Senzeille 2011

Last weekend of June (28-29.06.11) another big fest for all cavers/spelunkers took place in Carrière de Beau-Château - Senzeille.

For those who are not familiar with the activity ‘Senzeille’ I can tell that it is a great opportunity to train your rope techniques on big highness. Ropes are hanged next to the wall about 30m high in the highest point, (this is also the beginning of the parcour). And then you follow the ropes, one way (in one direction).You can also join the parcour from few others points. Anyway you will be confronted with many traverse’s, paraploue’s, fractions, deviations, there is also a ladder to try, tyrolean, swing to get a rope moments, descending into the boat and many many more. In total when you sum up the ropes from the parcour it is about 1km in length, enough to practice;-). For less experienced there is also less demanding parcour where you can practice and try to learn new things without being feared of the high.

But Senzeille it is not only about rope training. It is also a great opportunity to meet and talk with other people which sharing the same passion, enjoy the local beer from last steam brewery in Europe. You could immediately noticed its international atmosphere: some French speaking clubs, many scouts, even some women from Holland which came here on purpose. But as it was easy to predict after previous years (as I was told) SPEKUL dominate also this year. We did not disappointed the local club which organized everything. I am not sure if we dominated during the speleo parcour but obviously as one big crazy family! It was given for me to be there also and participate.

Senzeille 2011 was in some way special this year, because it was combined with bachelor party of the two members of Spekul, DDR and Jasmine, the most beautiful and extremely in love with each other and adventure desire couple I saw. So the first whole day, Saturday June 28th was dedicated for them, which of course they didn’t know and didn’t not expected at all. So we met at Spekul at 1pm to discuss some final details and we were read to make our way towards Senzeille. First we got to the beautiful area of lakes, where you could try some windsurfing, water skiing and jet skiing. Our future couple and other few volunteers (Sam, Philip and Wim) decided to try some jet skiing. And the rest (too many to mention everybody :P) were sitting and watching, taking photos, support courageous ones, even also trying to be persuaded to have some swim, yes Caroline:P?. The ones that tried some jet skiing looked like they had a lot of fun and that it was really worth to try.

After that we routed to the forest to have a ‘game walk’. Fortunately it was not raining so we could enjoy our walk with all the funny tasks for the future married couple and their friends. DDR and Jasmine for example had to guess their favorite love position (also show it), the thing they most love about each other, or who they would like to have sex with within Spekulozers. As you can imagine such games always bring lots of smiles, jokes and flushes and this time it worked also. We enjoyed our walk very much.

Afterwards we headed to the Senzeille parcour place where we set our tents, registered in a big tent for the activity and instead of going to practice as we could see others did, we were ready to start the party: big barbecue, with plenty of good food and alcohol. Talking, eating, drinking, time goes by pretty fast. It got already dark, we had also a sweet delicious surprised prepared by Anja and Raf, fresh fried pancakes with ice-cream. It got late also late so some people started leaving in order to sleep and be fresh for tomorrow, some stayed longer almost until dawn. I will never forget the feeling of sitting in front of one table, listening to the conversation in 3 different languages: netherlands, french and english. I was trying to follow all of them with better or worse result.

Some of us woke up early, others at more tolerable time. We had our breakfast and we were ready to do some effort. This time my guardians were Jozefin and Bjorn, the most calm and patient people this world has ever seen. As I could experience at the very beginning Senzielle is not only about making physical effort;) But thanks to Bjorn and Jozefien I did it, the most scary thing, I went over the edge, but believe me I was more sure that I am not going to try that I that I will cause having this beautiful panorama in front of you doesn’t really help you. But thank God, oh sorry, he is not there I managed to overwhelm my shaking enormous at this moment fear.

I was always in good hands, in front I had Jozefien and behind Bjorn. They were always keen to give me some advice or explanation how to deal with some possible difficulty, even if I was asking the same thing for the third time;P. Later also we saw following us Jochem and Caroline. Part of other Spekulozen were also practicing but on different parts of the ‘big wall’.

