Recently I ventured underground following a group of students from Oxford University Caving Club (OUCC) to an area of The Picos mountain range in northern Spain called Ario, north of Los Lagos.
I was employed by the Mail on Sunday to cover this story alongside a writer, David Rose. He was once a member of OUCC and had not been back up into these mountains for almost 25 years.
David and I spent 132 hours underground camping in the most comfortable location the team could find. Almost 1km below the surface and more than 11 hours of nearly all vertical caving we spent our time surviving. My role as photographer was to follow the team and document their movements and achievements along the way. Last year in the same cave the team had discovered a sump pool that was to be dived this time round. They also bolt climbed up into a fossil passage, which was littered with delicate crystal formations spread all over the walls and on boulders on the floor. It was difficult not to destroy the formations as we tip-toed past.
Living at the underground camp for 5 days was fun, if a bit smelly after a while.
Food was interesting to say the least. Obviously it was basic, but very effective and almost tasty!
The team was in contact with the surface 'base camp' at 10am in the mornings and at 10pm in the evenings every day via a underground telephone called a 'Nicolaphone' requesting more supplies being sent down with incoming teams of cavers. Those that had had enough would ascend the 1km vertical way out carrying bags of rubbish and general stuff that wasn't required anymore.
When it finally came round for our time to leave the cave, I was almost sad to leave what I had grew to call home. However, we had a plane to catch the following day and at nearly 50, David was never going to break any speed records....
On a serious note I still had to photograph several of the more picturesque looking shafts on the way up, so we needed to get a move on. 16 hours after leaving the underground camp we had reached the surface 0300 am. The stars were out in full. The Picos Mt range was alive with an amazing light from the night sky. 2 hr walk back to (surface) base camp for a well earned sleep.
A great trip and a great experience working as a stills adventure photographer on my first full assignment.
Read full article and more photographs:
Deep Impact: Dicing with death 3,700ft below ground
Congrats Rob, it's hard to believe that is your first full assignment! This was a really fun article to read, I especially like the photo of all the gear and of a filthy max climbing out of the lake.
Posted by: Ian MacLellan | August 26, 2009 at 12:13 PM