Krubera-Voronya Cave is the deepest cave in the world. Debunking the photo-myth about the deepest cave in the world of the Kruber - the crow

Already passed more than 2.000 meters down.
Speleologists first learned about the existence of the Krubera-Voronya cave in the Arabika mountain range in Abkhazia in 1960. Then they managed to descend only 95 meters. The cave was classified as shallow and forgotten about for 8 years. During the second attempt to explore the cave, speleologists reached a depth of 210 meters, the third expedition reached 340 meters.
From that moment on, each subsequent expedition set itself the main goal of descending as low as possible. However, with each new descent, only the number of discovered passages and branches grew, while the exact depth of the cave continued to remain a mystery. In 2001, another team of cave explorers reached a record depth of 1710 meters, which made it possible to officially classify the Krubera-Voronya cave as the deepest cave on the planet.

mountain range Arabica, in which the cave is located, is located 15 kilometers northeast of the Gagra resort.

Krubera-Voronya is a sub-vertical karst cave. It consists of a series of wells connected by passages and galleries.

The first entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of about 2250 m above sea level in the Orto-Balagan tract. The second entrance to the cave, which was discovered in August 2014, is located 3 meters higher than the first.

At a depth of 200 meters, the cave branches into two main branches: Nekuibyshevskaya (in 2010, the depth is 1697 m) and the Main branch (the current depth is up to 2196 m). Starting from a depth of 1300 meters, the main branch branches into many other branches.

More than 8 siphons are known in the bottom part (located at depths from 1400 to 2144 m). The cave is located in a limestone layer, while the bottom part from a depth of 1600 meters is laid in black limestone.

Until June 2001, the deepest cave in the world was the Lamprechtsofen cave, 1632 meters deep, located in the Northern Limestone Alps, until the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association with the participation of Moscow speleologists set a world record, reaching a mark of 1710 meters in the Krubera-Voronya cave.

The mark of 1710 meters for the cave was not the limit. During subsequent expeditions, speleologists announced that they had reached a new depth.

In 2004, the Krubera-Voronja cave became the only known cave in the world with a depth of more than 2000 meters. On October 19, for the first time in the history of speleology, they overcame a 2-kilometer barrier - 2080 m.

You can get into the cave only as part of one of the speleological expeditions, and even then only if you have the appropriate climbing skills and special speleological equipment.

In 2005, within the framework of the regular UCA expedition, hydraulic leveling was carried out to clarify the depth of the cave. A series of subsequent expeditions by the rival Cavex and UCA teams were engaged in diving the bottom siphons, increasing the depth of the cave several times.

On this moment The cave has been explored to a depth of 2197 meters. The current record belongs to speleologist Gennady Samokhin.

There are still unexplored branches in the Krubera-Voronya cave. Whether they will lead to new records or to a dead end is still unknown.

Exploration of the cave continues to this day.

March 28th, 2013

Crow Cave (caves Kruber, Krubera-Voronya) is the deepest explored cave in the world. It is located in the Arabica massif in the Gagra Range in Abkhazia, Georgia. It is part of the system to which the Arabica Cave belongs. The cave is branched into two branches: Nekuibyshevskaya and Main, which, in turn, branches into several smaller branches. The depth of the first is about 1300 meters, the second is about 2196 meters.

The depth of the cave is 2140 (± 9) meters. The previous depth record of 1710 meters was set in 2001 by a Russian-Ukrainian team. In 2004, during three expeditions, the depth of the explored territory increased each time. At this stage, the Ukrainian teams crossed the mark of 2000 m below ground level. This happened for the first time in the history of speleology. In October 2005, new, unexplored parts were found by the CAVEX team, and the explored cave became even deeper. This expedition confirmed that the depth of the cave currently reaches 2140 (± 9) meters deep.

The subvertical karst cave is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. The deepest plumb lines: 115, 110 and 152 meters. At a depth of 200 meters, the cave branches into two main branches: the Nekuibyshevskaya (in 2010, the depth is 1697 meters) and the Main Branch (the current depth is 2191 meters). Starting from a depth of 1300 meters, the main branch branches into many other branches. More than 8 siphons are known in the bottom part (located at depths from 1400 to 2144 meters). The cave is located in a limestone layer, and the bottom part from a depth of 1600 meters is laid in black limestone. The waters of the Krubera-Voronya cave are fed by the most short river in the world - Reprua.

