Cave Diving Group: Another stitch in Hessenhauhohle. Swabian Jura, Germany.

On 27.02-01.03.2015 another caving and diving action took place in the Hessenhau cave. We operated from a bivouac located at siphon V (downstream) and our goal was to attempt to overcome the collapse located behind siphon VI and further exploration towards the main branch of the Blau system with the Blautopf vent.

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The Hessenhau waterway is at a depth of 130m and is accessed by several wells, after which you fall into a tight meander. At siphon I (downstream) we have most of our equipment deposited. However, during every action we carry those things which cannot be deposited in the cave.

Before starting dives we spend a lot of time on preparations. Each diver carefully assembles his rebreather, taking care not to let the mud, which is there in abundance, damage anything. This time I decided to give up my oxygen cylinder and feed my rebreather (mCCR) from a 3L cylinder containing nitrox 80, which was also one of the bailout cylinders. Giving up the oxygen cylinder as an extra weight allowed me to get through the dry parts between the siphons even more efficiently.

We had planned to set off for the bivouac in a team of 3. However, Roland didn’t manage to get his rebreather working so we headed for the siphons in a smaller formation.

During the 3-day bivouac we managed to move slightly the face in the collapse behind siphon VI, to map several tens of meters of dry stretches, and on the way back to finish mapping siphon VI.

Currently, the most promising front seems to be the chimney (~20m?) just before the collapse. Climbing this area (behind 6 siphons!) will be an interesting challenge. Finding a way through such a huge collapse may prove too difficult.

It is estimated that the water flowing through Hessenhau drains an area of 80km2.

The exploration of the system is being carried out by the German caving club Arge Blaukarst, and I am participating in the project at the invitation of German diver and speleologist Juergen Bohnert (project manager).

Participating in the action were: Michael Jettmar, Juergen Bohnert, Roland Konopac, Tevye Mehner, Erich Ruopp (all Arge Blaukarst, Germany) and Mirek Kopertowski (SGW/GNJ).

Source: www.gnj.org.pl

The Group of Cave Divers (formerly the KTJ PZA Cave Diving Subcommittee) operates under the aegis of KTJ PZA. We deal with cave diving, popularization of this form of activity, cave exploration and activities for the safety of cave diving. We are cave divers, members of PZA cave clubs. We conduct dives in the Tatra caves, we also organise expeditions abroad. Seeking more and more new regions for our activities, we go wherever we can find siphons, in the caves we reach wherever there may be siphons.