EXPLORE | THROUGH THE LENS
The first of the other cavers appeared. We asked
him if he’d seen anyone else. He said no. We assumed
the rest were dead, though we didn’t say it. We con-
tinued on to the next camp and waited.
Then others started to appear. They’d managed
to grab sleeping bags and a stove. Everyone had
survived, though Petr had injured his knee badly.
We couldn’t climb further because the next water-
fall led to a narrow horizontal passage that would
be completely flooded. We waited 16 hours, trapped
between the floodwaters below and an impassable
waterfall above.
The Russian cavers, feeling relatively safe, were
soon laughing among themselves in the tent. Jeff and
I paced outside, watching to see if the waters would
rise again. We didn’t take off our harnesses or any
clothes; we wanted to be ready if anything happened.
But finally, the flood died down. Jeff and I escorted
the injured Petr to the next camp. The others went
back down to try to salvage what they could from
below. They came back with my camera and tripod
but said that one of my waterproof containers was
wedged into the cave roof.
It took us four days to get to the surface. We each
reached the top alone. My senses are usually height-
ened after I emerge from a caving trip: Smells are
stronger, colors more vivid, and sounds clearer. This
time, everything seemed strangely dampened. I felt
like a ghost living out my life as it would have been. But
I have also never felt such relief. I remember a blood-
red moon sinking on the horizon of the Black Sea.
One year later, Pavel and team member Kostia
Zverev arrived at my home in Innsbruck, Austria.
They put two bottles of vodka in the freezer and asked
me to close my eyes. When I opened them, there on
my kitchen table was some of the equipment I had
left behind. jshouted, “Come on, Petr, we have to evacuate camp.”
He said he would wait for Pavel and Andrey to
come back. I thought I would never see him again.
Using ascenders, we climbed ropes dangling
through shafts that had become raging waterfalls. I
don’t know whether I was more scared of the rising
water below or the torrent of water pummeling us
from above. To breathe, we kept our heads down
and tucked in our chins, creating a small air space
under the front of the helmet. It took every ounce of
effort to move an inch at a time, and we had nearly
600 vertical feet to go.
I was in the lead. If I couldn’t get past an obstacle,
everyone behind me would be stuck with no way out
while the water rose. I panicked. I climbed so quickly
that I lost sight of Jeff. I honestly thought that he
and the others were dead. Then I heard a very angry
voice behind me. Jeff was yelling at me to slow down.
I was so relieved to hear him. Finally, we reached a
temporary bivouac in a side passage where we could
wait safely, out of the water and cold wind.Cavers descend into a grotto at the lowest levels of the
Veryovkina system. During the flood, water was up to the ceiling.Robbie Shone has been photographing and exploring caves
for 2 0 years. His most recent story for the magazine was the
March 2 017 feature “Into the Deep,” about the Dark Star cave
system in Uzbekistan.200 m200 ftBlack
SeaRUSSIA
ABKHAZIA GEORGIATURKEYVeryovkina
Cave
Higher camp
-6,233 ftFlooded
camp
-6,889 ftFlooded
cave passage Terminal sump
-7,257 ft
CAVE SECTION
ENLARGED
ABOVE RIGHT
-7,257 ftdepth0Veryovkina
Cave
entrance Rising waters
Floodwaters quickly
reached 100 feet higher
than the camp set up
by the expedition team
in 2 018; they had only
minutes to move.Impassable waterfall
The team waited 16 hours
at their higher camp,
trapped between an
impassable waterfall and
floodwaters below.DAVID L. LAMBERT, NGM STAFF. SOURCE: PAVEL DEMIDOV, PEROVO-SPELEOCave Escape