The cave was discovered and first explored to a depth of 95 m by Georgian speleologists in 1960. Then it got its first name: Krubera Cave, in honor of the father of Russian karstology A.A. Kruber.

The forgotten cave was re-explored by Krasnoyarsk speleologists in 1968. They used the name of the cave: Sibirskaya.

In 1982-1987, the cave was again remembered. This time it was explored by Kyiv speleologists to a depth of 340 m. A third name appeared: Voronya Cave. After the Abkhaz-Georgian war of 1992-1993, the republic was cut off from free visits by speleologists. Work resumed in August 1999, when the people of Kiev reached a depth of 700 m in one expedition. In August-September 2000, the same team reached a depth of 1410 m. at 1710 m. At this point, the branch was shut up by an impenetrable blockage. In August 2003, the Cavex team dived the fourth siphon in the side branch and stopped at a depth of 1680 m with a free continuation. In July 2004, the same team in the same branch set a new world record - 1775 m. In August of the same year, the USA expedition explored another branch. And again the world record is 1840 m. Two months later, in October 2004, the UCA organized a new expedition. On October 19, for the first time in the history of speleology, a 2-kilometer barrier was overcome - 2080 m.

For many decades, the palm in the title of the deepest cave belonged to the French caves Pierre Saint Martin and Jean Bernard, which go into the bowels of the earth for more than 1600 meters. However, in 1960, an event occurred that gradually began to deprive them of leadership. Speleologists working in Abkhazia on the Arabica massif discovered a previously unknown cave. That year, they managed to descend only 150 meters, which, of course, not only did not give them the right to call the new cave the deepest, but even rank it among the deepest caves in the world. The only thing that cavers could do was to give new cave the name is Krubera Cave in honor of the founder of Russian and Soviet karstology (the science of the impact of water on rocks) Alexander Kruber.

Then began Long story, reminiscent of an auction that takes place with any cave after the discovery: each regular speleological expedition announced reaching a new depth - 210, 340, 710 meters ... It is worth noting that just at around 340 meters, the Krubera cave received a new name - Voronya. In the future, both of these unofficial names merged into one official one - Krubera-Voronya.

The most deep point accessible from two other cave entrances of the Arabica system: the Kuibyshev cave and the Heinrich's Abyss, which are located further on the mountainside. The entrance to the cave from another representative of the system, Berchilskaya cave, is 100 m higher than the Voronya cave. Total depth ligament is about 2240.

In 2002, the Russian-Ukrainian team of speleologists was officially recognized as the discoverer of the deepest cave on the planet.

The INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SPELEOLOGISTS has registered a depth record set by the Russian-Ukrainian team of cave explorers CAVEX. The daredevils from this team managed to descend to a depth of 1710 meters - this is the length of the underground well of the Voronya cave, which is located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia. Today it is the deepest cave on the planet. The official recognition of this record had to wait two years - these are the formal requirements of the International Union. The discoverers themselves say that the record of this cave is the merit of "all Soviet speleologists."

Speleologists have known for a long time that there are many deep caves in these mountains. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, the famous French karstologist Martel, who conducted research in those parts, came to the conclusion that there were extensive underground voids in Arabica. But it turned out that the entrance to the Voronya cave, which later turned out to be the deepest on the planet, was found only in the 60s. Georgian speleologists, who discovered the well, tried to explore it, but retreated in front of a too narrow passage. They classified the cave as shallow but promising.

In the 1980s, Soviet scientists conducted an experiment on tracing groundwater in Arabica and once again confirmed the presence of the deepest karst hydraulic system in the world. What did the researchers do? They dyed the water of underground rivers with a harmless substance fluoriscin and supplied water sources at the foot of the mountain with traps, which soon recorded the release of fluoriscin. It became clear that the complex of caves was practically not studied. The axis remained behind the nasty one: is it possible for a person to pass into underground tunnels? This could only be verified in practice.
In the mid-80s, Kyiv speleologists made several attempts to conquer Voronya. With the help of a rock hammer and a perforator, they were able to “break through” to the mark of 340 meters. The cave didn't let go further. Too narrow a passage would require a lot of time to overcome it. The conquest of Voronya was postponed indefinitely.

