The deepest cave in the world. Krubera crow cave in Abkhazia

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 Kyiv 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 Kyiv 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.

In the world of mysterious disappearances, there are especially strange, inexplicable, frightening and even paranormal cases when a person literally dissolves into thin air. This is exactly what happened to a traveler and adventurer named Kenny Veach, who went into the desert in search of a mysterious cave and never returned.

In 2014, avid and experienced hiker Kenny Veach revealed in an Internet post that he discovered a mysterious cave in the Nevada desert in a mountain range in a national park north of Las Vegas, near Nellis Air Force Base.

Veach, 47, wrote that the entrance to the cave had a rather strange shape, similar to the letter "M", and that he felt the strangest sensations next to it. He claimed that the closer he came to the mysterious cave, the stronger he experienced vibrations that literally shook his entire body. Soon they became so unbearable that he could not move further into the depths of the cave. He lay in the dark and at some point even began to fear for his life and hurriedly got out of this ominous place to the surface.

Later, after arousing great interest in the cave among Internet users, he announced that he was ready for the next expedition to the "M cave". But the second attempt to enter the cave was also unsuccessful.

“There are a lot of caves in this area. I've been to hundreds of them. "Cave M" is the only cave I'm afraid of... I'm inviting someone to join me"- then wrote Kenny Veach.

The only thing he reported about the course of the second expedition was that a mysterious black ram was closely watching him from the top of the ridge.

But this did not stop Vich, who was known by many as an avid and hopeless adrenaline addict, a fearless adventurer who was also an experienced traveler. Veach described himself as a daredevil and a cowboy, and often posted his selfies online in the most dangerous and wild places.

Despite warnings, he immediately decided to make a third attempt to conquer the shrewish cave, this time armed with a pistol.

“I will have a 9mm this time, just in case. You have to walk about 10 km through the desert. It's a very dangerous area." he wrote in his last post.

Some users strongly warned and even begged him to abandon his venture, calling it stupidity. They told him that the cave would bring him nothing but trouble, he might starve to death and never return.

But this did not stop the fearless Veach, who was obsessed with the mysterious cave. On November 10, 2014, Kenny Veach found himself back in the harsh wilderness on a two-day hike from which he never returned.

After all the deadlines for his return passed, Witch's concerned family and friends began an intense search on the ground and in the air. During the search operation, only his cell phone was found, which was found near an old vertical mine. It was speculated that Vych may have fallen down the shaft, but when rescuers investigated the shaft, no sign of the missing traveler was found.

After many days of searching, no one had the slightest idea where Kenny had disappeared, or if he had even been here at all. He seemed to have vanished into thin air. He has not been seen since.

Dangerous terrain, remoteness from civilization, wild animals and dehydration are real threats that tourists face. All this was well known to an experienced traveler, since he had gone through rather difficult hikes in the most risky places. He walked on the edge of a knife all the time, as if he felt a constant need to take on a challenge.

“My travels take a toll on my body. After one of the long hikes, my toenails turned black and fell off ... I need about three days to finally recover, ” Wych wrote in his YouTube comment.

Perhaps his luck has deserted him, or perhaps he stumbled upon someone's foul play and witnessed something he was not supposed to see. He could have been kidnapped by someone for no apparent reason.

The mysterious "Cave M" is located next to the Nellis military base, which has long been rumored to consist of an extensive network of tunnels that host secret research projects with the presence of aliens and even a portal to another dimension.

So what happened to Kenny Wich? Was he killed in the wilderness by being a reckless bystander? Voluntarily left the earth? Or is it due to military experiments, aliens or portals? All of these questions surrounding the strange disappearance remain unanswered, and "Cave M" is still waiting for its next victim.

Is the well really impressive? And it is located and not so far away!

Krubera-Crow- this is the deepest cave on our planet . It is located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia, and its depth is over 2000 m, to be more precise - 2190 m.

