SOURCE DU DIABLE 1996
(Published on
the Congress Acts UIS in Switzerland)
I never heard about the “Source
du Diable”. One day, Jean Louis Camus, a French friend of mine, phoned me making
me curious about this cave. He already explored it until an important depth, so
he sent me a fax with the topography.
There is also the outline of
two cave divers: himself and the other one is myself.
The maximum depth reached until
that moment is –87m and this exploration needs a precise preparation of
equipment, gases, decompression, and so on.
My experience until that moment
was quite good: I started to dive in lakes when I was just 16, then, growing up,
I was a member of a special detachment of the army as diver, passing physical
and psychological tests. For a fortunate combination of events I met J. Jacques
Bolanz and the universe of the underwater speleology roused to my horizon. Proud
of my experiences I thought that my path would have been short and easy, to
imitate soon my new friend. I assisted him during his dive in the Gorgazzo Cave
that he explored beyond the depth of –100m using mixed gases and I thought that
in a short time he would have passed me his secret calculations for deep diving
in caves. I was wrong: I had to earn this new world, following the leader (I
thought about him in this way), helping him, watching him, speaking to him, and
trying to be satisfied of easy depth. I earned my deepest metres thinking and
meditating on the new places where I dived, different for morphology and
environmental conditions. Some time I committed serious errors and I must thank
God for having solved the bad situations. No matter what the error is, the
silliest, or the one that leaves you untouched just because it is not your
time, it must be considered to avoid too much trust in our own physical, psychic
and cognitive abilities, and to put again everything in discussion. Like this I
got a great respect for the places where I moved, especially when, without
preparation, I overtook their borders, and also I got a critical eye about my
experiences, improving my sense of comfort and relaxation dive by dive.
The “Source du Diable” is
located in France, in the Vercor zone. The water flow is almost the same during
all the year, except in rare cases where the non stop rain makes the current too
strong for a dive.
Robert Jean and Guy Sevenier
were the first explorers of this source; in 1968 they could enter for 330m,
reaching the depth of -50m, then Fredo Poggia in 1976 and Jean Louis Camus in
1994, went on with the exploration. The maximum depth reached was –87m, and the
distance from the entry about 500m.
From the point where we leave
the car we have to walk down for about hundred meters to reach the entry of the
cave, blocked by the usual, at least for cave divers, unpleasant gate. The water
coming out from the grill of the gate, runs for other 5m, then falls for 20m in
the river down there.
I will start my first
exploration on the 1st May 1996, J. Louis Camus reassures me about the weather
forecast. In my country, the non stop rain had inflated all the sources so it
was not possible to perform important dives.
Following J. Louis Camus
indications I reach Choranche in the Vercors, then I go to the cave, where we
have to meet. At the end of an uneven road I found the path bringing to the
entry of the cave. Considering I do not know the place and I do not find
anybody, I decide make a U turn and look for the right place somewhere else. My
4 wheel is loaded with all the equipment, so I can see behind only from the
external small mirrors. I go out through the car window to watch behind,
thinking the friend with me is going to do the same. I start to go back, but
after 5m, near a turn, I get out with two wheels from the roadway and my car
slips completely out for the half of it. My friend Valerio, who did not tell me
about the danger, jumps out of the car as quickly as he can from my side, the
only side looking safe. Then I start to walk down the road looking for someone
to help and a storm starts to blow. I have to say, this trip is starting in a
great way! After few minutes I finally meet J. Louis Camus with Marc Cotin,
Jean-Claude Pinna and Daniel Andres: Jean-Claude is driving a 4 wheel with a
winch. Great! We can now go back to my car, download the 1000kg weigh equipment,
and recover it.
We start to carry some material
and some tanks down the path to the source, for about 100m, but it is slippery
for the rain. In the evening we study the details for tomorrow dive, we speak
about what kind of equipment it is better to use. J. Louis Camus says that there
are no narrow passages in the galleries, but it is better to use two 20 l tanks
on the shoulders and not three. Considering J. Louis Camus used four 20 l tanks,
I decide to dive with three 20l bottles, two on my shoulders with a 20% of He,
and the other on my side, with air. Using a 15l tank with nitrox I will reach
the depth of –40m, then, breathing air I will go to –60m where I will leave the
tank in a safe place, a kind of window, going ahead with the other two bottles.
During the night there is an
amazing storm, but in the morning it is sunny. When we reach the source we
realize the water level grew up for a few cm: J. Louis Camus, knowing the cave
very well, says that everything is all right and we will have a great dive.