Then the war came to Abkhazia - not the most right time for speleological discoveries. And only in 1999, one of the members of the CAVEX team, Aleksey Zhdanovich, "poked", as speleologists say, into the cave window and discovered the entrance to a new tunnel. “At such moments,” says Denis Provalov, head of CAVEX, “the pulse quickens and the most exciting stage begins - the first ascent. You don’t know what awaits you around the next turn of the gallery and what will happen at the end of a multi-meter well.”

And “around the next corner” a whole series of cascades awaited the daredevils. That time, in 1999, the cave allowed them to reach the 700-meter mark. Further penetration into the depths of the earth was postponed for another year. “It is difficult to calculate the time of the expedition when you are developing new tunnels,” says Denis Provalov, “because you never know how long it will take to pass this or that section, sooner or later you run out of food, time, energy, and you have to turn off the expedition until next year” .

Usually this is how, in stages, the exploration of caves takes place. Sometimes the result of several expeditions can be a dead-end gallery, and sometimes you can stumble upon a small window in the wall of the well, which then becomes the beginning of a new path. “The cave has gone,” cavers say in such a situation.
In the summer of 2000, speleologists reached Voronya up to the mark of 1400 meters. A presentiment told them that this was not the limit.

The CAVEX team returned to Arabica again in January 2001. As soon as we set up camp, two guys - Ilya Zharkov and Konstantin Mukhin - went into the cave to explore in the evening. They returned only in the morning. Tired, they nevertheless did not hide their delight: having exhausted the supply of ropes and hooks, they reached a depth of 1680 meters, stopping before the start of a new well. Unbelievable, but it was already a record! The deepest mark at that time at 1632 meters (Austrian cave Lamprechtsofen) could not resist! The next descent of cavers increased the depth of Voronya to 1710 meters! The cave ended with a hall with a lake. The hall was given the name "Hall of Soviet speleologists", in order to emphasize that the record is the result of the work of several generations of speleologists.

According to the rules of the International Union of Speleologists, the record must be confirmed detailed map caves. To do this, for several more days, speleologists carried out topographic surveys, took readings of the altimeter - a depth sensor built into ordinary watches, measured the angles of elevation with the help of an eclimeter.
clone, the azimuth was determined by the compass, the length of the well was measured with a tape measure in centimeters. Then all the data obtained were recorded in a special notebook with indelible pages. And it was this notebook that was sent to the headquarters of the International Union of Speleologists as proof of the record dive.

In 2005, within the framework of the regular UCA expedition, hydraulic leveling was carried out to clarify the depth of the cave.
A series of subsequent expeditions by the rival Cavex and UCA teams were engaged in diving the bottom siphons, increasing the depth of the cave several times. The current record belongs to speleologist Gennady Samokhin.

The first woman to reach a depth of 2140 m was Saule Pankene from Lithuania. The expedition, organized by the Lithuanian speleologists' club "Aenigma", consisting of four people and led by Aidas Gudaitis, passed through the cave in September 2010.

1960: Georgian explorers karst formations found a cave and then explored it to a depth of 180 meters.

1968: A Polish-Russian expedition discovered three caves of the Arabica system: Sibirskaya, Heinrich and Berchila.

Early eighties: the people of Kiev explored the cave to a depth of 340 meters.

August 1999: A Ukrainian second-echelon team discovered windows into a cave at a depth of 230 meters, which led to a branch up to 700 meters.

August 2000: Second echelon teams continued exploration to a depth of 1200 meters.

September 2000: UCA (Ukrainian Speleological Association) and MTDE teams continued exploration to a depth of 1410 meters.

January 2001: The USA and Cavex teams became familiar with windows at 1,350 meters, resulting in a crossing at 1,430 meters. The sides of the passage at a depth of 1420 meters turned out to be a tunnel to the site at a depth of 1710 meters.

August 2003: Cavex and Kyiv Club found new sites at a depth of 1660 meters.

July 2004: Cavex team - new discovery, depth - 1810 meters.

August 2004: USA - found a side pass at 1660 meters, which led to another at a depth of 1824 meters.

October 2004: USA - descent to a depth of 2080 meters. For the first time in the history of speleology, a group of researchers descended into a cave to a depth of more than 2 kilometers.

