Gouffre de la Pierre St Martin, French Pyrenees
Amid the misty limestone summits directly on the border between France and Spain is the huge entrance shaft of the Gouffre de la Pierre Saint Martin, one of the largest cave systems in the world.
For safety reasons this shaft was roofed over at the time when the photo was taken and this stone roof can be seen, with its modest door, at the bottom right of the picture. Above it are two plaques.
This cave system has been named the Everest of the Underworld. The 320-metre deep entrance shaft connects with 465 km of passages and chambers. Over 50 further chasms of similar depth join the network to the surface. The enormous Verna Chamber, 255 metres long and 194 metres high, is one of several similar underground voids.
The system was first first explored in the 19th century by the celebrated French speleologist Edouard-Alfred Martel. Tragedy struck during the 1952 expedition, when an equipment failure caused Marcel Loubens to plunge to his death at the bottom of the entrance shaft. He took three days to die.
Picture from a Fujichrome slide taken in June 1979.
220713 001DN
Gouffre de la Pierre St Martin, French Pyrenees
Amid the misty limestone summits directly on the border between France and Spain is the huge entrance shaft of the Gouffre de la Pierre Saint Martin, one of the largest cave systems in the world.
For safety reasons this shaft was roofed over at the time when the photo was taken and this stone roof can be seen, with its modest door, at the bottom right of the picture. Above it are two plaques.
This cave system has been named the Everest of the Underworld. The 320-metre deep entrance shaft connects with 465 km of passages and chambers. Over 50 further chasms of similar depth join the network to the surface. The enormous Verna Chamber, 255 metres long and 194 metres high, is one of several similar underground voids.
The system was first first explored in the 19th century by the celebrated French speleologist Edouard-Alfred Martel. Tragedy struck during the 1952 expedition, when an equipment failure caused Marcel Loubens to plunge to his death at the bottom of the entrance shaft. He took three days to die.
Picture from a Fujichrome slide taken in June 1979.
220713 001DN