I have to say that it is pretty tiring being all the time in harness hanging on the rope, especially if you have to wait because of somebody in front of you:D than it becomes really exhausting, even painful, right Bjorn etc. For the first time I also saw the way how to rest and relax hanging, you have to lie down your body into horizontal position on the rope to let the blood flow on all levels. There was also a moment where you had to swing to be able to reach next rope, Jozefine and I put some effort to do this but smart Bjorn used the advantage of being long, like a spiderman he moved his body using some grips in the wall to get the rope. After some time following the parcour I got tired and decided to leave with trust to Bjorn helpful instructions, others continue. About in the middle of parcour there was this boat to descend with crossing the water. As I could notice it took some time for most of the people, Bjorn had to wait about 3 hours there, so I was kind of happy that I left, because it was difficult to get some help at this point, and I might have need it.

While some of us were still on ropes trying the boat, others got heated by sun and decided to decrease the temperature of their body in the pond. Some boats try-out finished being wet because of difficulties with balancing body, others wanted to refresh themselves or avoid being pushed into the water by circumnavigating spekul sharks who were very eager to help.

Although the water wasn’t very clean and clear two of us, Jasmine and DDR tried their diving skills with the equipment and instructors provided. That was the last part of their bachelor party organized by Spekul in Senzeille.

Back to the hanged individuals some cavers did the whole parcour within few hours, some just tried part of it, and others nothing at all, but still everybody was extremely happy and tired. And also the weather apart from not promising forecast spoiled us a lot in fact. About 3pm most of us started leaving…That’s how I remembered my first Senzeille, sure there are not much details in the description otherwise I need to write whole book about what happened there, how much fun I had, and about all those wonderful people I met and I had with me.

Senzeille is another solid piece of evidence why I love caving almost from the first sight. It’s just all those people, no matter what, they will make you feel like you’re a part of this big family with passion of discovering, challenging and exploring caves, body and mind.

Barchon

When it was a usual Friday evening on 29/04/2010 for most of the world, it was an exciting once-in-a-year evening for the few of us from Spekul. It's the day when the historical Fort de Barchon of Liege is open for Cavers from across the world to train on its endless aerial and underground cave-like networks.

It was still bright when 6 of us (Bram, Hans, Ewa, Jochem, Renaud and me) reached Barchon giving us enough time to prepare ourselves for the activities. When Bram and Hans made their tent on a nice 'green' ground on top of the fort, Jochem cooked some nice meal (paella and pan cake). When we were locked and loaded it was almost 10.00 pm. So we decided to do in 2 groups – Bram, Jochem and Hans took the route B while Renaud, Ewa and me decided to take the route D (Miscellaneous route). We agreed to meet again in one and half hours without knowing what's there in store for us.

Route D was quite interesting with various challenges – A ladder climb, lot of narrow crawls, few deep and narrow pitches demanding nice rope techniques. After a while we lost track of the actual route but found some really interesting passages. On the way, a seemingly humble 'Traverse' on the ceiling of a small room made me 'sweat like a cow’:D. After traversing few more pitches and narrow passages we emerged out in the middle of a wall to find some nice 'fractions' and 'parabloes'. As they lead us outside the fort we wandered for few minutes before finding a 'ladder bridge' which would take us across the 'moat' like structure. When we approached the tents in silence assuming the other group would have already gone to sleep, we heard some noise from the 'moat' – it was the other group now joined by Bjorn! Finally when we reached it was almost 2.30 am, just 3 hrs of delay from the agreed time to meet back: D.