August 2001: UCA - search for the continuation of the cave in the lower part (1420 m -1710 m).

February 2005: USAA - a new milestone - 1980 meters of depth.

July 2005: Cavex descends another 160m off site at 1980m. This resulted in a search at 2140m. During this expedition, three sorties were taken to a depth of more than two thousand meters.

September 2007: Gennady Samokhin explores the cave at a depth of 2196 meters, which is still a world record.

Video interview with Gennady Samokhin

And this is the most significant dive - The final part of the dive into the siphon Two Captains, the ascent of the submariner Gennady Samokhin:

The pioneer of the depth of 2196 meters in the Krubera (Voronya) cave, Gennady Samokhin, believes that the 2200-meter mark can be overcome not only by diving into the siphon...

What was the expedition to Krubera (Voronya) like in 2012?

The expedition was carried out within the framework of the USA project "Call of the Abyss". Leader Yu. M. Kasyan, 59 participants from 9 countries (Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Great Britain, Israel, Lebanon, Ireland, Poland). Of these 59 people, three were supposed to dive into the "Two Captains" on mixtures, but I had to do it alone ... 18 sets of regulators, 31 cylinders with air, trimix, oxygen were delivered for diving. 150 liters of gasoline for stoves, 500 kilograms of food, 3000 batteries were delivered to the underground camps... In total, 7 camps were deployed in the main branch of the cave; the deepest of them (and in general in the world) - "Rebus" - at a depth of 1960 meters. The expedition lasted from July 21 to August 26.

When was the cave discovered and what is the correct name for it?

Cave Krubera (Voronya), today the deepest in the world, was discovered by Georgian speleologists - the Kipiani group - in 1963 and named after Kruber. The depth of its explored part then was 57 meters. In the late 1970s, the cave was rediscovered and named Siberian. In the mid-1980s, Ukrainian speleologists discovered the cave for the third time and named it Voronya. Subsequently, it turned out that this is all the same cave. I think the most correct name- this is given by the discoverers - Krubera cave. In extreme cases - Krubera-Crow.

Sounds like a system...

No, today Krubera-Voronya is one cave with one entrance. Unless someday we will dive to its outlet in the Black Sea ... Already now we have reached in this cave absolute altitude approximately 40 meters above sea level. Moreover, it is known that underground river, flowing through the cave, unloads into the sea.

What are the prospects for further "deepening" of the Krubera Cave? Does it make sense to dive even deeper?

It makes sense to dive, but only with a rebreather. The fact is that in the "Two Captains" siphon, the passage is, firstly, rather narrow (approximately 60 centimeters per meter, and this gap is located obliquely) and, secondly, very gentle. Moved more than 40 meters forward - and only 5 meters deep. In narrowness, this takes a lot of time - and, accordingly, a lot of breathing mixture. And you have to carry this mixture with you in cylinders, which still reduces the speed ... I see the only way out: use a rebreather, breathing apparatus closed loop. This will increase the time reserve many times over - from the current 30 minutes to several hours or more ...

The Russians from the Cavex team dived with a rebreather into the "Two Captains" - but for some reason they could not advance ...

They just got stuck. The fact is that the device they used is placed on the back, and this is very inconvenient in "Two Captains". You need a rebreather attached to the side of the swimmer. I am now looking for such a device and saving money for it.

What is the expected length of the "Two Captains" siphon?

Possibly over 10 kilometers. It is quite possible that this siphon will continue all the way to the Black Sea...

What other options are there for "deepening" Kruber-Voronya, besides diving into this siphon? For example, other branches of the cave?...

There are unexplored extensions in the Krubera cave. But it is too early to talk about reaching record depths in them.

How about "deepening up", looking for higher entrances?

There are several caves in the Orto-Balagan valley that are hydrologically connected with Krubera-Voronya. In particular, these are the Kuibyshevskaya - Genrihova Abyss - a depth of 1110 m, the entrance is 30 meters lower than Kruber-Voronya; Berchilska - depth 500 m, entrance 120 meters higher; Gnomes - depth 400 m, entrance 50 meters lower; The Little Prince is 50 m deep, the entrance is 15 meters higher, and the Little Prince is only 100 meters from the Krubera cave. If we manage to get to Krubera from the Little Prince or from Berchilska, we will get the desired "deepening up".

What about Martel's cave?

