1. Introduction
21st century began with two very advantageous decades in the field of the so-called supercaves, very deep caves. In 2004 Krubera-Voronja (pron. Krubera-Voronya) cave was the first to surpass the -2000-meter mark, and in 2017 Verëvkina (pron. Veryovkina) cave surpassed it with the world depth record of 2,204 meters. Both are situated in Abkhazia, a country on the northeastern coast of the Black sea, a land with a long, and often unfortunate, common history with Georgia.
In the List of deepest caves of the world not much has changed since the ascent of the two abovementioned caves to the top positions, and it looked obvious that the world will see new supercaves in the following years. But it happened that the third decade began with three ominous and disastrous events, in 2020, 2022 and 2023 which shook the very foundations of the world we were used to. And were all unfavorable for undertakings such as the exploration of deep caves, which demand substantial resources and benefit greatly from international cooperation. These circumstances stopped most expeditions to deep caves in 2020 and made them considerably more difficult to assemble and organize in 2022 and 2023.
The premature death of the longtime spiritus agens of exploration in the Verëvkina cave, Pavel Demidov in an avalanche in another cave on Arabika in 2020, and after the gruesome death of an accidental tourist in 2021 postponed further exploration of this cave to 2023. In August 2023 a 17-member expedition of the speleoclub "Perovo" marginally increased its depth from 2,212 meters (2019) to 2,223 meters, through the survey of the siphon Captain Nemo's Last Stand by an underwater drone. Krubera-Voronja's depth remained unchanged at 2,199 meters (achieved in 2012). For the time being Verëvkina and Krubera-Voronja remain the only sub-2000 meter caves.
For quite a few years now there were two caves with great hope to join the sub-2000-meter class. One is, as of mid-2023, 1536 meters deep Chevé Cave in Mexico, explored by the United States Deep Caving Team since mid-1980s, and the second one is, up to August 2023 1430 meters deep Boybuloq in Uzbekistan, explored, also since mid-1980s, by the Ekaterinburg Speleo Club (SGS) and Association of Cavers of the Urals (ASU), both from Russia. The achievements of 2022 and 2023 in both caves have not been published yet and this writing aims to describe what happened in Boybuloq during the past two expeditions.
Chapters 3, 4 and 5 of this report are based on an interview with Vadim Loginov of SGS, the leader of the last six Chulbair expeditions. It was conducted in the village Dehibolo on August 18, 2023, the day the expedition returned from the base camp above the Boybuloq cave. Dehibolo is the starting point for expeditions to caves of the Chulbair mountain ridge (SW-NE, peaks at 3,822 m), it is situated at 1.750 m a. s. l. in the south of Uzbekistan, 50 km or three hours drive with a high clearance vehicle (used to be an hour and a half in pre-1991 times) to the NE of Boysun.
2. State of affairs
There are several caves on Chulbair and two are of world importance. Boybuloq has the main entrance on the western slope of the ridge, at 2,647 m a. s. l., depth 1,430 m, length 15,2 km (2021, depth of 1,415 m was reached in 1992), is known since ancient times, and was explored since 1985. Višnevskij cave's entrance is just below the crescent of the ridge, in its eastern wall, at 3,522 m a. s. l., depth 1.283 m, length 8.5 km (2021), was discovered and first explored in 2015 (to -70 m). In 2016 it was explored to -234 m, in 2017 to the siphon at -586 m, in 2018 the siphon bypass could not be found, in 2019 the depth increased to 1,131 m. The explorers stopped on top of next pit and had to return because of the lack of rope and time. In 2020 there was no expedition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021 the expedition stopped at a large active siphon at -1,283 m.
Cave profile of Boybuloq and Višnevskij caves with surface, after 2019 survey, Wikimedia Commons
The above map shows the cross-section of the ridge with tunnels of both caves, as of 2019. It takes about three hours on foot to get from the entrance of Boybuloq, across the slope of Chulbair, to the entrance of Višnevskij. In the map the nearest point in Višnevskij (to Boybuloq) is marked with a white asterisk - click on the map to get the original on Wikimedia Commons where it can be enlarged.
In 2021 the intercave distance of Boybuloq and Višnevskij was diminished from 200 meters to 70 meters, at about 2,250 meters above sea level. The main tunnel of Višnevskij cave passed diagonally below the nearest gallery in Boybuloq, heading to southwest, away from the terminal siphon in Boybuloq, which is situated in the SSW. Most of the efforts in expeditions since 2017 were directed towards the connection of the two caves.
Dehibolo from the east, Chulbair ridge is top right, August 2023
3. 2022
The expedition was, as in all the other years, conducted by the Ekaterinburg Speleo Club (SGS) and the Association of Cavers of the Urals (ASU). 20 members, all from Russia, gathered on July 31 in Tashkent. On August 2 they established the base camp on a new location, on a plain alpine meadow 120 meters above Boybuloq, about 2.770 meteres a. s. l. The all-terrain truck brought the party much closer to the cave than during previous expeditions. It was within one hour and a half on foot from the cave, on the slope above the village Alachapan, at the apple orchards of Halid, the son of Sadyk from Dehibolo, who usually helps the expedition.
