Our planet is fraught with many mysterious and interesting places. Some of them have been fully mastered by mankind, and some, even after much research, still need additional study. The deepest cave in the world, Krubera-Voronya, located in Abkhazia, is also considered a mystery. For many years now, scientists all over the planet have been trying to unravel its age-old secrets.

The history of the name of the cave

The Krubera-Voronya Cave in Abkhazia is located in the Arabica Mountains. It consists of numerous wells, interconnected by galleries and stiles. The waters of the cave give life to the shortest river on the planet, Reprua, which flows into the Black Sea. Its length is no more than eighteen meters.

The cave reaches a depth of about 2200 meters. It was first studied by speleologists from Georgia (1960) and was originally named after the scientist Alexander Kruber. At that time, its depth was mastered only up to ninety-five meters.

The second study was destined to take place only in 1968, thanks to speleologists from the Krasnoyarsk Territory. When studying it to a depth of two hundred and ten meters, they used the name Siberian.

The next study of the cave was carried out in the eighties by Kiev speleologists. They gave her another name - Crow. In this case, scientists worked at a depth of up to three hundred and forty meters.

Cavers records

Due to the hostilities that engulfed the territory of Abkhazia, the Krubera-Voronya cave became completely inaccessible for speleologists. On the map of world exploration, it remained a mysterious place for some time.

However, already at the end of the 90s, cavers from Kiev resumed the study, and the group subsequently reached a depth of one thousand four hundred and ten meters. And January 2001 was marked by a new mark - 1710 m, which became the world record result of scientists who are members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association.

Further breakthrough was marked by the efforts of the Cavex team, which in August 2003, despite incredible difficulties, reached a depth of 1680 meters. A year later, the following records appeared. Members of the same expedition reached the mark of 1775 meters, and members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association - up to 1840 meters. And already in October 2004, the history of world speleology was replenished for the first time by overcoming a two-kilometer barrier.

Until recently, the depth record of 2191 meters was held by the researcher G. Samokhin (August 2007). It should also be noted the high results achieved by women. So, the Lithuanian S. Pankene reached a depth of two thousand meters one hundred and forty centimeters.

About the entrance to the cave

The entrance, which has a cave Krubera-Voronya, is located at an altitude of 2250 meters above sea level. But there are two more accesses. These are the entrances to such caves as Genrihova Abyss and Kuibyshev. They are further up the mountainside. A hundred meters lower than the entrance to Voronya, there is access through the Berchil cave. The total length of such a bundle is more than two thousand meters deep.

The presence of many large caves in the Arabica mountain system, scientists have long assumed. Indeed, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, the leading karstologist Martel from France, conducting research in these places, concluded that there were huge underground voids in the mountains.

However, access to the deepest cave was discovered only in the 60s. But because of the rather narrow passage, the Georgian speleologists (even after discovering the well) had to retreat from the desired work. And only in 2002, members of the Russian-Ukrainian team were recognized as the discoverers of the deepest cave in the world.

Overcoming record results

Relatively recently, in 2012, scientists from the Hebrew University conducted another study of the world-famous cave. The team members have been preparing for this event for several years. The primary goal of the group of scientists was to study the cave itself, its depth and underground sources, as well as understanding the development of the climate that once existed on Earth. However, besides this, one of the amazing results of their work was the discovery of unexplored species of fish living in the purest water at a depth of more than two thousand meters.

The Krubera-Voronya Cave attracts many scientists. The study of its depths has repeatedly become a kind of competition in achieving new results. So, this time the Ukrainian researcher, who is part of the expedition, reached a record depth - 2 meters 196 centimeters below the Earth's surface. To get to the extreme parts of the cave, cavers had to use ropes and dive into very cold water. Unfortunately, one of the expedition members tragically died during the experiments.

In addition, another record result was broken. The Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which was the longest period spent underground.

Shooting a cave

Of course, not only for speleologists, but also for many photographers, the Krubera-Voronya cave is of great interest. Photos taken at great depths are something unusual and incredible. The famous photographer S. Alvarez made a considerable number of wonderful pictures dedicated to the work of speleologists. Prior to that, he worked on religious, cultural and research photographs, collaborating with publications such as Time, National Geographic Magazine, Travel Holiday, Adventure, Delta Sky. But for some time now, shooting caves has become his serious hobby.

A new kind of beetle

The Krubera-Voronya Cave opens up new opportunities not only for speleologists. Excursion within the framework organized by Spanish biologists did not make us wait long for new results. They discovered a yet unexplored species of ground beetles. They are among the deepest-living underground insects, feeding on decaying organic matter and fungi. Representatives of the Duvalius species also have eyes, which are used in pitch darkness closer to the surface of the earth. Biologists are sure that many more different species of beetles can be found in this one, living in a limited area, such as a cave or an island.

cave explorers

Cavex cavers have put a lot of effort into uncovering new secrets of the deepest cave in the world. After all, it was the daredevils from this team who for the first time managed to go down the entire length of the underground well to a depth of 1710 meters.