Martel's cave is located on the right side of the Orto-Balagan valley, but according to geological prerequisites, it develops into a neighboring valley. So if there is a prospect for great depth- something completely separate from the Krubera cave ...

sources

Our planet is fraught with many mysteries and interesting places. Some of them have been fully mastered by mankind, and some, even after much research, still need additional study. The deepest cave in the world, Krubera-Voronya, located in Abkhazia, is also considered a mystery. For many years now, scientists all over the planet have been trying to unravel its age-old secrets.

The history of the name of the cave

The Krubera-Voronya Cave in Abkhazia is located in the Arabica Mountains. It consists of numerous wells, interconnected by galleries and stiles. The waters of the cave give life to the shortest river on the planet, Reprua, which flows into the Black Sea. Its length is no more than eighteen meters.

The cave reaches a depth of about 2200 meters. It was first studied by speleologists from Georgia (1960) and was originally named after the scientist Alexander Kruber. At that time, its depth was mastered only up to ninety-five meters.

The second study was destined to take place only in 1968, thanks to speleologists from Krasnoyarsk Territory. When studying it to a depth of two hundred and ten meters, they used the name Siberian.

The next study of the cave was carried out in the eighties by Kyiv speleologists. They gave her another name - Crow. In this case, scientists worked at a depth of up to three hundred and forty meters.

Cavers records

Due to the hostilities that engulfed the territory of Abkhazia, the Krubera-Voronya cave became completely inaccessible for speleologists. On the map of world exploration, it remained a mysterious place for some time.

However, already at the end of the 90s, cavers from Kyiv resumed the study, and the group subsequently reached a depth of one thousand four hundred and ten meters. And January 2001 was marked by a new mark - 1710 m, which became the world record result of scientists who are members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association.

Further breakthrough was marked by the efforts of the Cavex team, which in August 2003, despite incredible difficulties, reached a depth of 1680 meters. A year later, the following records appeared. Members of the same expedition reached the mark of 1775 meters, and members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association - up to 1840 meters. And already in October 2004, the history of world speleology was replenished for the first time by overcoming a two-kilometer barrier.

Until recently, the depth record of 2191 meters was held by the researcher G. Samokhin (August 2007). It should also be noted the high results achieved by women. So, the Lithuanian S. Pankene reached a depth of two thousand meters one hundred and forty centimeters.

About the entrance to the cave

The entrance, which has a cave Krubera-Voronya, is located at an altitude of 2250 meters above sea level. But there are two more accesses. These are the entrances to such caves as Genrihova Abyss and Kuibyshev. They are further up the mountainside. A hundred meters lower than the entrance to Voronya, there is access through the Berchil cave. The total length of such a bundle is more than two thousand meters deep.

The presence of many large caves V mountain system Arabica has long been considered by scholars. Indeed, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, the leading karstologist Martel from France, conducting research in these places, concluded that there were huge underground voids in the mountains.

However, access to the deep cave was only discovered in the 1960s. But because of the rather narrow passage, the Georgian speleologists (even after discovering the well) had to retreat from the desired work. And only in 2002, members of the Russian-Ukrainian team were recognized as the discoverers of the deepest cave in the world.

Overcoming record results

Relatively recently, in 2012, scientists from the Hebrew University conducted another study worldwide famous cave. The team members have been preparing for this event for several years. The primary goal of the group of scientists was to study the cave itself, its depth and underground sources, as well as understanding the development of the climate that once existed on Earth. However, in addition to this, one of the amazing results of their work was the discovery unstudied species fish living in the purest water at a depth of more than two thousand meters.

The Krubera-Voronya Cave attracts many scientists. The study of its depths has repeatedly become a kind of competition in achieving new results. So, this time the Ukrainian researcher, who is part of the expedition, reached a record depth - 2 meters 196 centimeters below the Earth's surface. To get into the extreme parts of the cave, speleologists had to use ropes and dive into very cold water. Unfortunately, one of the expedition members tragically died during the experiments.

In addition, another record result was broken. The Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which was the longest period spent underground.

Shooting a cave

Of course, not only for speleologists, but also for many photographers, the Krubera-Voronya cave is of great interest. Photos taken on great depth, are something unusual and incredible. The famous photographer S. Alvarez made a considerable number of wonderful pictures dedicated to the work of speleologists. Prior to that, he worked on religious, cultural and research photographs, collaborating with publications such as Time, National Geographic Magazine, Travel Holiday, Adventure, Delta Sky. But for some time now, shooting caves has become his serious hobby.

