Galerie des Sources

Writing a report one month later is pretty challenging for my memory, I will try to dredge up at least some few facts/ info…

When the adventure took place: Friday’s night, 15th of April
Who participate: the same ‘old sea dogs’ Arun, Bram, Ewa, Hans, Renaud
How looked preparations: mainly collecting equipment from the club, asking other cavers about this specific cave, printing “topo”, taking advantage of Dutch genes by eating friten and drinking Triple Karmeliet or at choice chamomile tea
Rule that guide us: safety always before fun
Observed views: a lot of devastation, some formations painted with the red dye, many broken stalagmites, especially one, very big, some nice formations covered with mud, but of course there were also very pleasant scenes to see, calcite ones etc.



Time: for us the longest cave ever, about 5 hours inside
Results: more than 70% of the cave visited, damnably muddy gears, some parts of the body dead e.g. elbows
Conclusions: navigational hell, map completely useless, better physical form could be useful, gymnasium rope training is not the same as using ropes in the cave,
Way of recovery being applied: sleeping all weekend, organizing yourself, doing next cave on Sunday

Few random things that I learned or that for some reasons stayed in my memory:
- roads in Belgium can be very crooked
-do not park your car below or close to the rail track, why…, no idea;) maybe because it’s very hard to have a conversation later on
-cows like running a lot
-always remember to send an SMS before you enter the cave, otherwise you have to go all the way back to the car and do it then which can be quite annoying
- the entrance of the cave is not always located somewhere at the bottom, sometimes you have to go up first
-if you’re able to run 10km, it doesn’t mean you can climb the hill and not loose your breath
-if you move some rocks you should always shout loudly ‘caillou’! as I was taught by Bram
-never get panicking when somebody is not responding after you ask him to do so, maybe he is far away looking for the way to go and at such particular moment he cannot hear you, do not draw black scenario. I don’t know if we told Hans about that situation when we started becoming worried about him…
-there is no one possible way to get somewhere, you can always look for more routes and then choose if you prefer walking next to the brink, with passing the pit or just go for simple oppose
-there is nothing like the best technique you can use at the particular moment, you have to find your own way to do this, sometimes improvisation is really welcomed
- knowing the topo like your own pocket doesn’t mean that you’re not going to be surprised at the cave


The end…
Not really… maybe of part1,
We’re planning to come back and then score an advantage over you, Galerie des Sources…
Better watch out;)