An Irishman who descended what is known as the Everest of caves on the Russian-Georgian border is to talk about his thrilling adventure at an event in GMIT Mayo next week.
The college will host a public talk by Eoghan Mullen who, as part of an international caving expedition in 2010, descended the deepest known cave system in the world, the Krubera-Voronja cave.
Situated between Russia and Georgia, the cave’s vertical depth is just over two kilometres and requires a never-ending series of technical rope work and dogged determination to complete.
It is often referred to as the Everest of caves inverted; descending before ascending. GMIT lecturer and Caving instructor on the Outdoor Education programme, Davy Walsh, says “It is not uncommon on a trip like this to be enclosed in the cave for weeks at a time.
Eoghan Mullen’s account of his experience is sure to be enthralling. The main reason for the talk is to celebrate and create awareness ofsuch a significant Irish caving achievement but also to give Eoghan and a number of other cavers in the Mayo and Galway region a chance to talk about the next big Irish caving expedition when a team of approximately 15 cavers will spend a number of weeks with the Kosua tribe, deep in the jungles of the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.”
“They are hoping to go deeper and further into a number of known caves as well as exploring and opening up new cave systems. If successful they will be the first humans in history ever to have ventured into these new cave systems,” explains Davy Walsh.
“Caving in Ireland isn’t as common as other adventure sports like hillwalking, surfing or rock climbing and with this in mind it is difficult to fund expeditions of this kind without some kind of fund-raising. There is no admission fee however there will be a donation bucket if anyone feels like supporting these explorers on their newest adventure to Papua New Guinea.”
Eoghan Mullen’s public talk on his Krubera-Voronja experience takes place in the GMIT Mayo campus, Castlebar, at 8pm on 26 November, in P002.
