A team of Australian cave explorers descended in a 400-meter-deep cave chain in Tasmania region, bringing a new record to their country, according to the German News Agency.
“The team successfully connected a newly discovered cave, named ‘Delta Variant,’ to the Niggly/Growling Swallet Cave system, taking the record for Australia’s deepest known cave to an anticipated 401 vertical meters. The team entered Delta Variant right before noon, on Saturday.
After first negotiating a difficult horizontal section, they descended down the ropes that had been fixed over the last six months.
When they reached the end of the last rope they tied, they descended another 35m, and reached the bottom of Delta Variant, breaking through into the Niggly System.
The team then exited via the Niggly System to achieve the first system traverse using this entrance,” Southern Tasmanian Caverneers said in a statement.
The team faced very challenging conditions with high water levels and spent over 14 hours underground.
“Making the connection between Delta Variant and Niggly is a momentous achievement for the caving community, but also adds to our scientific understanding of the extensiveness of Australia’s karst systems,” said team member Ciara Smart.