Road to the abyss

The entrance to this "abyss" is located at an altitude of approximately 2250 meters above sea level. The deepest karst cave is a series of wells, which are interconnected by galleries and stiles. Starting somewhere from a depth of 1000 meters, the main branch branches and goes further into the depths with its numerous "tentacles". More than one world record is associated with this cave. For example, groundwater uber-raven the shortest river on the planet is saturated - Reprua, only 18 meters long, after which it completes its journey and flows into the Black Sea. Another interesting fact associated with the "bottomless cave" concerns an animal that lives deeper than other animals underground. Scientists discovered this creature at a depth of 1980 meters and the new underground inhabitant was given the name Plutomurus ortobalaganensis. This animal belongs to the springtail order, whose representatives appeared in the world approximately 420 million years ago.

For the first time the cave was discovered and explored by Georgian speleologists to a depth of 95 meters in 1960. The second time it was visited in 1968 by a team of Krasnoyarsk speleologists at a depth of 210 meters. After that, organized expeditions moved deeper and deeper underground, reaching new depth marks. Today's record belongs to the Ukrainian speleologist Gennady Samokhin, which managed to descend to a depth of 2191 meters in August 2007. As for the female part of the population, the first woman to descend to a depth of 2140 meters was Saule Pankene from Lithuania.

Yes, courage and courage these people certainly do not hold. Although I think their courage is ultimately rewarded with new and interesting discoveries, for which it is worth fighting for.

P.S. The photos in this post were taken by Stephen Alvarez. The photographer specializes in shooting caves, and his work can be seen in Time Magazine and National Geographic.

Address: Abkhazia

The Krubera-Voronya cave, located high in the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, is the deepest cave in the whole world. Today its depth is 2200 meters. The cave has a rich history and is of great value to speleologists.

*Remember that under Georgian law Abkhazia and South Ossetia are considered occupied territories. Accordingly, by visiting these territories from the Russian side, you are breaking the law.

Story

The history of the cave begins in 1960, when it was discovered and studied to a depth of 95 meters by a group of speleologists from the Bagrationi Institute of Geography. Immediately after the discovery of the cave, it was named after Kruber, the founder of Russian karst studies. By the way, since you like caves, maybe you will be interested in the mountains? We invite you to the resort of Georgia Sairme, there is a wonderful mild climate all year round.

The cave was explored for the second time in 1968 by an expedition of speleologists from Krasnoyarsk. The explored length of the cave has increased to 210 meters. She gave the cave a second name - Siberian.

In the 80s of the XX century, cavers from Kyiv studied the cave. After this expedition, the explored depth of the cave was 340 meters. Scientists gave the cave another name: Crow. After that, the cave began to be called Krubera-Voronya.

Aggravation of the armed conflict in Abkhazia in 1992-1993. suspended the study of the cave for a long time. Research resumed more than 20 years later, in 1999. This year speleologists from Kyiv made a breakthrough deep into the cave by 700 meters.

In early 2001, the cave was explored by an organization of Ukrainian speleologists together with speleologists from Moscow. During the expedition, a world record was reached - the depth of the cave was 1710 meters. Before that, the world record holders were the caves of France - Pierre Saint Martin and Jean Bernard, their depth is 1600 meters.

In 2004, during the expedition, the Ukrainian Speleological Association set a new record - for the first time in world history, the depth of the cave exceeded 2 km. Currently (2015), the studied depth of the cave is 2200 meters, which is the highest in the world.

About the cave

The entrance to the cave opens on Mount Arabica in the north of the Berchil Range. The distance above sea level is 2250 meters. The cave has a karst origin of subvertical type. It consists of a string of wells connected to each other by stiles. The depth of the largest plumb line is 152 meters.

Near the cave flows the shortest river in the world - Reprua. Its length is 18 meters. The Reprua is the coldest river in the Black Sea basin.

The cave consists of two large branches: Nekuibyshevskaya (length about 1700 meters) and Main (length reaches 2200 meters). At a depth of 1300 meters, the main branch diverges into a huge number of small branches.

In the deep part of the cave (1400-2150 meters) there are 8 underground tunnels through which water flows. The cave runs through a layer of limestone, which, starting from a depth of 1600 meters and below, has a black color.

The total length of the passages of the Krubera-Voronya cave exceeds 16 km.

There are no paths for tourists in the cave. It is possible to get into the cave only with a group of speleologists. Expeditions are held 2-3 times a year to explore the cave.