At the same time, the Krubera-Voronya cave was subjected to a phased study. Cavex quite often stumbled upon dead-end galleries or insignificant windows in the walls of wells, but all of them inevitably led to the beginning of a new path. Already in 2001, scientists reached new depths, which became a world record result. The open expanse of the cave ended with a sparkling hall with a lake, called the "Hall of Soviet speleologists". Thus, it was emphasized that this achievement was made possible thanks to the work of several generations of scientists.

Reasons for long studies

In 2001, the Krubera-Voronya cave officially received the title of the deepest on the planet, beating the previous champions - the Austrian Lamprechtsofen cave and the French Pierre and Jean Bernard.

To understand its real depth, it is necessary to imagine at least seven Eiffel Towers standing on top of each other. Why, then, did many speleologists not be able to establish the true dimensions of the cave for so long? The main reason has always been the lack of technical means. In addition, the formidable and too narrow passages posed a mortal challenge to many researchers.

Nevertheless, the mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing them to make more and more new discoveries.

The Internet is a funny thing. At the same time that it brings great benefits to modern man, it also carries a lot of rubbish and not everyone can cope with the flow of information that pours into the network. The Internet is very relaxing and contributes to the fact that the majority stop thinking, frivolously trusting everything that they meet on the pages of the network. However, I am not going to talk about the usefulness and harmfulness of the Internet here.

From the Editor:
Krubera-Voronya is the deepest cave in the world (depth 2196 m), located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia. The entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of about 2250 m above sea level in the tract Orto-Balagan
The cave, which is part of the Arabica mountain range, was discovered in 1960 by Georgian speleologists and explored to a depth of 95 meters. Expeditions conducted in the cavity of the karst cave over the next half century found small forks at a depth.

Knowledge about the mysterious underground passages multiplied with each new descent: for several decades, each regular speleological expedition announced that they had reached a new depth. Research is still ongoing, they are carried out by: Ukrainian Speleological Association (UCA) under the leadership of Gennady Samokhin and the Russian Association of Cave Explorers, Cavex Club

For several years, this pack of photographs appears on various sites and is very rapidly distributed by social networks, often by people who have never been to this cave (it is clear that those who were there would not distribute it, but there are billions of times fewer of them :) ).
To be honest, I myself have not been there everywhere, but many of the photos do not at all correspond to the specifics of the cave. Therefore, I had a desire to understand all the photographs. I must say that it was quite difficult.

I spent two evenings on 10 photos and realized that Google itself already believed that all this was Krubera-Voronya :) - about 500 links for each photo and everyone says that this is the deepest cave and invite them on an excursion and all sorts of oddities. After all, it's easier than ever to touch the secrets of the Universe without getting up from the couch. (The funniest text that appeared with these photographs was a suggestion to imagine 6 Eiffel Towers in height, and then, relaxing and looking at the pictures below, imagine how you descend from such a height :) into such beauty).

And so, I proceed to the destruction of photomyths about the cave of Krubera-Voronya.

The first photos I identified are the work of National Geographic photographer Stephen L. Alvarez. In fact, Stephen Alvarez was in Krubera Voronya and participated in the USA Call of the Abyss expedition as a National Geographic photographer. Apparently, the little man who first began to distribute the false photo knew about Alvarez's trip to Krubera-Voronya and "got" photos from him, not realizing that he was also in many other caves :) located far beyond the borders of Abkhazia.

Ellison's Cave, Northwest Georgia, USA (Ellison's Cave, Northwest Georgia, USA), photo by Stephen L. Alvarez.
Ellison's Cave is the 12th among the deepest caves in the US and has the deepest vertical free-fall well (without ledges) in the continental United States, called the Fantastic Pit, 178.6 m deep - it is also shown in the photo.
The depth of Ellison's Cave is 324m, the length is 19.31km. The cave and its surrounding area are supervised by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and are open to the public all year round. Due to the technically complex and dangerous nature of the cave, only the most experienced and capable speleologists are engaged in its exploration. General information about the cave is in Wikipedia.

Short video presentation by Stephen Alvarez:

Kabal Cave, Actun Kabal is one of the four caves of the Chiquibul Cave System, which are located along the Chiquibul River, Cayo, Belize, Central America. In addition to the village of Kabal, the Chikvibul Cave System includes the village of Actun Tun Kul (Tunkul) and the village of Cebada (Cebada Cave), located on the territory of Belize, as well as Xibalda, which is located on the territory of Guatemala.
Cabal is the upper part of the Chikvibul Cave system, currently 12 km long and 95 m in amplitude. The cave houses one of the world's largest halls, the Chiquibul Chamber, measuring 250m by 150m.
Another of the largest halls of the Cave system - the Belize Chamber with dimensions of 300x150m and a height of 65m is located in Aktun Tunkul village. The cave is also of archaeological value - Mayan pottery was found in it, which had lain in the dark for about 2000 years.