The plan was to connect the two caves, and for several reasons they worked only in Boybuloq. All and every resource was devoted to explore any possibility of getting to Višnevskij, through all prospective tunnels and siphons. From data, gathered by the French team of the 2021 expedition, the most promising location in Boybuloq was chosen. An underground camp was established at -560 meters in the new part of the cave and 10 people started to work there.
The first, diving group of two explored three siphons. Two were too narrow to pass, the third they successfully dived through. Upstream a large tunnel followed, one of the two divers proceeded for several ten meters and returned. He was not in the capacity to continue exploration on his own.
The second, scouting group, also of two, checked all the side tunnels and meanders in the vicinity, in the Large Cave (Bol'šoj Grot). They found several smaller tunnels which all ended in narrows which would require digging. No draught in the direction of Višnevskij was found.
The third, climbing group, again of two, explored the upper floors of the cave. They climbed a number of chimneys, pits leading up. They discovered several closed loops, of a chimney which led to a horizontal tunnel, ending with a pit that brought them down into the already known part of the cave. At the end of expedition they climbed a 170 meter high chimney, wide enough, which continued with a tunnel, presumably leading in the direction of the Višnevskij cave. Due to the lack of time they returned.
The remaining four, the mining team, were widening the narrows in the direction of Višnevskij, they continued where the French team stopped in 2021. They advanced around 20 more meters, but the work was particularly difficult, as there was no draught and the exact direction in which direction to dig was not known.
During the entire expedition people in the underground camp would be replaced by people from the surface. Fresh team brought food and equipment, and the cave team which worked for a few days, returned to the surface to rest.
To sum the expedition up - the cave depth did not change, around 1 km of new tunnels were explored, but no survey was made. On August 18 the expedition returned to Dehibolo, on August 21 they flew to their home destinations from Tashkent.
 Vadim |
 Elena |
 Ženja Rybka |
4. 2023
33 people, one of the largest expeditions to Chulbair ever, 31 from Russia, 1 from the Czech Republic, 1 from Taiwan, gathered in Tashkent on July 28. The expedition was roughly gender-balanced and considerably younger, with only seven participants from the 2022 expedition and six from the 2021 team. Part of the people arrived by plane, some crossed two borders (Kazakhstan is in between, from Ekaterinburg to Tashkent there is 2350 km or 30 hours by car) and left their vehicles in Tashkent. On July 30 all were in the base camp on the same location, again they traveled by all-terrain truck to the heights at the Halid's apple orchards, one and a half hour on foot from the cave. This year they worked in both caves, in Boybuloq and in Višnevskij.
There were two teams operating in Višnevskij at the same time, in the lower underground camp there were from 4 to 7 people.
The first, mining group was widening the narrow passage in the direction of Boybuloq, where the matching team was working towards Višnevskij. The work was especially hard as there was also no draught. They overcame a distance of 35 meters.
The second, climbing group looked for tunnels on top of the chimneys. At the top of one of them they dug through a narrow passage and a tunnel followed, but ended after 30 meters.
The third, siphon draining group, attempted to drain the smaller suspended siphon in the lower part of the cave, removing the water with hermetic bags. It was expected that after the water level in the siphon would be lowered enough, a draught in the direction of Boybuloq would appear. But they only managed to drain the siphon halfway.
A permanent connection between the two caves was also established, using Nicola phones. Besides that the best connection was also searched for with sounds from both sides (drilling, hammer blows). It turned out that the best transfer of sound is near the siphon which was being dried in Višnevskij, and the tunnel in Boybuloq, nearest to this siphon.
According to the survey the distance between the two points is 70 meters but, after a clear sound connection was established, it is probably less than 50 meters. The problem is that the sound in solid rock propagates in all directions, as observed in concrete structures such as monolithic high-rise buildings. If someone decides to install a kitchen on the 12th floor at night, drilling in the concrete wall, and your child is sleeping in the apartment on the 4th floor it is a very tedious job to discover on which floor the culprit is.
In Boybuloq the mining group worked on the standard spot - in the closest point to Višnevskij, continuing the dig. They also searched for a spot where the sounds from Višnevskij would be best heard. They confirmed the place in the vicinity of the siphon to be dried in Višnevskij as the best location.
Climbing group followed the tunnels and chimneys which would lead to the other cave. They discovered several new galleries and continued on top of the 170-meter high chimney. The tunnel continued for 666 meters and ended with a collapse.
Samples of cave concretions (stalagmites) were collected in the cave Lunnaja (Moon cave), the entrance of which is situated on the slope of Chulbair at 3,000 m a.s.l. and which runs above the tunnels of Višnevskij cave. They will be will be analysed by an expert in carbonate geochemistry, professor Chuan-Chou (River) Shen of the Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University in Taipei.
At the top of Boy-Bulok, in a tunnel 270 m above the cave entrance, a new underground camp was established from which a group of 2-4 people worked to expand the narrow passage at the highest point of the cave. Due to very strong air draft it is believed that after a few meters the passage will widen and continue towards the wall on the eastern side of the ridge crescent. This year the group managed to advance about 4 m.
