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Album / Kek-Tash '1996
Note. Kek-Tash is the deepest known cave in Siberia and located near Kamlak village, Seminski ridge. Depth 340m, length 2300m. Difficulty degree: 3A (Soviet system).
Everyone knows, if you are planning to go to Kek-Tash, do it during the winter. Lots of water makes summer caving in Kek-Tash all but reckless. Not for Diggers, though. Too bored to wait until colder weather, we launched our attack in mid-August. Well, guess what? Of course it was wet like a... On the top of second pit, usually dry, we asked ourselves: what are we doing here? White water? Thanks to our Russian-made bombproof drysuits we stayed relatively comfortable. Comfortable, but nothing more: on the third pit our 30kg rope bag was swept away by the spring. All happened so fast – we did not even notice it! On the fifth pit, one of the Fathers went down to check out the conditions: water was so strong that he couldn't make it back by himself. Friends had to pull him up. Too tired to go back to the surface, they camped just above the fifth pit, no way to describe the experience, try it for yourself. Sleeping in the middle of small river in the whole ammo. The only happy guy was Father Yu. As a witness I can say: he was snoring like a mammoth. Next morning we were on the surface: sunshine, vodka and rock&roll. Since then Kek-Tash was always in the future plans, until Kek-Tash '2001.
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