Mystery Falls Cave located in the area of ​​Hamilton, Tennessee, USA (Hamilton County, Tennessee, USA). The length of the cave is 416.7 m, the amplitude is 100.6 m. The depth of the well is 83m.

Cave Conley Hole (Conley Hole (the author of the photo has it recorded as Conoly Hole) located near the town of Viola (Viola, Tennessee, USA). Conley Hole is a bottle type well with a depth of 50m. The diameter of the entrance well is about 6m. The base of the bottle is about 240m in diameter. In 1973, the cave was labeled by NNL (National Natural Landmarks) as one of the finest examples of a bottle-type well in the United States. Permission from the local landowner is required to visit the cave.

Hytop Drop Cave, Franklin County, Tennessee, USA. Located in the Walls of Jericho (also called the Grand Canyon of the South) near the Alabama border. The depth of the cave is 52m, the length is 637m. In the photo there is an entrance 30m well.
(author's note. In Krubera-Voronya in a T-shirt, you won’t even dare to go down into the entrance well :))

Cave of the Swallows (ESA ALA, Sótano de las Golondrinas) located in the Mexican state of Saint Louis Potesi. The depth of the cave is from 333 to 376 meters. The fact is that the entrance to the cave is on a slope and the bottom in the cave itself is also inclined. Also in the cave there are many narrow passages to deeper levels. However, these passages have not yet been fully explored.

Visiting the cave is limited by local authorities from 12:00 to 16:00, so as not to disturb the peace of the birds inhabiting the cave (at this time, they fly in a flock to hunt).

Part of the filming of James Cameron's famous film "Sanctum" took place in the Cave of the Swallows.

And this is a photo of Kruber-Voronya, which was taken by Stephen Alvarez during the USA expedition "Call of the Abyss" in 2004 , only they, for some reason, are not found in the lists of photographs that are lured on excursions to the Deepest Cave of the World.

Some of these photos can be found on the website of the author - Stephen Alvarez. All other pictures with their names and descriptions are on a special National Geographic website - right on the main page, enter the name of the cave of interest (in English) or the name Alvarez into the search engine and enjoy the work of this photographer (these pictures can even be bought right there on the site.

I will continue the destruction of photomyths. Another American cave, but by another author

Piercy's Cave, West Virginia, USA (West Virginia, USA)

Piercy's Cave, West Virginia, USA (West Virginia, USA). Horizontal cave with a length of 1867m and an amplitude of 23m. Photo by Dave Bunnel is a photographer and former NSS News Editor.

By this name, Google gives out another cave - Piercy's Mill Cave - these are different caves.

I did not find any detailed information on this cave, except for its characteristics, which are on the well-known site caverbob, which presents almost all the statistics on world and American caves.

All photos are taken in Miao Keng Cave, which is located near the mountain village of Tian Xing, Wulong District, Chongqing, China (Tian Xing, Wulong, Chongqing, China). Miao Keng, along with five other caves, make up a cave system (whose name I did not find). The depth of the system is 1020m, the length is 35.5km.
The photos were taken by Manchester-based photographer Robbie Sean, who spent 2 months on the expedition with the researchers. In the first and third pictures, the well of the Miao Keng cave is one of the deepest wells in the world (491m). Thanks to him, the cave is also called the Great Chinese Mine (China's big shaft).
The descent into this well took the researchers two hours. The second picture shows the underground river at the bottom of Miao Keng.

Photographer Robert Sean website. Many of his photos are on Instagram.

And the place of this shooting should be familiar to many lovers of Karabi (Crimea)

The author of the photo is Che3000, a user of the LiveJournal, where he posted a report on the trip to Karabi. Moreover, the report contains the phrase: "Do not confuse with the deepest cave in the world, the Krubera-Voronya cave, which is located in Abkhazia." Apparently, not everyone is interested in reading other people's reports. By the way, in some photo tales about Krubera-Voronya, I met a few more photos from this report. The photos are very beautiful and high quality. The only pity is that it is important for people to climb on some beautiful leak for the sake of a couple of photographs that look very beautiful even without little men. And in the report there is a photo of the brand of the cave, but in order to understand it, you need to be a speleologist :).

From general information about Krubera, Karabi, Crimea - a vertical mine, 62m deep. The length of the cave is 280m. Named in honor of A.A. Kruber - an outstanding Soviet physical geographer, the founder of Russian and Soviet karst studies.

All the photographs are impressively beautiful, just like the phrase "The deepest cave in the world" itself is impressive. But this does not mean that all beautiful photos of caves should be called the deepest cave in the world of Krubera-Voronya. After all, they are all unique in their own way - each has its own Name, its own history, its own characteristics. We do not call all Ukrainians, for example, actresses Angelina Jolie, or all cars that drive around their hometown - Ferrari.
Or all speleologists - YuKasy :). I believe that we, cavers, should convey this to those who do not know this. Of course, the UCA will not print brochures with these photos and offer its members of the Association to distribute them on the streets, as all sorts of aunts-gods do :). I wrote this article so that in the event that someone once again posts information about the Deepest Cave and once again gives out a bunch of these pictures, or offers an excursion there with promises to see all these beauties, you can refer to it (article).
And after this article, there will also be an article with real photos from Kruber-Voronya, which we will promote.

