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| Patagonia has always fascinated explorers. All descriptions agree that the extreme remoteness and dreadful climate contribute to its ranking as one of the most inhospitable on the planet. Even now that the region is more easily accessible and its major summits are largely identified, it nevertheless holds a huge undiscovered potential: the underground world. Except for our two visits in 1995 and 1997, there has been no speleological or archaeological exploration to this karst.
In Patagonia, the adventure begins long before one goes underground! |
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New exploration, as well as a real challenge, awaits the team. After several days on a boat, we will have to build a base camp, then clear a path through thick vegetation before reaching the huge marble plateau that hold the southernmost caves in the world. Fed by heavy rains more than 8 meters per year - permanent waterfalls flow into the shafts, which makes this type of exploration among the most difficult known, due to the danger of sudden flooding and icy water (5° Celsius). Because of the extreme remoteness there must be no accidents. Because of violent, incessant winds, helicopters can fly only a few days a year. The only means of transportation is by boat. Navigation through the Ultima Esperanza's fjords is still very risky: Every year very experienced fishermen disappear. Despite this difficult approach, we are unable to forget the hundreds of unexplored chasms awaiting us. The conquest of underground Patagonia is only dawning.
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Summary
| The archipaelago |
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A
remote wilderness
Our
reconnaissance trips have revealed barren islands riddled with caves and
potholes that are totally unexplored and situated in an astonishing moonlike
landscape! Everything is excessive: the extent of the marble plateaus,
the number and the size of the potholes and crevices, the violence of
the wind and rain as well as the total absence of humans. Added to this
are the difficulties of access: no roads, no paths, sharp rocks, rugged
land partly covered with nearly impenetrable vegetation through which
one must struggle with the aid of a compass. 
After
having documented the underground marvels of Papua New Guinea in the eighties,
where the deepest cave of the southern hemisphere was explored, and the
karst of China with its huge underground rivers and potholes, French speleologists
will take up a new challenge at the dawn of the third millennium: exploring
the still-unknown 500 km2 limestone plateau in the islands of Chilean
Patagonia.