There was one more group in Boybuloq, working from the underground Camp 0 (zero, as it is at approximately the same elevation as the Boybuloq entrance). They climbed a few steps and chimneys and in one of them discovered a narrow tunnel which continued upwards in the direction of the top of the Chulbair ridge, to the wall on its eastern side. They passed 1.5 km of the tunnel, and surveyed part of it.
On the last day of the expedition, at the last point reached they measured the altitude with an altimeter. The result: depth of Boybuloq (the amplitude between the highest and the lowest point of the cave) increased from 1,430 to 1,517 meters. The tunnel continues but they had to return as the expedition came to its end.
It is of symbolic significance that the last two to exit the cave, Ženja Sakulin and Ivan Ivanov, reached the entrance at 1 o'clock in the night on August 18, the birthday of Aleksandr Sergeevič Višnevskij, the man after whom the upper cave is named, the man who led the expeditions that paved the way to a depth of 1500 meters in Boybuloq, from 1988 to 2008.
 Zdeněk |
 Darja |
 Ženja Sakulin |
5. Unexpected visit
On an evening in the midle of the 2023 expedition, a party arrived to the expedition base camp from the direction of Boybuloq. It was a group of five people and several pack donkeys, led by Jean-Claude Latombe, 76, a long-time researcher and lecturer in robotics at the Stanford University near Palo Alto, California. In addition to his academic responsibilities Jean-Claude is also an avid traveler to unusual and remote corners of the world, most often in the mountains. He even managed to scale the Mount Aconcagua. He has published several books and web reports about these travels. This time he was accompanied by Boris Gennadievič, 72, a tour operator from Tashkent who prepared the itinerary for the Jean-Claude's 2023 Uzbekistan trip, by Lutpo, a local private travel agent, by a local resident with his son. The latter two took care of the donkeys. The party planned to visit the entrance of Boybuloq, the deepest cave in Central Asia, so they intended to camp nearby and, later, also to climb to the top of the Čulbair ridge. But the local shepherds told them it would be a better idea to go a little higher, to a flat meadow with a tourist campsite. In agreement with the expedition leader Vadim Loginov they set up tents in the camp. Everyone joined the expedition dinner, except for Jean-Claude, he immediately went to bed. The journey was very tiring.
The next day, Jean-Claude and Boris Gennadievič went to the top of the Chulbair ridge, only Lutpo remained at the base camp. They returned in the evening and left the next morning.
6. Hudojberdi Mustafokulovič Zokirov
On August 13 and 14, 2023, the author interviewed Hudojberdi, the son of Mustafo Zokirovič Holmominov, the first known explorer of Boybuloq, who perished there more than 50 years ago. Hudojberdi lives in the village of Botosh, in the Oltinsoy district, 65 km from Boysun, about 100 km from Dehibolo.
His story about the circumstances of Mustafo's death is considered the most reliable, since Hudojberdi accompanied his father during the historical journey to the cave. Some vague details have been clarified, such as the date of this event. The findings will be published later, hopefully soon.
7. Conclusion
After the 2023 expedition Boybuloq has a depth of 1,517 meters and a length of 18.4 km, Višnevskij cave remained 1,283 meters deep, but became a little longer - 8.6 km. Boybuloq moved from 17th place to 12th place in the ranking of the deepest caves in the world.
In 1961, when the Ekaterinburg Speleo Club (SGS) was founded and the first cave, Svetlaja (length 30 meters and depth 22 meters) in the Northern Urals was explored, the motto of the club was announced: From Svetlaja to -1500 meters! (Ot Svetloj k 1500!).
A 1,500 meter-deep cave was an immodest target when there was still talk of the world record of 1,122 meters, achieved in Gouffre Berger in 1956. It took 31 years to reach a depth of 1,415 meters, and another 31 years to 1,517 meters in 2023. But the goal has been reached. What seemed like a curse in recent years is finally broken.
The absence of draught in the meeting place of two caves, carefully explored over the past three years, combined with the opening of a large system of passages on the upper levels of Boybuloq towards the ridge wall, gives another option for moving towards the longtime dream - to reach a depth of 2000 meters. It is a slower path indeed, but makes perfect sense.
It is also true, as old cavers say, that caves, like all beautiful people, are capricious, you never know how things will play out. Boybuloq and Višnevskij may one day unexpectedly meet where one would least expect it, and not where everyone is now looking for.
Related posts:
- This page in Russian ...
- ... and in Slovenian language
- Expedition Chul-Bair 2021
*For greater accuracy the cyrillic names in this report were romanized according to the Scientific transliteration of Cyrillic with the pronunciation of the main additional characters as: č = ch, š = sh, ž = zh, y = hard i, ë = yo, u = oo - i. e. Ženja Sakulin = Zhenya Sacoolin.
The cave Radošca 2, August 3
Uzbekistan 2023: Getting to Botoš, August 11 - 13
This page, text and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin, member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL), except when noted otherwise. The photos were taken in August 2023, the portraits of several expedition participants, except one, in Dehibolo. The text was reviewed by Vadim Loginov.
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