Editor's note: And these are real photos of the Krubera-Voronya cave, taken during last year's expeditions of the USA "Call of the Abyss"

Crow Cave (caves Kruber, Krubera-Voronya) is the deepest explored cave in the world. It is located in the Arabica massif in the Gagra Range in Abkhazia, Georgia. It is part of the system to which the Arabica Cave belongs. The cave is branched into two branches: Nekuibyshevskaya and Main, which, in turn, branches into several smaller branches. The depth of the first is about 1300 meters, the second is about 2196 meters.

The depth of the cave is 2140 (± 9) meters. The previous depth record of 1710 meters was set in 2001 by a Russian-Ukrainian team. In 2004, during three expeditions, the depth of the explored territory increased each time. At this stage, the Ukrainian teams crossed the mark of 2000 m below ground level. This happened for the first time in the history of speleology. In October 2005, new, unexplored parts were found by the CAVEX team, and the explored cave became even deeper. This expedition confirmed that the depth of the cave currently reaches 2140 (± 9) meters deep.

The subvertical karst cave is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. The deepest plumb lines: 115, 110 and 152 meters. At a depth of 200 meters, the cave branches into two main branches: the Nekuibyshevskaya (in 2010, the depth is 1697 meters) and the Main Branch (the current depth is 2191 meters). Starting from a depth of 1300 meters, the main branch branches into many other branches. More than 8 siphons are known in the bottom part (located at depths from 1400 to 2144 meters). The cave is located in a limestone layer, and the bottom part from a depth of 1600 meters is laid in black limestone. The shortest river in the world, the Reprua, is fed by the waters of the Krubera-Voronya cave.

The cave was discovered and first explored to a depth of 95 m by Georgian speleologists in 1960. Then it got its first name: Krubera Cave, in honor of the father of Russian karstology A.A. Kruber.

The forgotten cave was re-explored by Krasnoyarsk speleologists in 1968. They used the name of the cave: Sibirskaya.

In 1982-1987, the cave was again remembered. This time it was explored by Kiev speleologists to a depth of 340 m. A third name appeared: Voronya Cave. After the Abkhaz-Georgian war of 1992-1993, the republic was cut off from free visits by speleologists. Work resumed in August 1999, when the people of Kiev reached a depth of 700 m in one expedition. In August-September 2000, the same team reached a depth of 1410 m. at 1710 m. At this point, the branch was shut up by an impenetrable blockage. In August 2003, the Cavex team dived the fourth siphon in the side branch and stopped at a depth of 1680 m with a free continuation. In July 2004, the same team in the same branch set a new world record - 1775 m. In August of the same year, the USA expedition explored another branch. And again the world record is 1840 m. Two months later, in October 2004, the UCA organized a new expedition. On October 19, for the first time in the history of speleology, a 2-kilometer barrier was overcome - 2080 m.

For many decades, the palm in the title of the deepest cave belonged to the French caves Pierre Saint Martin and Jean Bernard, which go into the bowels of the earth for more than 1600 meters. However, in 1960, an event occurred that gradually began to deprive them of leadership. Speleologists working in Abkhazia on the Arabica massif discovered a previously unknown cave. That year they managed to descend only 150 meters, which, of course, not only did not give the right to call the new cave the deepest, but even rank it among the deepest caves in the world. The only thing that speleologists could do was give the new cave a name - Kruber's cave in honor of the founder of Russian and Soviet karstology (the science of the impact of water on rocks) Alexander Kruber.

Then a long story began, reminiscent of an auction that happens with any cave after the discovery: each regular speleological expedition announced that it had reached a new depth - 210, 340, 710 meters ... name - Crow. In the future, both of these unofficial names merged into one official one - Krubera-Voronya.

The deepest point is accessible from two other entrances to the Arabica system cave: Kuibyshev Cave and Heinrich's Abyss, which are located further on the mountainside. The entrance to the cave from another representative of the system, Berchilskaya cave, is 100 m higher than the Voronya cave. The total bond depth is about 2240.

In 2002, the Russian-Ukrainian team of speleologists was officially recognized as the discoverer of the deepest cave on the planet.

The INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SPELEOLOGISTS has registered a depth record set by the Russian-Ukrainian team of cave explorers CAVEX. The daredevils from this team managed to descend to a depth of 1710 meters - this is the length of the underground well of the Voronya cave, which is located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia. Today it is the deepest cave on the planet. The official recognition of this record had to wait two years - these are the formal requirements of the International Union. The discoverers themselves say that the record of this cave is the merit of "all Soviet speleologists."

Speleologists have known for a long time that there are many deep caves in these mountains. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, the famous French karstologist Martel, who conducted research in those parts, came to the conclusion that there were extensive underground voids in Arabica. But it turned out that the entrance to the Voronya cave, which later turned out to be the deepest on the planet, was found only in the 60s. Georgian speleologists, who discovered the well, tried to explore it, but retreated in front of a too narrow passage. They classified the cave as shallow but promising.

