Aven des Pebres

Ardèche trip, Day 3 – Aven des Pebres

Team: Damian, Chris, Tom, Maz, Scott, Jasmine & Will (write up by Will, photos by Will & Tom)

This one was a little harder to find but our convoy of 3 vehicles navigated the rocky roads of rural Ardèche without much difficulty and found where we needed to be. A quick kit up and off we went, following the description. It was evident by now that descriptions and more importantly topo’s were very vague and often distances and rope lengths were just ball park figures. It wasn’t long before we’d come to a halt at a crossroads and cavers dispersed down the off shoots around us on a hunt for the entrance. Tom was first to holla up, so we all regathered and made for the sound of his voice. Entrance found, day 3 begins.

After yesterday’s retreat, I’d come prepared and so set off leading, straight onto a couple of slides which we rigged but later realised wasn’t necessary and would have made our day a bit easier but when at the top of the slides, it’s not totally convincing that you’ll get back up – they’re that slick. After a couple of easy down climbs and short passageway, we soon came upon the 31m pitch, which worked down through a series of re-belays that required some problem solving. In total, we used resin’d anchors for the most (a nice reminder of home for the team!), spits, slinged naturals, bolts, and threads. A true continental adventure! Initially, the decent can seem a little daunting and exposed, but confidence is restored as you work down and find options a plenty for rigging and all solid. I guess this is why the route descriptions and topo’s are so vague, because people take what they take and use what they use to get down. Going from the info Tom had, we’d over packed on rope length, but still found ourselves short on occasion. One of our previous pitches had some length left over, so Tom went with his knife to shorten it and repurpose the spare on another pitch further down. After the main pitch, again, we found ourselves short at the final pitch so as we were still spread out along the many re-belays on the main pitch we passed the message up for someone to go for the rope we’d used back on the entrance slides that we didn’t necessarily need. Damian and Chris were bringing up the rear and so retreated for the rope, and after ensuring we’d got it and that we would be able to climb the slide safely, they opted to exit early. Tom and I set to conjuring our very make shift last pitch set up, and then passed back the best way to work through it. Only small, around 5-6m, but awkward if you don’t have the right length of rope! After touching down, I set off to find the way on, a short scramble up into a decorated chamber, then a low crawl to the left down and through a large gour pool that I could only just about star fish across to stay dry, a slide down some flowstone, squeeze through some stals, low crawl over a deeper gour pool through a small opening and… WOW! I stood up, headtorch on full, quick look around, and then set off back as fast as I could to the others shouting its the best one of the trip yet! Possibly an early statement to make, as in reality each of our trips so far have been equally incredible but very different. Jasmine was next to touch down and she was instantly infected with my excitement and told me to take her to what I’d found. We worked through the crawls and squeezes and into the main chamber at the bottom. There was an in situ rope to the right leading up to a ledge so I quickly jumped on it and gained the view point. By now the others had made their way to the main chamber and some began to follow up behind me, others exploring the chamber. After the first ledge, there’s more ropes leading up around and through the calcite formations to a higher balcony over looking the whole chamber. I climbed a couple more pitches to another ledge, where I could just about see Tom and Maz walking amongst the huge formations. Tom translated from the description that the climb was to not much else and the view wasn’t going to beat my current positioning. I ab’d back down to the first ledge, where Jasmine and Scott overtook me and Maz was just gaining. Maz took some time here to admire the place whilst I descended, and Tom climbed to join Maz. Scott climbed to where I had been, and Jasmine began to work her way all the way to the top balcony. I started to explore the rest of the chamber whilst Tom and Maz ab’d down to join me. Before long, Scott was with us also and we watched Jasmine work her way back down through the in situ ropes. The whole cave is roughly 90m deep, and at the bottom is just huge chamber ceiling roughly 30m high filled with massive formations, floor to ceiling columns, and then it slopes down to the left which can be scrambled some way until you come to a ledge with view to a huge pool with crystal clear water in the bottom some 15 metres below. Tom and I searched for a way down, and whilst we were certain you could jump in the pool and survive, there didn’t appear to be a way down or up. The description says there’s another pitch, which we couldn’t obviously find, but had no rope left even if we had.

Once we’d had our fill, we headed out as we’d entered, with Scott de-rigging. Soon enough we were back on the surface without too many dramas, and hiking up the hill back to the vehicles. Day 3 completed, I think we’ll all sleep tonight!