The Italian Connection 1979
Stan Gee's Italian
articles have become a regular feature and so here is the 1979 contributionÂ….
My friends, and I use the term loosely, were greatly amused
when in February I sustained a broken ankle as a result of attempting to ski on
a pair of antique wooden planks which are laughingly called "Cross Country
Ski's". Of course I was going downhill
at the time and the cross country bit became obvious when I ended up literally
spread eagled 'across country'. Anyway
this effectively put a stop to any thoughts of serious caving for a few months
so' this years Italian trip was basically a walking cum poking about for holes
trip. Holes in the ground you dirty
sods.
Starting from
With only a few days available we next went on a tourist
trip of the low Lessini Alps just below the high Lessini and Spluge della
Preta. Here we had an interesting
encounter with Attilio one of the original Spluga explorers and he showed us a
gigantic cave entrance near to Campsylvano probably about 150ft high and
perhaps a 100 yards or so long. The cave
does not continue, at least it is not possible to continue but strong draughts
blowing from cracks suggest that major excavation would reveal something big. These cold draughts produce a very interesting
effect by actually forming clouds within the great entrance. These clouds form to such an extent that
sometimes rain falls whilst outside the sun is shining.
From here we went to the Apuan Alps to search the north face
of the Monte Corchia for some caves that we thought we had seen the previous
year. These we found after a long hard
thrutch through dense undergrowth which was alive with all sorts of
nasties. The entrances proved to be 3
dry resurgences all requiring excavation. They are nicely positioned for a connection with the Buca del Cacciatorm
(Abisso Fighera) and if they do connect I would expect them to become active
only in the early spring snow melt.
Monte Corchia as I said before was considered, by the
experts, as an impossible site for large caves and was thus largely
ignored. Our discovery in 1974 of the
Buca del Arturo and Buca del Mami Dandelanti put paid to this theory and
resulted in a lot of activity taking place near the summit. At the moment of writing 23 caves have been
discovered, the biggest being Buca del Cacciatorm with 14 Km of passage and a
maximum depth of 850ft. This year an
Italian group discovered yet another cave close to the summit. This is called, for obscure reasons
"Abisso Baeder Meinhof" and at present stands at - 450m. Thus if we consider that the Autro del
Corchia runs beneath this lot as well then to use Arthur Conan Doyle's
words. "If we could strike the
ground with some mighty hammers it would resound like a giant drum"
(Terror of the Blue John Gap). Well he
said something like that.
The road to the Tavolini Quarry which was destroyed by an
avalanche in the winter has been partially repaired and it is again passable to
drive with care, to within 700-800ft from the summit. Near to the summit and adjacent to the
entrance to the Cacciatorm now stands the "Cappanina Lusa". This bivouac built to commemorate the memory
of Antonio Lusa is provided with bunks for 8 people and can accommodate up to
12 people. It is open all the time and
is an ideal base for the Cacciatorm, it was built with loving care and hard
labour, please take care of it for all our sakes. If you use it before you leave please clear
the place out and also sign the visitorÂ’s book.
Unfortunately the bivouac is positioned so that it just
shows on the skyline. From below,
perched on top of the 2,000ft face of Monte orchia it appears as just another
rock but this apparently, is offensive to certain Alpinists from
A return trip was made to the south side of Pania del la
Croee to the aptly named Vall d' Inferno and the Borra del Cinallone. It is difficult to imagine a more
inhospitable place than this with the sun beating down most of the day and
temperature in the 90's. However,
something in the region of 150 shafts have been noted in this area mostly at an
altitude of about 5,000ft. We noticed at
the head of the Vall d' Inferno a number of entrances and a large area of
explored Karst with several deep shafts in it. As I have not been able to obtain any written accounts about this area,
I presume that although the entrances have been noted no serious exploration
has yet taken place. There are written
accounts of the descent of the Abesso Renella (-300m) and of the work of the
P.C.C. on the alpine meadow called Face di Valle.
To reach the area from any point a longish walk is involved,
long and uphill all the way. From
Garfangnana a rough road may be used for part of the way but even from this
side access to the Vall d' Inferno necessitates an hour long uphill slog. The area is serviced by a small but very
effective Rifugro of the C.A.I. and there is ample space for camping and a good
water supply near to the Rifugo. All
supplies for the Rifugro have to be taken up by mule and thus the fare is not
as elaborate as some of the lower Rifucro's. However though simple it is adequate and has a plentiful supply of home
made cheeses. The Rifugro is capable of
supplying the needs of small parties but any would be explorers intending to go
in force are strongly advised to make prior arrangements well beforehand.
Recent discoveries on Monte Tanibura are likely to prove
interesting with one cave already at 600m. Tanbura is situated to the north of
Corohia and is approached by the
In closing I would like to say that I frequently receive
requests by letter, telephone and verbally for information and assistance. These requests usually open with "Regarding
your article in Descent" now this confuses me from the start for I have
never written an article for that magazine. I have however, written many article for the B.B. and I presume that
some of these have been 'snaffled' by Descent. I'm not objecting to this but it would help if people requiring
information could be a little more specific in their requirements.
Stan Gee
P.S. The area in front of the Pania del la Croce is reputed
to be the home of wild boar. So watch
it!