How to get there

The nearest city to the cave is Gagra. The distance to it is 15 km to the southwest. You will not be able to get inside the cave on your own. This can only be done on excursions as part of an expeditionary group with specialized equipment and experience in mountaineering.

Cave Krubera-Voronya is of great interest to speleologists as the deepest cave in the world. Speleologists say that 2200 meters is far from the limit for the cave, there is a possibility of conquering even greater depths.

Remember that under Georgian law Abkhazia and South Ossetia are considered occupied territories. Accordingly, by visiting these territories from the Russian side, you are breaking the law. This leads to a fine of 400-800 lari and other troubles.

If you have a stamp in your passport about visiting these territories, it is better not to go to Georgia with this passport. If you want to visit Abkhazia or Ossetia legally, do it from the Georgian side. Get official permission and there will be no problems. More details on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia: www.mfa.gov.ge.

The largest in the Abkhazian cave Krubera-Voronya, the “Big Cascade” well descends to 152 m; the cave itself, with a known depth of 2196 m, is by far the deepest in the world. The passage record belongs to Ukrainian speleologists.
The Age of Discovery did not end with the mapping of the last piece of the earth's surface. The current pioneers rush to their goals not far away, but deep into, revealing the secrets of the underworld of the Earth.
Jules Verne's fantastic epic "Journey to the Center of the Earth" anticipated the real penetration of daredevil speleologists into the mysterious inner world of the planet, where underground abysses, grandiose halls, tunnels, wells and galleries, rivers and lakes are discovered. The chronicle of the conquest of the "underground pole" can be traced back to 1723, when the engineer Nagel, on the orders of the Austrian emperor, reached the bottom in the Macocha abyss in Moravia (-138 m). The record was then set by Italy with Patriciano Cave (-226 m in 1839) and Trebiciano Cave (-320 m in 1841). Then the caves in Switzerland, Austria, again in Italy were considered the deepest. In 1944, the minus 500 m mark was conquered in the Dent-de-Croll cave system, France, and almost until the very end of the 20th century. the French dominated the conquest of the cave depths.
The global speleology boom began in the middle of the last century, when a dramatic struggle ensued for the status of not the deepest, but the longest cave in the world. The exploration of the giant caves required special efforts and preparation (the top three were the American cave with a known length of 38 km at that time, which over time subsequent expeditions managed to increase to 563 km), the Ukrainian Optimistichnaya cave (known length of 230.5 km) and the Swiss Hölloch (156 km). "Under the earth's surface in absolute darkness is such a huge world that you can talk about a new continent," - said the famous Swiss speleologist on the pages of National Geographic magazine (Alfred Begley in 1966). The “underground continent” metaphor was immediately supported. Speleological expeditions continue, the study of caves is carried out on a large scale and intensively, the list of record holders is constantly updated as the boundaries expand in breadth and depth. It is not possible to go through the entire cave through, to the very bottom of the longest passage, and not on the first try. all the pioneers of the underworld manage to return alive. This is a very dangerous path, full of extreme situations, complicated by bottlenecks, blockages and siphons (sections of the tunnel completely flooded with water) of unpredictable length and configuration.
The deeper, the more extreme, and each new breakthrough into the depths became a sensation of its time. A depth of 1000 m was overcome in 1956 in the Berger abyss in the French Alps. The 1500 m line was passed in 1983 in the Jean-Bernard abyss, also in France (-1535 m). In 1998, the Lamprechtsofen abyss in the Austrian Alps with a depth of 1630 m (a record of the Polish team) was named the "underground pole" of the Earth. And finally, in 2001, the Ukrainian expedition explored the new deepest cave in the world - Krubera-Voronya on the Arabica massif in the Western Caucasus - to a depth of 1710 m. The previous record was surpassed immediately by 80 m. This became a real sensation not only in the speleological world, news bypassed all the mainstream media. At the 13th International Speleological Congress in Brazil in August 2001, the Ukrainian Speleological Association was awarded the honorary prize "For the most outstanding speleological discovery."