A new kind of beetle

The Krubera-Voronya Cave opens up new opportunities not only for speleologists. Excursion within the framework organized by Spanish biologists did not make us wait long for new results. They discovered a yet unexplored species of ground beetles. They are among the deepest-living underground insects, feeding on decaying organic matter and fungi. Representatives of the Duvalius species also have eyes, which are used in pitch darkness closer to the surface of the earth. Biologists are sure that many more can be found in this various kinds beetles living in a restricted area such as a cave or an island.

cave explorers

Cavex cavers have put a lot of effort into uncovering new secrets of the deepest cave in the world. After all, it was the daredevils from this team who for the first time managed to go down the entire length of the underground well to a depth of 1710 meters.

At the same time, the Krubera-Voronya cave was subjected to a phased study. Cavex quite often stumbled upon dead-end galleries or insignificant windows in the walls of wells, but all of them inevitably led to the beginning of a new path. Already in 2001, scientists reached new depths, which became a world record result. The open expanse of the cave ended with a sparkling hall with a lake, called the "Hall of Soviet speleologists". Thus, it was emphasized that this achievement was made possible thanks to the work of several generations of scientists.

Reasons for long studies

In 2001, the Krubera-Voronya cave officially received the title of the deepest on the planet, beating the previous champions - the Austrian Lamprechtsofen cave and the French Pierre and Jean Bernard.

To understand its true depth, it is necessary to present at least seven eiffel towers standing on top of each other. Why, then, did many speleologists not be able to establish the true dimensions of the cave for so long? most main reason there has always been a lack of technical means. In addition, the formidable and too narrow passages posed a mortal challenge to many researchers.

And yet mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing them to make more and more new discoveries.

Tourism is one of the main sectors of the economy of Abkhazia. All travelers come here for two things, beach and mountain tourism. Most of attractions consists of objects natural origin which are mainly located in mountainous areas. Among them are gardens, lakes, waterfalls and of course caves, which are in demand and are famous in Abkhazia, as well as beyond its borders. special attention deserves the Krubera-Voronya cave, which will be discussed later.

The Krubera-Voronya Cave is a natural site known all over the world. The reason for this is the physical dimensions, this cave is the deepest of the currently explored in the whole world. This natural wonder reaches a depth of up to 2199 meters! Krubera-Voronya cave is located in the Arabica mountain range, Gagra Range, in the Western Caucasus.

The Arabica massif is one of the largest and highest in the Western Caucasus. The bowels of this part of the Gagra Range are dotted with many caves, among which is Krubera-Voronya. Its main entrance rises at an altitude of about 2250 meters above sea level, surrounded by the Orto-Balagan tract. According to its type, Krubera-Voronya cave belongs to karst, which was formed by the long-term activity of water, dissolving rock, which in turn led to the appearance of voids.

The Krubera-Voronya cave is subvertical and consists of a series of wells connected by galleries and stiles. Another entrance to it was opened in August 2014 and it is three meters higher than the main one. However, there are five entrances to the cave. Having descended to a depth of 200 meters, the “mine” branches into two main ones: the Main branch, a depth of up to 2196 meters, and the Nekuibyshevskaya branch, a depth of 1697 meters. After the level of 1300 meters Krubera-Voronya cave branches into many others.

The Krubera-Voronya cave contains rather deep plumb lines, among which there are heights of 110, 115 and even 152 meters. Just imagine that such a plumb line can accommodate a 50-story skyscraper. More than 8 tunnels (siphons) are known in the bottom part of the cave. The bottom part of the attraction has another interesting feature, starting from a depth of 1600 meters, the limestone, in the thickness of which the cave is located, becomes black.

Krubera-Voronya cave was discovered in 1960. For the first time it was explored to a depth of 95 meters by an expedition led by the largest researcher of Georgia's geography, Honored Scientist, Doctor of Geography and Professor Levan Iosifovich Maruashvili. The cave got its name in honor of the outstanding Soviet geographer, the founder of Russian karst studies, Alexander Alexandrovich Kruber.