In the 1980s, Soviet scientists conducted an experiment on tracing groundwater in Arabica and once again confirmed the presence of the deepest karst hydraulic system in the world. What did the researchers do? They dyed the water of underground rivers with a harmless substance fluoriscin and supplied water sources at the foot of the mountain with traps, which soon recorded the release of fluoriscin. It became clear that the complex of caves was practically not studied. The axis remained behind the nasty one: is it possible for a person to go into underground tunnels? This could only be verified in practice.
In the mid-80s, Kiev speleologists made several attempts to conquer Voronya. With the help of a rock hammer and a perforator, they were able to “break through” to the mark of 340 meters. The cave didn't let go further. Too narrow a passage would require a lot of time to overcome it. The conquest of Voronya was postponed indefinitely.

Then the war came to Abkhazia - not the best time for speleological discoveries. And only in 1999, one of the members of the CAVEX team, Aleksey Zhdanovich, "poked", as speleologists say, into the cave window and discovered the entrance to a new tunnel. “At such moments,” says Denis Provalov, head of CAVEX, “the pulse quickens and the most exciting stage begins - the first ascent. You don’t know what awaits you around the next turn of the gallery and what will happen at the end of a multi-meter well.”

And “around the next corner” a whole series of cascades awaited the daredevils. That time, in 1999, the cave allowed them to reach the 700-meter mark. Further penetration into the depths of the earth was postponed for another year. “It is difficult to calculate the time of the expedition when you are developing new tunnels,” says Denis Provalov, “because you never know how long it will take to pass this or that section, sooner or later you run out of food, time, energy, and you have to turn off the expedition until next year” .

Usually this is how, in stages, the exploration of caves takes place. Sometimes the result of several expeditions can be a dead-end gallery, and sometimes you can stumble upon a small window in the wall of the well, which then becomes the beginning of a new path. “The cave has gone,” cavers say in such a situation.
In the summer of 2000, speleologists reached Voronya up to the mark of 1400 meters. A presentiment told them that this was not the limit.

The CAVEX team returned to Arabica again in January 2001. As soon as we set up camp, two guys - Ilya Zharkov and Konstantin Mukhin - went into the cave to explore in the evening. They returned only in the morning. Tired, they nevertheless did not hide their delight: having exhausted the supply of ropes and hooks, they reached a depth of 1680 meters, stopping before the start of a new well. Unbelievable, but it was already a record! The deepest mark at that time at 1632 meters (Austrian cave Lamprechtsofen) could not resist! The next descent of cavers increased the depth of Voronya to 1710 meters! The cave ended with a hall with a lake. The hall was given the name "Hall of Soviet speleologists", in order to emphasize that the record is the result of the work of several generations of speleologists.

According to the rules of the International Union of Speleologists, setting a record must be confirmed by a detailed map of the cave. To do this, for several more days, speleologists carried out topographic surveys, took readings of the altimeter - a depth sensor built into ordinary watches, measured the angles of elevation with the help of an eclimeter.
clone, the azimuth was determined by the compass, the length of the well was measured with a tape measure in centimeters. Then all the data obtained were recorded in a special notebook with indelible pages. And it was this notebook that was sent to the headquarters of the International Union of Speleologists as proof of the record dive.

In 2005, within the framework of the regular UCA expedition, hydraulic leveling was carried out to clarify the depth of the cave.
A series of subsequent expeditions by the rival Cavex and UCA teams were engaged in diving the bottom siphons, increasing the depth of the cave several times. The current record belongs to speleologist Gennady Samokhin.

The first woman to reach a depth of 2140 m was Saule Pankene from Lithuania. The expedition, organized by the Lithuanian speleologists' club "Aenigma", consisting of four people and led by Aidas Gudaitis, passed through the cave in September 2010.

1960: Georgian karst explorers found the cave and then explored it to a depth of 180 meters.

1968: A Polish-Russian expedition discovered three caves of the Arabica system: Sibirskaya, Heinrich and Berchila.

Early eighties: the people of Kiev explored the cave to a depth of 340 meters.

August 1999: A Ukrainian second-echelon team discovered windows into a cave at a depth of 230 meters, which led to a branch up to 700 meters.

August 2000: Second echelon teams continued exploration to a depth of 1200 meters.

September 2000: UCA (Ukrainian Speleological Association) and MTDE teams continued exploration to a depth of 1410 meters.

January 2001: The USA and Cavex teams became familiar with windows at 1,350 meters, resulting in a crossing at 1,430 meters. The sides of the passage at a depth of 1420 meters turned out to be a tunnel to the site at a depth of 1710 meters.

August 2003: Cavex and Kiev Club found new sites at a depth of 1660 meters.

July 2004: Cavex team - new discovery, depth - 1810 meters.

August 2004: USA - found a side pass at 1660 meters, which led to another at a depth of 1824 meters.