The entrance to the Krubera-Voronya cave is located in the Orto-Balagan valley from the northern side of the Berchil Range, at an altitude of 2240 m above sea level. m. It is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. During the exploration of the cave, the expedition equipped several camps inside: at a depth of 1200 m (a platform for two tents) and 1400 m. Further descent is only in a wetsuit. Siphon at a depth of -2145.5 m continues to the very bottom (final 50.5 m under water).
The Krubera-Voronya karst cave in Abkhazia, explored back in the 1960s by Georgian speleologists, is the current record holder in vertical races. Currently, it is considered the deepest in the world.
Back in 1977, the people of Kiev discovered and explored the deepest cave in the USSR at that time - the Kievskaya abyss on the Kyrktau plateau in Central Asia, which became the first Soviet "thousandth" (deeper than 1000 m) and the fourth in the world at that time. And promising Arabica in Abkhazia, in order to open here a new deepest cave in the world, began to be examined back in the 1980s. The choice of location was not accidental: the geology and hydrogeology of the massif made it possible to rely on ultra-deep caves. The Krubera-Voronya cave was then explored to a depth of 340 m. With each new expedition, the depth mark fell lower and lower.
For the 1980s Ukrainian and Russian speleologists have explored hundreds of caves in Arabica, including four caves deeper than a kilometer. But the team knew that this was not the limit: in 1984-1985. a unique experiment on staining groundwater proved the existence of the world's deepest hydraulic system in the bowels of Arabica. The colored water of the source on the top of the mountain, going into the crevices of the cave system, 2300 meters below, came out at the foot of the massif through 8 sources. It remained only to explore and go through this cave labyrinth following the underground waters.
But after the collapse of the USSR, the Georgian-Abkhaz ethno-political conflict escalated, which escalated into hostilities in 1992-1993 and 1998. The war interrupted the exploration of the caves. Only in 1999, the expedition led by Yuri Kasyan returned to the Ortobalegan glacial valley (the most promising part of Arabica in terms of caves). And immediately a continuation of the passages in the previously explored Krubera-Voronya cave was discovered. It was a breakthrough to a depth of 750 m, in August of the next 2000 - up to 1200 m, in September of the same year - up to 1480 m, and everyone felt that the world record was close. And they organized the third expedition in a year, without waiting for the next summer. In winter, at the turn of 2000 and 2001, the cave was explored to the dam at a record depth of 1710 m!
The world record in 2001 was not the ultimate dream: the team of speleologists set a new goal - to overcome the 2000-meter depth mark in a natural cave. In 2003, Oleg Klimchuk and Denis Provalov (an expedition of the Kyiv Caving Club and the Cavex team) managed to overcome a flooded area in a small side branch of the Krubera-Voronya cave at a depth of 1440 m and discovered a new branch of the cave system. At that time, it was explored to a depth of 1680 m. In 2007, Ukrainian Gennady Samokhin descended in the Krubera-Voronya cave to a depth of 2191 m, setting a new world record. And relatively recently, in August 2012, an international team of speleologists managed to reach its bottom. The world record for the depth of being in a cave - 2196 m - was set by that Gennady Samokhin. The bottom of the cave lay 5 m below the record mark of 2007.
The possibility of opening a new, even deeper cave theoretically exists. Experts are confident that tens of thousands of caves explored to date are only a tiny fraction of the predicted number, and new depth records are ahead, which cavers will be proud of no less than the first climbers who conquered Everest.

general information

Type: sub-vertical karst, the lower part is composed of black limestones.

Location: Arabica mountain range of the Gagra Range of the Western Caucasus.

Administrative affiliation: Republic of Abkhazia (partially recognized state in accordance with the UN resolution - is part of Georgia).

Nearest city: Gagra.

Opening year: 1960 (a group led by L.I. Maruashvili descended 95 m).

The status of the deepest in the world: 2001 (1710 m). The 2000-meter milestone was passed in October 2004.

Year of complete passage: 2012

Numbers

Total stroke length: 16,058 m.
The deepest well: 152 m.
Cave entrance height: 2240 m above sea level.

Climate

Average annual temperature of air and water at depth: around +5°C.

Relative Humidity: about 100%.
The city of Gagra (Gagra) has a humid subtropical climate.

Average annual temperature: + 17°С.
January average temperature: +12°С.

July average temperature: +26°С.
Average annual precipitation: 1700 mm.

Curious facts