Background on the Sima Pumacocha Project
The Andes Mountains are the longest mountain chain on earth,
extending almost 9000 kilometres down the west side of South America. They are
also the second highest mountain range on earth. Some of the highest Peruvian
peaks and ridges are made of limestone.
Cavers have long been interested in very high limestone mountains because they make possible the existence of very deep cave systems. Explorations have generally been disappointing however, giving rise to speculation that high-altitude karsts are incapable of major cave development. Certainly investigations in the Andes over the past thirty-five years have had modest results, with the deepest known cave prior to our expeditions being the 407m deep Millpu de Kaukiran (aka Sima de Millpu or Racas Marca), surveyed in 1973. As well, Peru's difficult political history and the lack of local cavers has slowed investigations.
In 1999 Les Oldham, a British exploration geologist and former caver living
in Lima, came across a sinking stream and highly favorable
geology
at Pumacocha ('mountain lion lake' in the local Quechua language); classic c
onditions for cave development. His friend and fellow
geologist/caver Nick Hawkes tried unsuccessfully to locate local cavers, and
then attempted to generate interest amongst caving
companions worldwide, but it was not until 2001 that a small team of cavers from
overseas were convinced to travel to the Yauyos district of central Peru.
The success of that expedition gave rise to two further expeditions in 2002 and
2004, both of which included Peruvian cavers from the Centro de
Exploraciones Subterraneas del Peru.
It should be noted that our three expeditions are only a small piece of the Andes cave puzzle. There has been long-standing and ongoing interest in Peru from French, Brazilian, American and other caving teams, each of whom have made new discoveries and contributed towards our knowledge of Andean caves. The establishment of a new continental depth record in Sima Pumacocha may refocus attention to the high Andes karsts, and future expedition reports from local and visiting cavers can be expected.
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