October 2004: USA - descent to a depth of 2080 meters. For the first time in the history of speleology, a group of researchers descended into a cave to a depth of more than 2 kilometers.

August 2001: UCA - search for the continuation of the cave in the lower part (1420 m -1710 m).

February 2005: USAA - a new milestone - 1980 meters of depth.

July 2005: Cavex descends another 160m off site at 1980m. This resulted in a search at 2140m. During this expedition, three sorties were taken to a depth of more than two thousand meters.

September 2007: Gennady Samokhin explores the cave at a depth of 2196 meters, which is still a world record.

Video interview with Gennady Samokhin

And this is the most significant dive - The final part of the dive into the siphon Two Captains, the ascent of the submariner Gennady Samokhin:

The pioneer of the depth of 2196 meters in the Krubera (Voronya) cave, Gennady Samokhin, believes that the 2200-meter mark can be overcome not only by diving into the siphon...

What was the expedition to Krubera (Voronya) like in 2012?

The expedition was carried out within the framework of the USA project "Call of the Abyss". Leader Yu. M. Kasyan, 59 participants from 9 countries (Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Great Britain, Israel, Lebanon, Ireland, Poland). Of these 59 people, three were supposed to dive into the "Two Captains" on mixtures, but I had to be alone ... For diving, 18 sets of regulators, 31 cylinders with air, trimix, oxygen were delivered. 150 liters of gasoline for stoves, 500 kilograms of food, 3000 batteries were delivered to the underground camps... In total, 7 camps were deployed in the main branch of the cave; the deepest of them (and in general in the world) - "Rebus" - at a depth of 1960 meters. The expedition lasted from July 21 to August 26.

When was the cave discovered and what is the correct name for it?

Cave Krubera (Voronya), today the deepest in the world, was discovered by Georgian speleologists - the Kipiani group - in 1963 and named after Kruber. The depth of its explored part then was 57 meters. In the late 1970s, the cave was rediscovered and named Siberian. In the mid-1980s, Ukrainian speleologists discovered the cave for the third time and named it Voronya. Subsequently, it turned out that this is all the same cave. I think that the most correct name is given by the discoverers - Krubera Cave. In extreme cases - Krubera-Crow.

Sounds like a system...

No, today Krubera-Voronya is one cave with one entrance. Unless someday we will dive to its exit to the Black Sea... Already now we have reached an absolute height of about 40 meters above sea level in this cave. Moreover, it is known that the underground river flowing through the cave is unloaded into the sea.

What are the prospects for further "deepening" of the Krubera Cave? Does it make sense to dive even deeper?

It makes sense to dive, but only with a rebreather. The fact is that in the "Two Captains" siphon, the passage is, firstly, rather narrow (approximately 60 centimeters per meter, and this gap is located obliquely) and, secondly, very gentle. Moved more than 40 meters forward - and only 5 meters deep. In narrowness, this takes a lot of time - and, accordingly, a lot of breathing mixture. And you have to carry this mixture with you in cylinders, which still reduces the speed ... I see the only way out: to use a rebreather, a closed-circuit breathing apparatus. This will increase the time reserve many times over - from the current 30 minutes to several hours or more ...

The Russians from the Cavex team dived with a rebreather into the "Two Captains" - but for some reason they could not advance ...

They just got stuck. The fact is that the device they used is placed on the back, and this is very inconvenient in "Two Captains". You need a rebreather attached to the side of the swimmer. I am now looking for such a device and saving money for it.

What is the expected length of the "Two Captains" siphon?

Possibly over 10 kilometers. It is quite possible that this siphon will continue all the way to the Black Sea...

What other options are there for "deepening" Kruber-Voronya, besides diving into this siphon? For example, other branches of the cave?...

There are unexplored extensions in the Krubera cave. But it is too early to talk about reaching record depths in them.

How about "deepening up", looking for higher entrances?

There are several caves in the Orto-Balagan valley that are hydrologically connected with Krubera-Voronya. In particular, these are the Kuibyshevskaya - Genrihova Abyss - a depth of 1110 m, the entrance is 30 meters lower than Kruber-Voronya; Berchilska - depth 500 m, entrance 120 meters higher; Gnomes - depth 400 m, entrance 50 meters lower; The Little Prince is 50 m deep, the entrance is 15 meters higher, and the Little Prince is only 100 meters from the Krubera cave. If we manage to get to Krubera from the Little Prince or from Berchilska, we will get the desired "deepening up".

What about Martel's cave?

Martel's cave is located on the right side of the Orto-Balagan valley, but according to geological prerequisites, it develops into a neighboring valley. So if there is a perspective to a great depth in it, then it is completely separate from the Krubera cave ...

sources

Depth (meters): 2199

Stroke length (meters): 16058

Origin: Karst

The deepest explored cave in the world. Located in the Arabica massif in the Gagra Range in Abkhazia, Georgia. Depth 2199 m, length of passages 16058 m.

