystal clear water! Also the parking situation at the Ressel has completely eased. The French have created a nice big parking lot with room for 20 cars. So you are not forced to be at the Ressel already at 7 o'clock in the morning :-).
The first dive was quite unspectacular, "walking" to the 400m mark and just recovering under the impressions of the cave formations from the 14 hour drive.
Day 2
The second dive, of course again in the Ressel led the two to the 3rd T, so just 800m. Again, perfect conditions. From the shaft on, the water was so clear that even at 100% their torches produced only a barely perceptible beam of light. After 120min. the two returned satisfied. Needless to say, the deco time was turned into some kind of scooter time. The two raced their XK1s permanently in circles. From the 1st T to the 2nd T and back to the first. Sometimes full throttle, sometimes with cruising speed, sometimes with all stages, sometimes only with a BO stage. As already said, the two also wanted to train the permanent driving with the scooter. After 120min. the two emerged with a grin on their faces and were already making plans for the next day.
Day 3
The next day should be the "Deep Loop" day, the two had planned to explore the first part of the Deep Loop (3rd T left) in more detail and then on the following day to dive the loop completely. As soon as the plan was made there were two scooters and 10 stages at the cave pool. As planned the two dived about 50% of the loop and after 170min. Dive time was clear, that on the last day the complete Durchtauchen nothing more stood in the way.
The Deep Loop:
Again as on the previous day all material dragged to the pool, again 5 Stages per person (3x 80cuft 15/55, 1x 80cuft 50/20 and 1x 40cuft Oxygen) plus a Scooter each. At 11:30 am the two were also ready to dive and started their last "extended weekend dive".
As always, something breaks on the last day. So also with this dive. At about 700m Wilke's Fini hose burst with a loud bang, a brand new one btw, Wilke disappeared for a short time in a sea of bubbles, closed the bailout stage, put it down and connected the next stage with the BOV - fortunately all stages are equipped with QC6, so that this failure could be more or less compensated. The two decided to clip the broken stage to the mainline and continue the dive.
After this little excitement, the rest of the dive went in an exceptional and harmonious way, the enormous visibility made the deep loop seem incredibly beautiful. After 210min. the whole thing was already (unfortunately) over. Both of us were very satisfied and went back to our accommodation. We can say that Ressel is one of the most beautiful caves in Europe - and will probably remain so.
In this sense,
Your Cavebase
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