Preparing the equipment I wonder if diving today it is the right thing to do: I
will have to do about 3 hours of decompression, and nobody knows how long it
takes from the rain to the flood. I take my time, chatting, looking around and
preparing my equipment while some friends are carrying the tanks that I want to
use in the siphon 100m far away from the entry. The other guys are taking for me
the O2 bottles for the decompression in the point I have indicated and for the
deepest stops I am going to use nitrox 40.
It is about 11:30am when I
reach the first siphon, wear the tanks and start my dive: it is 10m long. I
overtake it and then I walk with everything on for about 30m to the second
siphon. Some friends are waiting for me over there just to help me. It is
possible to by-pass the first siphon walking into a dry room, but it is easier
to carry all the equipment in the water. I ask them if all the tanks are placed
where I said and when they answer “yes” I finish wearing everything and I start
my dive. The current is strong and it is not so easy to swim with four tanks on.
I can recognize only the main places of this cave; when my friends described
this source I could just image it, but now, looking at it, I realize reality is
better than fantasy: magic forms, white rocks, transparent water with amazing
reflexes. When I reach the –40m I leave the first bottle and try to go on
faster. I enter in a big rocky canyon and I realise it would not be good to use
three 20l tanks on the shoulders because of the dimensions of some passages. At
–60m I have a problem when the tank I am using as relè gets entangled in the
yarn; while I am trying to rid it the visibility becomes suddenly bad because of
the clay falling down from the ceiling. When I have solved this problem I decide
to leave the bottle over there. I carry on with two tanks only, and after 30m I
reach the zone J. Louis Camus described as good for leaving the relè. From here
I quickly reach the forced gallery going on for hundred meters keeping the depth
of –84m, and then reaching the end of the last exploration, about 500m far away
from the entry. I stop at –87m, I have enough gas to go on, but I prefer to stop
there and just have a look to the continuation looking at the gallery that goes
down vertical. I did not plan to go over there! During the way I wrote a table
with the distance times to calculate the decompression during the explorative
dive. It took 28’ for the way forward. I start to go back, the visibility until
the exit is really bad because of the bubbles hitting the ceiling and making the
clay falling down. I need 16’ to reach the depth of –40m. Considering I used a
giclette, I make the decompression with the Aladin changing the times during the
deep stops. During the deco I wonder if a current increase would be possible to
occur or maybe a flood so I study the place where I am, looking for a shelter
protecting me from the stream.
I am very happy about this
first dive and I can not wait to go out and prepare the tanks for the
exploration. I go out after 206’, I look around but nobody is there. I reach the
exit and my friends are over there; the sun is shining but my plans are
cancelled when J. L. Camus tells me that when I was swimming inside the
mountain, outside a storm blew so strongly that it would be dangerous to try
another dive in the next days. Sadly we load the cars with all the equipment and
we go back to Italy. In the next three months my weekends are busy because I
have to go on with other explorations. The weather is rainy in Italy and the
sources are flooded, so my mind returns to Le Diable. Why not to try again? I
call Zdenek, J. Jacques and Bigiar; Bigiar calls Camus and Marc Cottin. Now we
can plan a return to Le Diable.
In the Vercors the weather is
really good, the low water of the source guarantees a weak current, meaning an
easier advancement. We will carry a lot of tanks, about 30, we have 20l, 15l and
12l bottles. If it is possible I would like to make two explorations, so I need
the equipment for all the situations.
During the first day we carry
all the tanks to the second siphon, while J. Jacques takes the O2 tanks to the
different depths. The day after, while Zdenek and Bigear are carrying other
bottles inside the siphon, J. Jacques takes an emergency relè at –67m. The third
day, when everything is ready for the first exploration, J. L. Camus and Marc
Cottin join us. This is the plan: I am going to use a 12l relè with nitrox until
–40m, where there is another 20l tank with air; from here I will have four 20l
bottles on. At –55 I will leave the air tank and go on with a bottle loaded with
He 20%, then I will leave it at –70m. I still have to use the two tanks on my
shoulders: first the one with He 30% to reach the end of the last exploration,
then I will go on with my yarn breathing from the last tank with He 50%. The
gallery is elliptic, it is large 5m and 1,5m high. When I am going down, with
the fins on the top and the head down I hit the ceiling with my helmet and I
have suddenly water in my mask. I can not see a thing, the water is really cold,
about 8° and makes me blind. I have to stop pushing down the feet to the
bottom. Finally I turn up the head in the direction of the exit, so I can empty
the mask. An unexpected and unpleasant difficulty happened, but it is the risk
of the job. I check the manometers and see that I can continue, so after an
instant of hesitation I continue the descent. Then, it looks like the gallery
goes on horizontal, but probably I am only imagining it because I realize that I
am going down to –115m where I decide to stop my exploration. I leave there my
reel, I have used 60m of new yarn, and I start to go back. The decompression
time passes in a nice way with my friends coming to meet me and to take away the
tanks that I will not use anymore. They make the time that I have to spend there
much nicer. I go out after 5h 40’.