Entrance altitude: 2250 m above sea level ​Number of inputs: 5 Studying where the water is moving sometimes leads us to the most unexpected consequences. If a speleologist of the 60s were told that the caves could be deeper than 2 km and it would be possible to go down and up in them in just a couple of days, he would not only not believe it, he would laugh in your face. But the 21st century brought us not only the Internet, but also the two-kilometer Krubera-Voronya cave, the deepest abyss on planet Earth.

How to get there

The Krubera-Voronya cave is located in the Orto-Balagan valley, in the zone of alpine meadows. The transfer takes place from the Abkhazian village of Tsandripsh, a 15-minute drive from the Russia-Abkhazia border, where they get from Adler or Sochi. As a rule, this is a trip on a reliable and passable car GAZ-66, "shishige" - the roads to Orto-Balagan are repaired only by the forces of the drivers themselves and it is better not to look at them for the faint of heart. 5-6 hours of shaking on huge stones and the car is unloaded at the summerhouse of a faithful friend of Arabica speleologists, the shepherd Avanes - he lives here with his family from May to the end of September and knows all the experienced speleologists by name. To Voronya, a little more than an hour's walk uphill along a winding path.

Description

The entrance is modest - a small funnel in mugs, a hinge from the entrance. Expeditions to the cave are made regularly several times a year, so the weight is stationary, it is monitored, but due to high traffic, sometimes its quality may not always be at its best. The cave is purely vertical - a series of wells and ledges is interrupted by transitions and then continues. At a depth of 200 meters, the so-called Main Branch (-2196 meters) and the Nekuybyshevskaya Branch (-1700 meters) separate. There are several permanent underground camps in the cave - at a depth of -1200 meters, -1640 meters and a number of others. Up to -1400 meters can be reached by land without a wetsuit, this is if there is no flood. After - you need to put on a hydra. Next, you need to overcome the siphon by holding your breath. There are eight siphons in Krubera, but the rest are not so harmless. Donny (-2145 m) is called “Two Captains” - the Crimean cave diver Gennady Samokhin, who, as part of the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association, dived 50.5 meters on August 10, 2013, deepening the cave to 2196 meters. Since 1999, the cave has been regularly explored by two teams - UCA under the leadership of Yuri Kasyan as part of the Call of the Abyss project and CAVEX, Moscow. However, the composition of their expeditions is almost always international - speleologists from more than 10 countries of the world work in Krubera, including Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Israel, Iran, the USA, England, etc. Relations between the two competing teams are complex and ambiguous, giving rise to a lot of legends among the speleomir of the former CIS.
In 2014, speleologists from the expedition of Andrey Shuvalov (CS MGU) discovered the Arbaik entrance, the funnel of which is 3 meters higher up the slope from Kruber, which made Voronya a cave system with two entrances. In the same year, Gennady Samokhin (USA) dived the Amber Siphon, but found that it connected with the well-known land part of the cave not far from the Big Fork (-1790 meters). The USA also began to study the "historical" bottom of Kruber at -340 meters, where a continuation is guessed behind the impenetrable narrowness. In 2015, members of the MSU-Cavex CS expedition led by A. Shuvalov finally connected Kruber with the Kuibyshevskaya cave - a long-awaited event in the speleo world. The passage was predicted even before the start of the expedition, by comparing the topographic survey of the Svetlanka Gallery of the MGU CS club (-350 meters) and the topographic survey of the Kuibyshevskaya cave of the Samara speleological section of the SSAU. Andrey Shuvalov: “From the end of our survey to the end point of the Samara ascent of benchmark 40, there were about 180 meters in plan and 85 meters vertically.” The pioneers managed to descend next to the Samara ascent, finding themselves at the river 40. In 2015, the UCA expedition led by Yuri Kasyan, consisting of 15 people, was the last to work in the cave. Their work proceeded mainly in the Nekuibyshevskaya branch. Gennady Samokhin: “4 people worked underground for 2 weeks. They lived in the Creme Brulee camp at a depth of more than 2000 meters, they were assisted by a group located in the camp at 1250 meters. The work was carried out in the Nekuibyshevskaya branch (-1700 meters) in three ascending windows, but they were not crowned with particular success ... One idea remained - 100 meters vertically from the camp there is a sand pipe about 50 meters long, where in 2014 they tried to work with sledgehammers . It ends with an inflection with a large amount of sand, followed by a narrowing. Behind it you can see the progress and hear the echo, but the air at the bend is very stagnant (at such depths there is no draft at all) and for 2 hours of work you already start to suffocate there ... But the work was carried out - you could already see 4-5 meters of the passage ahead and then the hall with streaks , but unfortunately there was no little person with us and there were not enough efforts to expand - we could only stick out into the passage up to our chest. ” Another object of study in 2015 was the far part of the USA Gallery - 1.5 hours walk from the camp -1200 meters. According to superimposed topographical surveys, it practically coincides with the bottom hall of the Kuibyshevskaya cave vertically, and in terms of it, 100 meters are missing. In the face of the UCA Gallery, there is good air draft and a lot of run-in pebbles of various calibers, it deepens by 2 meters in this blockage. According to Samokhin, this fact can serve as proof that during catastrophic floods of the distant past, an ascending siphon worked here, dragging pebbles. This is typical only for this place, there is nowhere else like it. According to the idea of ​​the researchers, they will strive to bypass the bottom blockage in the Kuibyshevskaya settlement and enter the next big water. In addition to work in the Krubera cave itself, other potential entrances to the Orto-Balagan hydrosystem are being actively developed - the Martel and Berchilska caves. The Krubera Cave is the dream of almost every caver in Russia and the CIS, but technically it is far from simple. First of all, it is necessary to master the SRT technique perfectly, and not be afraid of large wells. In addition, as a rule, they go to work there for 7-20 hours and, accordingly, you need to carry a lot of cargo with you, which means that the norm here is that one speleologist has at least 2-3 transport bags weighing 10-14 kg. From -1300 meters, the set of obstacles is complicated by the watercourse, that is, a wetsuit is required. The temperature in the cave is +3-+6 degrees, the deeper it gets, the temperature rises. In recent years, due to the impossibility of helicopter transfers in the winter months, work in the cave is carried out in the summer in July-August. You can visit Krubera-Voronya only by becoming a member of one of the regular expeditions, fully accepting its conditions.

