Speleology – extreme sports. These are descents into deep wells through which water flows, and stones fall, and you not only have to go down into them but also go up; this is – crawling through the “skinners” on which sometimes you leave not only scraps of clothing but also pieces of your skin.
But all these “horrors” justify the knowledge that you have visited places inaccessible to most of the inhabitants of the Earth. And if you’re lucky, the speleologist turns out to be not only a “rogue”, the most complex cave but also its discoverer. But if speleology is an extreme sport, then what can be said about underwater speleology? There is only one thing – this is extreme sports squared, and maybe even cubed.
Fans of underwater sports are drawn to this very dangerous type of underwater-underground adventure, for whom it is not enough to “soar” above the seabed, admiring the underwater coral “gardens” filled with amazing inhabitants opening before them. It is carried out by speleologists who have decided at any cost to pass through the section of the flooded cave, which has become an insurmountable obstacle for many expeditions.
A person diving into caves filled with water needs to be extremely careful; here, if the scuba gear is damaged, it will not be possible to throw it off and quickly swim to the surface of the water. This surface does not exist. A stone cave vault replaces it. Here, the rope necessary for speleologists descending into steep wells acquires special significance and is called the running end. Losing a running line in a cave is tantamount to a death sentence for an underwater speleologist. You can find a way out without a lantern, but not without a running end.
Underwater speleology always involves risks, sometimes fatal ones. Recognized cave diving expert Sheck Exley, who wrote the book “The ABCs of Survival,” died in the cave. There have also been deaths in Russia. “Opened an account” named after Vasily Nosonov in the early 60s of the last century. There was an assault on the Kapova Cave, which was easy by today’s standards. In addition to the accessible part, famous for its drawings of mammoths and other animals, there was also a siphon part. To get into it, you only had to dive a few meters under the stone arch.
And this is where the “running end” comes in. – the rope, along which, even in absolute darkness, you can easily swim in the water along the desired passage, played the role of a death trap. To be even more confident, Nosonov attach a carabiner to it, which he tied to the chest harness on a short rope. In some incomprehensible way, the ill-fated carabiner twisted with the running rope and stopped the speleologist right in the middle of the siphon. Nasonov was also unable or did not have time to unscrew the carbine coupling.
Before you start traveling through water-filled caves, you must not only acquire expensive equipment, master the skill of working with scuba gear and experience in storming caves; it is also important to be prepared for the mortal risk that is fraught with every dive into the bowels of the Earth. The most experienced caver-submariner, who has hundreds of assaults on the most complex and dangerous caves behind him, can die here. So, on March 8, 1995, in the Arkhangelsk cave, which bears the official name ZhV-52, the life of one of the most promising cave explorers in Russia, Vladimir Kiselev, unexpectedly ended.
There were only 60 meters left before exiting the underground gallery filled with water. Most of the way back was already covered by Vladimir. And then something happened. It will never be possible to find out exactly what happened. The rescuers who arrived a few hours later first found the vehicle entangled in the chassis. A cylinder on the cable, then a fin half-covered with silt and, finally, the speleologist himself. Judging by the fact that the cylinders were empty, he continued to fight until the very last minute and swam to where there was air.
“Where did Volodya have so much energy since he not only visited several hundred caves but also opened new passages in many?” – I asked Viktor Komarov, who, together with Kiselev, a year before the tragedy, stormed one of the deepest and, as speleologists say, promising caves of the former Soviet Union – the Zou cave. “It is very difficult to talk about cave assaults, especially about underground cavities filled with water, with a layman. From the outside, speleology sometimes seems like adventurism.
But that’s not true. Here, experience, calculation, intuition and some other physiological memory of the body about passing through similar sections of caves merge. Volodya had all this. And there was still great persistence, maybe even fanaticism. He made it his life’s goal to storm little-explored caves. Therefore, where many stopped, Volodya moved forward. “Yes,” he agreed, “you can’t do that. But if you don’t do it, then you can’t do anything at all.” No one could blame him. In the cave, everyone must behave very individually, focusing only on their physical capabilities, only on their intuition.”
Volodya’s last trip to the Arkhangelsk region began successfully. When four Muscovites arrived at the railway station, a car from the reserve was already waiting for them. We quickly reached the village of Pinega. Lucky here, too. Things (and there were a lot of them) were taken to the base partly on a sleigh, partly on a Buran. The next day, Volodya did a training dive underwater. I checked my equipment in Lake Nosonikha. Everything was OK. And then March 8 came – the last day of the life of speleologist Volodya Kiselev. Cave ZHV-52 begins with a large, almost 6-meter cavern, from which an underwater gallery stretches deep into the karst massif.
Last year, Volodya managed to complete it 180 meters. In this – he wanted to get to the end… 13 hours 55 minutes. Volodya does not yet know that he will never go into the cave again. He takes the reel with the “walker” – stranded steel wire, and disappears underwater. According to the “movement”, the speleologist can return, even if the silt he raises interferes with visibility in the water. Using it, he jerkily transmits signals to his comrades, remaining on the surface. At 14:35, Volodya’s friends felt the twitching of the “running end” for the last time.
