The Kendal Mountain Festival’s famous Petzl Underground Session has been a great success again this year. Here’s a summary of some of our highlights from the evening!
The Kendal Mountain Festival is the UK’s biggest adventure festival celebrating all forms of exploration, above and below ground.
The Petzl Underground session was held Friday evening in the Kendal town hall. Hosted by Steph Dwyer, the event was a sell-out and hailed a success.
The evening began with a captivating talk from Gina Moseley, a Professor of Paleoclimatology, who focuses her research on the nature of the climate before instrumental records.
Gina showcased her 2015 expedition which surveyed and explored unknown caves in Greenland, the idea for this project was hatched following a conversation in a pub in Bristol.
She and her team were able to collect samples during the highly successful expedition and determined the caves to be about 2-5 million years old which was evidenced by flowstone in and around the caves. This fundamental work gives us an insight into understanding how the climate has changed through time.
Following much success, another expedition in 2023 to survey caves in Wulff Land, Northern Greenland, is in the works after she was awarded €1.2 million prize from the Austrian Science Foundation and the Rolex Award for Enterprise.
Next on stage were Peter Dennis and Emma Porter, two well-known individuals embedded in the caving community and key figures in the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC), who spoke about the importance of the BCRC and the caving community.
They made a memorable entrance, along with other members of the BCRC by carrying George Linnane, victim of the biggest underground rescue ever in Wales, on stage in a stretcher to give the audience a sense of how they conducted the rescue, and the significance of the BCRC.
Although to convey a true version of a events was a difficult task in Kendal Town Hall, a stark contrast to the narrow, complex passages of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (OFD), the iconic Welsh cave in which George was rescued.
George joined the discussion on stage wearing a T-shirt that read: ‘Everyone should have a hobby that could kill them’, a humorous perspective following his experience.
Emma Porter, Secretary of the BCRC, who played a key role in both the rescue of George and the Thai school boys in 2018, reminded audience members that all funding for Cave Rescue is voluntary based, they are an independent organisation who rely solely on contributions from the general public. Though they are specialised, they are a vital service when they are needed.
Peter Dennis, Chair of the BCRC and experienced caver said: “We represent 16 [cave rescue] teams across the UK and Ireland.
“The Council has been around since 1967 and in its current form represents about 1000 cave rescuers.”
When talking about the cave community, Emma said that: “For me, caving is about the people you meet, go caving and share those experiences with. You really have to trust the” Which is undoubtedly what makes the caving community such a close knit one.
Emma has since travelled and educated cavers in other countries on the importance of cave rescue and how best to conduct rescues; “We’ve been helping the Moroccans, and after we got back from our third training session there, two weeks later they had a successful cave rescue. [They told us] they used English methods and equipment.”
Peter added that: “As cavers we would stop whatever we’re doing to help a caving friend in peril. That’s what cavers do. We love caving, it’s a passion.
“We also appreciate that our mates would drop everything and come help us if they could.” Which resonated with a lot of cavers in the audience, and something that George Linanne experienced first-hand following his rescue.
When asked what the rescue was like, George replied: “I had to try not to lose it to help them do their job. I felt I had a chance when the rescuers turned up, the doctors were more worried about me than I was.”
Steph was also involved in the rescue and commented that: “Once we knew we were going to get George out it felt amazing!”
George recently returned and caved in OFD, he said that: “I want to get my life back to where it was, so this feels like a good milestone in that journey.”
The final talk of the evening was given by Robbie Shone, a world renowned cave photographer of over 20 years and partner of Gina Moseley.
Robbie has recently released his first book Hidden Worlds, showcasing the beauty of caves across the globe. He has also had work published in National Geographic, Intelligent Life and Stern to name a few.
He began by talking about how he became involved in cave exploration, photography and how his old-fashioned methods of photography still serve him well to this day.
He said: “I’m drawn to the darkness and the challenges that come with taking photos in a place like that.”
Robbie was involved in an expedition to Veryovkina (-2,212m), the deepest-known cave in the world located in the Caucasus Mountains of Abkhazia (Georgia).
After being underground for a week, the cavers realised the water levels were rapidly rising, “I’ll never forget the sound, it was like a freight train,” said Robbie.
They had to abandon all their gear and try and exit the cave as quickly as possible.
Robbie left everything at the bottom of the cave that may have slowed him down, he took only his memory cards from his cameras.
Despite this treacherous ordeal Robbie has been on a number of expeditions since and is still drawn to caving, he said: “Caves are one of the last places on earth where it’s exploration in its purest form”.
Imogen Campion