Analysing my report we decide
together the depth, the distance and so on for the next exploration.
Camus takes the 20l tanks I
prepared to –70m (in this kind of dives you can not trust the others), I will
use it as relè. I repair the helmet giving to it a right form, considering I do
not want to have the same problem again. The fifth day, in the eve, all the
decompression and emergency tanks are ready in the water. They are 12: the two
20l bottles to use to get to –70m are placed at –40m, where I will leave the
first relè, and the other two, for my shoulders, are ready in front of the
siphon.
The following day, when I wake
up I think about the things to do during the dive, and during breakfast, eating
bread with butter and sugar, I repeat with J. Jacques all the necessary things
to do during my decompression. At the entry I check that everything is all right
and where I want, I do not want to make silly mistakes. I say goodbye looking at
the blue sky and I go to the dark, to the siphon. During the last moments before
I go, I make the last checks; everything is ok so I say goodbye to my friends
weaving and I start to breath under the water. Going down I watch the time
passing, the manometers and so on. I have time to think the reason why I am
undertaking a second exploration, why I am trying to know more about this cave
but before having the answer I get where I have to change tank. My mind is now
concentrated on the things to do. The gas mix with He I put in my dry suit makes
me shivering, and reminds me the warm dives in the tropical caves of Yucatan. I
get to another point to change the bottle. Swimming the last part of the gallery
and breathing from a 50% He relè, I see in front of me the forms of the forced
gallery (1,5m X 1,5m) that will get me to –87m. I look at my watch and I see
that I started the dive 25 minutes ago so I have still 10’ to spend without
increasing too much the deco time. I leave the relè at –87m and I start to use
the bottles on my shoulders. Starting with the one with 65% He I go down
carefully to –115m, my last record. I find over there my reel, I grab it and
when I finish 1/3 of the gas in the tank, I start to use the second one with 70%
He.
I have a great respect for this
untouched place when I swim into it. Every doubt I had of carrying on with the
exploration disappears, I feel the taste of the conquest of a new place, I am
ravished by the challenge, but now I have no time to think about it. I look at
the manometers: I am going to finish the gas for the progression, now I am in a
horizontal gallery getting bigger then the well, it is 2-2,5m high and 5m large
and it is long about 20m with a small passage at –137m. When I tie the line on
the rock that I have chosen as end of my dive I am at –135m but I can see that
the gallery goes down a few metres in front of me. I used 8 of the 10’, but the
gas is finished, I have laid down 60m of new yarn. Going out I can study the
morphology of the well, so I can see a gallery that probably reaches the one
where I am diving a few metres above it. I get the relè and the decompression
tables at –87m, I will have to start the deco at –65m, and the total time of
decompression is 435’. I look at the well for the last time: I know that in that
moment my exploration is over, I turn around and start the return. Before a
dive, at the moment of going, the concentration is at its maximum and the
attention is on the things to do and on the new and unknown place that soon will
be discovered. During the return things are different: the not listened doubt
now wants to be heard. Going out, far away from the exit, but on a lined path,
the attention is high, but there is also a corner of the mind to reflect about
self abilities. The trust on self psychological resistance and ability is known,
but unfortunately during deep dives with irregular depth and distances the
biggest problem and most uncertain is the calculation of deco times. During the
dives with a complex morphology we always subject our body to a continuous
experiment on saturation and desaturation. In addition to this, when we use
mixes of gas, everything gets complicated.
Going on I have time to wonder
if the deco that I have planned is safe and correct: my dive is classified as
“recreational” and I have no professional habitats. The tables that I am using
are calculated as square dives, I have changed them considering my knowledge and
doctors and other important people opinion. I am doing experiments over the
sperimental. When I am under the water waiting to go out, I think about this,
knowing that only when my head will be out of the water, and maybe later, I will
solve this problem. Because of the long deco times and being the visibility less
then 1m, I take all the relè and the emergency tanks that are in the deep part
of the cave, three 20l, two 15l and a 12l bottles. At –30 I find an argon tank
I can use in my dry suit to be warmer, and at the same depth my friends come to
visit me and take the tanks that I will not use anymore; everything is going
fine.
When I get out of the water it
is dark outside, I find other friends acting with the time that does not have to
be counted, with the air that it is possible to breathe only in deepest points.
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