All of us relaxed a bit with some snacks and beer. As the other group decided to lay down enjoying their beer, we (Renaud, Ewa and me) along with Bjorn decided to go ahead and do more. As, we have already decided to leave by Saturday afternoon, it was obvious that we cannot do all the routes. So we decided to do the most demanding of all the routes B. Lead by Ewa ;), we took a narrow passage which kept going. After walking in the bent position for several minutes we reached a ladder (what a sign of relief :)). From there we have to walk to a tower outside the fort which was 20-25 meters with lot of traverse and parabloes around it (at the top) pinnacling with 50 meters long rope to down to the ground. By now tiredness was evident with each of us. While Ewa took the stairs, Bjorn took a shortcut to the top circumventing few ropes. Undaunted, Renaud took the rope and I followed him. But few minutes later I retracted back with a muscular cramp in the leg. But finally every one of us was on the top ready to do the 50m rope to the ground. Bjorn led us followed by Ewa, me and Renaud. It was quite thrilling at the start (for the first few meters) but after a while it was annoying as you have to pull yourself hard to reach the ground. Finally by 5.30 in the morning we decided to call it the day. Renaud and Bjorn deciding to sleep in the car, Ewa and me returned to the tent. We went to sleep with the early birds chirping and the dark sky turning orange. My tiredness took a toll on all, as I left a zip open in both the tents (unknowingly, of course). It was my cell phone alarm which woke us up I guess. It took us some time to crawl out of our tents. But by the time we were out breakfast was awaiting us thanks to Renaud, some nice croissants from Carefour. As Hans and Jochem decided to leave for home, five of us decided to do the route D which we missed yesterday. After taking the same route we arrived at the well from where we missed the route. This time we could see a marking that lead us to a watery slump with a steel cable. After, crossing that and one more pitch we arrived at a narrow network of 'twisted' plastic pipes. With Renaud taking the lead and Ewa following they made it with some ease. Next comes our ‘100-kg man’, Bjorn who tried his best but could not bend his knees through a too narrow turn. Standing at the bottom all I could hear were some crazy noises of him ramming against the walls of the pipes. After fighting for a while he has to come down leaving the way for us (and a group that was following us). Finally, we were glad to see the sun. We went straight to our tents looking for water. As we were running low on our supply in the tents, we had to head to the water pipe at the toilet which unfortunately read 'Non-Potable'. driven by the monstrous thirst we ignored the sign and filled all the cans. Then we lay down under sun for several minutes near the tent hoping Bjorn would return there. After a while Renaud went down to have sausages at the bar found him enjoying a beer :D.

As everyone was tired and the weather was perfect we decided to lie down for a while and do the aquatic route before leaving home. In the meantime Bram, Ewa and me where trying our hands at a line connecting the tower on one side of the moat to the other side whereas Bjorn managed to get us some spare neoprene to enter the ice cold water. By 1.30 we were finally ready to do the final part of the trip – the aquatic route. In the orange suit I was quite eye-catching I must admit :D. When we reached a pipe half-filled with water we were almost sure that it's the way. So Renaud taking the lead and Bram following him started the adventure. By the time they reached the end of the pipe, a nice gentleman (passer-by) pointed out that it's the end of the route and the start is few meters away. Drenched in the ice-cold water Renaud and Bram have to get out of an emergency window to reach there. Later we noticed that the entrance was also a pipe but was too steep that it might be impossible to climb it if we could have continued the tout in the wrong direction. This route was also narrow as every other but deliberately half-filled with water (with the help of artificial walls) to keep up the name. After a narrow passage we reached a room with a narrow passage which might be 30 cms high, 50-60 cms wide and 8-10 m long filled 2/3 with water. Again undaunted Renaud took the lead while Ewa (by chanting some curse words :D)and Bram followed. As we could see a clear shortcut Bjorn and me (who was scared to death :D) took that way. Then comes a supposedly once-a-septic- tank below a toilet like structure. It was again 10m long but with more width and breathing space. With Bjorn holding me I managed to float across the tank (thanks to my orange suit!). Then a couple of narrow passages with water flowing through it, we almost reached the end of the route. But then comes the last but not the least challenge – narrow entrance completely filled with water. We were left with no choice but to take a dip. Uh, finally we reached out through the pipe which we first mistook for the entrance. Emerging successful with completely drenched suits we walked through the street (or the moat) inside the fort with people on both sides cheering and congratulating us! (a rare or an impossible event when you emerge from a cave).

I guess it was challenging enough to be fun for everyone. If you can be sure about one thing in Spelunking (even in a makeshift cave like Barchon) it's that it will beat your expectations.

With lots of expectations......!!
Arun

Here is a link to a movie on Barchon 2011 from some other cavers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xuH7iWf_eQ

(Courtesy: Bjorn)