After some time, the Krubera-Voronya cave was forgotten, but in 1968 it was re-explored, but already to a depth of 210 meters, by speleologists from Krasnoyarsk. New expedition gave a new name natural object, Siberian cave. Oddly enough, the cave lost interest again and was forgotten right up to the 1980s, when Kyiv speleologists discovered it and re-explored it to a new depth of 340 meters. This time Krubera-Voronya cave got its new, third name, Voronya.

Subsequent descents resumed only in August 1999, the reason for such a long break was the Georgian-Abkhazian war, which cut off the Krubera-Voronya cave from free visits by speleologists. In the late 1990s, Kyiv speleologists reached a depth of 700 meters, which in September 2000 reached 1410 meters. In January 2001, members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association, together with Moscow speleologists, set a world record, reaching 1710 meters.

In subsequent years, the Krubera-Voronya cave became a place of rivalry between the two teams. In August 2003, the Russian Cavex team passed the fourth siphon and stopped at a depth of 1680 meters, where it then had free continuation. A year later, the same team set a new world record at around 1775 meters.

A month later, the Ukrainian Speleological Association explored another branch of the Krubera-Voronya cave, and again set a world record of 1840 meters, and on October 19, for the first time in the history of speleology, a 2-kilometer barrier was overcome - 2080 meters. All subsequent expeditions of rival teams consisted of diving bottom tunnels (siphons), each time increasing the depth.

On August 10, 2013, the Krubera-Voronya cave became known for a new record of 2197 meters, set by a teacher and speleologist from Simferopol, Gennady Viktorovich Samokhin. And in 2014, a new entrance was passed, located 2 meters below the main one, which increased the depth of the system to 2199 meters, with a total length of 16058 meters. So every year more and more new expeditions come, exploring the bowels, discovering something new, and who knows, maybe the numbers 2199 and 16058 meters are not the limit.

Just imagine what it is like to go down into the cave, smell the clay, earth and hear the silence. And if this cave goes underground for more than a kilometer… TravelAsk will tell you where the deepest cave in the world is located.

In the bowels of the earth

The deepest cave is located in Abkhazia, in the Arabica mountain range. It is called Krubera Cave or Crow Cave. Its depth is 2199 meters. This is the only known to man cave, the depth of which exceeds 2 kilometers.

The main entrance to the cave is located in the Orto-Balagan tract at an altitude of about 2250 meters above sea level. In August 2014, the second entrance to the cave was opened: it is located 3 meters higher than the first one.

The Crow's Cave is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. It must be exciting to go down to the depths of such natural wells. But not everything is so simple: there are siphons here - tunnels filled with water partially or completely. Therefore, cavers have to overcome the path under water.

The wells themselves in some places are very wide that the edges are not visible even with a flashlight. How does it feel to hang in the dark, dangling in this dungeon, when even a lantern does not illuminate the walls around, and infinity under your feet? Speleologists certainly can tell a lot of interesting things. And the smell of damp underground, and the fact that even without diving into the water you are all wet, since the humidity here is very high. And the fact that in this cave is not at all quiet, as it might seem: dripping and oozing from everywhere The groundwater, and these sounds echo in the cavities of the cave.

The Krubera cave has many branches. It divides into 2 main branches at a depth of 200 meters. One of them is Nekuibyshevskaya, 1697 meters deep, the second is the Main Branch, its depth is 2196 meters. The latter, in turn, at around 1300 meters diverges into many other branches.

The cave was discovered in 1960 by Georgian speleologists who explored it to a depth of 95 meters. For almost the past 50 years, it has been regularly visited by scientists. Knowledge about the mysterious underground passages multiplied with each new descent. For several decades, each regular speleological expedition has announced reaching a new depth: 210, 340, 710, 1410, 1710 meters. Whole auction. Everyone tried to set their own record.

Research continued until 2013, when a depth of 2196 meters was reached. In 2014, scientists found a new entrance to the cave: and thus its depth increased to 2199 meters.

How to get there

visit the cave ordinary tourists will not succeed: only as part of a speleological expedition, which come several times a year. In addition, it is not so easy: you need special equipment and climbing experience. However, you can admire mountain ranges.

The Arabica mountain range is located 15 kilometers northeast of the Gagra resort. The resort is easily accessible from Adler: the distance between them is only 33 kilometers.