The world’s deepest cave in one that has only been experienced by few, until now.
On April 24, the San Francisco Bay Chapter (SFBC) of the National Speleological Society (NSS) held its monthly meeting at the San Carlos Library. The NSS is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, exploration, and teaching of caves.
This meeting was joined by special guest Ryan Baker who gave a presentation on his joint expedition to explore one of the deepest caves in the world, Kubera-Voronia, located in the self-proclaimed nation of Abkhazia in northwestern Georgia.
Baker started his expedition in 2016 when he joined the Ukranian Speleological Association to explore what was, at the time, the world’s deepest cave. With a depth of 7208 feet, Krubera-Voronia that title until March 2018 when Veryovkina Cave was recorded to have a depth of 7257 feet.
After meeting the rest of his team, Baker set up a base camp near the entrance to the cave. The team was made up of about 30 people hailing from various nations including Ukraine, Spain, Britain, Iran, Russia, and Hungary.
Soon after setting up, they began their first descent into the cave. Baker spent close to a day underground before returning to the surface. He went down the next day and spent roughly a week underground.
Because the cave was so deep, it was impossible to reach the bottom and make it back out in one day, so the cavers before Baker had set up camps in the cave to eat and rest while underground.
“The camps were far nicer than any I had ever experienced, mostly because when these guys go down they’re in for the long haul,” Baker said.
The cave’s size made it difficult to gather enough information in a short amount of time so teams usually stay for months on end. They would also leave the rigging in the cave for future parties. Some of the rope in the cave dated back to its first discovery during the Soviet era.
After completing this expedition, Baker brought his experience to the SFBC’s meeting at San Carlos Library.
“We have been hosting the caving presentations for almost a year now,” said Alexandria Garcia, the branch manager of the San Carlos Library.
These meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month and are open to the public.
“We want our community to see a line up of diverse programming that sparks interest and exploration. In this case, literally,” said Garcia.