Research History

Studying the karst of the Arabica mountain range (Abkhazia River) in 1960, Georgian speleologists first discovered the inconspicuous future “Mecca from speleology”, went through it to a depth of just under 100 m and named it after the Russian karst expert Alexander Kruber. In the 80s, a surge of speleoactivity gave impetus to a new round of Arabica research - then the cave acquired the second name Siberian, and then the third - Voronya. But it has not yet become the deepest - it reached a depth of -340 m, but "did not go further". The Abkhazian military conflict of the 90s for a long time closed access to Arabica cavers for a long time and the next expedition took place only in 1999. However, speleologists of Ukraine were not going to set records at that time - they planned to go deeper and find a higher entrance to the Arabikskaya cave system, which includes the Kuibyshevskaya, Genrikhova Abyss and Detskaya caves. Krubera, on the other hand, was presented to them simply as the upper entrance to this system, which became a reality only in 2015. However, their work on the first ascent in the well P59 served as the beginning of a new era in speleology - the era of caves, the depth of which exceeds 2 km. The Ukrainians managed to step from -340 m to -750 m, but the discoveries did not end there.

There are several fairly deep caves, and over 85% of those discovered to date are above sea level!

But not these ten: they are the deepest in the world, and some of them are so deep that they can only be explored and studied with the help of radar equipment, since not a single person could survive in them ...

10 Huautla Cave System, Mexico
depth - 1475 m

It is a cave system that is said to have endless passageways, waterfalls as high as a 60-story skyscraper, and real natural wonders such as a huge 90-meter cavity called "Aphrodite Hall" (Anthrodite Hall).

9. Czech Cave II (Čehi 2), Slovenia
depth - 1502 m

In Slovenia, caves are considered national property and protected by law, even if they happen to be located on privately owned land!

8. Sima De La Cornisa Cave, Spain
depth - 1507 m

This cave system is famous for its 28 Neanderthal skeletons found in one of the deepest parts of the cave. But how they got there without the equipment we have today is still one of the world's greatest mysteries.

7. Cave them. Vyacheslav Pantyukhin (Pantyukhinskaya cave), Abkhazia
depth - 1508 m


In the mine. Vyacheslav Pantyukhin, there are 513 caves, and every year more and more new ones are opened.

6. Cave of Torca del Cerro (Torca Del Cerro Del Cuevón), Spain
depth - 1589 m


The cave system of Torca del Cerro is a system consisting of two interconnected deep crevices. In addition, it is a deep chasm that has taken the lives of many cave explorers.

5. Jean Bernard Caves, France
depth - 1602 m

This cave is located in and has the highest entrance in the world. It's also pretty deep, but that goes without saying since it's on this list.

4. Mirolda Cave (Gouffre Mirolda), France
depth - 1626 m


Back in 2001, the Mirold Cave was considered the deepest in the world, but over time, deeper cave systems were discovered, which you will learn about below.

3. Lamprechtsofen Cave, Austria
depth - 1632 m

This is a cave that has been known and explored since 1701, but shortly after its discovery, it was walled up to prevent the intrusion of treasure seekers who tried to enter it, having heard the legends about the wealth hidden by a knight named Lamprecht, who returned from the Crusades.

2. Snow Cave, Abkhazia
depth - 1753 m


Snezhnaya Cave is the general name of the cave system, which consists of interconnected caves: "Snezhnaya", "Mezhennoye", "Illusion".

1. Krubera Cave, Abkhazia
depth - 2199 m


Also called the Crow Cave, it is the deepest cave in the world today, and every time someone descends into it using sonar, it gets deeper and deeper. The Krubera-Voronya Cave is the only one of the known caves, the depth of which exceeds 2 kilometers.