Speleo.lt

Photo contest 2013: Results

Sun, 16 Feb 2014 20:07:14 +0100

This year in the photocontest THE BEST SPELEO PHOTO 2013 there were 29 photographers from Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, USA, Brasil and South Africa. They submitted 119 photos that were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet galery. The members of the jury were:

Vytautas Gudaitis, Lithuania, an experienced caver, one of the initiators of speleology in Lithuania, pioneer of the Lithuanian cinematography in caves
Stanislav Kotarba, Poland, an experienced caver and cave photographer
Aleksey Zhalov, Bulgaria, European Speleo Federation (FSE) Vice-Secretary
Pavel Kupritch, Ukraine, the President of the Ukrainian Speleo Asociation
Dmitry Belsky, Belarus, an experienced caver and cave photographer

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are:

1^st place

This photo was appreciated both by the jury and by the public. Thus it became an obvious leader and gathered 81 point out of 120 possible.
The author of the photo: Mauro Inglese, Italy.

2^nd place

This photo was strongly evaluated by the jury and got the second place in the jury list, but in the internet voting it stayed unnoticed. Nevertheless 64 points from the jury was enough to take the second place in the contest!
The author of the photo: Pavol Kočiš, Slovakia.

3^rd place

This photo got the 5th place from the jury, but the internet voting by public helped it to gain the lead and take the 3rd place in the contest. This photo gathered 62 points out of 120 possible, 15 points were received from internet voting.
The author of the photo: Ghost, Ukraine.

There were 5 contestants from Lithuania. Our speleo school student Edvardas Stalionis was the best among them and took the 35th place by gathering 12 points with this photo:

PRIZES:

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - 3 carabiners OK by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Photo contest 2013: Start voting!

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:13:08 +0100

The second stage of the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2013 organized by the caving club Aenigma has begun. You can already see the photos sent by the participants, comment them and vote for the ones you like. This year the photocontest had a slow start but later it speeded up and now the number of participants is no smaller than in previous years - 29 participants from 11 different countries. Because we have diminished the quantity of photos accepted from one participant from 15 to 5, we have a smaller amount of photos but still astounding - 119 photos! And the majority of them are very and very good.

The photos are displayed on our internet photo album https://galerija.speleo.lt/v/fotokonkursai/metu_nuotrauka_2013/.

Voting for the photos will take place until February 07, 2014. Voting by internet is anonymous.

How to vote? Just mark from one to five stars visible under the photo and click on the mouse. Only the total count of the votes will matter in the evaluation of the photo without the reference to the number of the stars given.

Interesting statistics:

The country with the largest number of participants traditionally is Russia - 9 participants from various corners of this huge country have sent 39 photos.
The second largest participant is Lithuania. After some urging 5 Lithuanians braced themselves up and submitted 14 photos.
Ukraine is also keeping up: 4 participants submitted 18 photos, and there is one participant so special that we put him on the exhibition not belonging to the contest (because he has made 3D photos and interactive tours of the caves!).
The rest of the photos were sent from various countries of Europe: Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, and from more distant places - USA, Brasil and South Africa.

THE COURSE OF THE CONTEST:

The exhibition of the photos on our internet photo album, evaluation and voting will take place from January 08, 2014 to February 07, 2014. Voting will be anonymous.
Important: Photos will be displayed grouped by categories, but they will be evaluated in common context, without reference to the categories. Recommended categories for the exhibition: the man and the cave, the portrait of the caver, expedition reportage, the underground landscape, „non-format“
Photos will be evaluated by the jury of 5 professional photographers and cavers. The results of the internet voting will have additional weight in the evaluation. The winners will be announced and awarded not later than February 17, 2014.

PRIZES:

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - 3 carabiners OK by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Photo contest 2013: Show us what you can!

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 22:49:09 +0100

Merry Christmas to everyone! We are encouraging you to participate in the photo contest THE SPELEO PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2013. And since it's almost Christmas we are prolonging the deadline for sending the photos. You may send up to 5 your photos until January 7, 2014 via e-mail photo[eta]speleo.lt! Now you can send the photos taken on the last day of the year :)

Main requirements for the photos are: they have to be taken in 2013 and there must be visible some speleo element (cave, equipment, cavers). More information about the requirements and the contest may be found on the dedicated page.

PRIZES:

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - 3 carabiners OK by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Photo contest 2013: Let's begin

Sat, 30 Nov 2013 20:04:09 +0100

It is the 8th time when the caving club Aenigma is organizing the photo contest THE SPELEO PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2013 to choose the year's best photo on the caving theme. Everyone who has been in the cave and had taken any beautiful or interesting photos in the caves or speleological expeditions during the year 2013 is welcome to participate in it :)

Attention for the participants who have sent their photos previously: this year we accept less photos than previous years. You can submit up to 5 photos, so carefully pick your best shots!

You may send your photos until December 31, 2013 via e-mail photo[eta]speleo.lt. Main requirements for the photos are: they have to be taken in 2013 and there must be visible some speleo element (cave, equipment, cavers). More information about the requirements and the contest may be found on the dedicated page.

PRIZES:

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - 3 carabiners OK by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Photo contest 2012: The Results

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:17:45 +0100

This year in the photo contest The Speleo Photo of The Year 2012 there were 35 photographers from Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Brazil, USA, Swaziland, Indonezia, Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Rumunia, UK and Germany. They submitted 267 photos that were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet galery. The members of the jury were:

Vidmantas Balkūnas, Lithuania, the photojournalist of the daily newspaper "Lietuvos rytas" and news portal "lrytas.lt"
Stanislav Kotarba, Poland, an experienced caver and cave photographer
Tomas Rekašius, Lithuania, the leader of the caving club Spelaion
Nikolay Ivanov, Russia, a member of the caving club "Sokolniki-RUDN"
Jesús Martínez Sánchez-Dehesa, Spain, a caver

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are - for the first time we have a situation when the same photographer has taken the 1st and the 3rd place:

1^st place (the photo gathered 48 points out of 120 possible):

The author of the photo: Sergio Laburu, Spain.

2^nd place(47 points):

The author of the photo: Kiril Bagriy, Russia. (since 2009 every year he has been taking various prizes in this contest)

3^rd place (43 points):

The author of the photo: Sergio Laburu, Spain.

This photo by Gabrielė Jasytė has taken the highest place among Lithuanians (11th place and 29 points):

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Photo contest 2012: Voting

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:45:22 +0100

The second stage of the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2012 organized by the caving club Aenigma has begun. You can already see the photos sent by the participants, comment them and vote for the ones you like. This year we are full as never - 35 participants from 16 different countries have sent 267 photos!

The photos are displayed on our internet photo album https://galerija.speleo.lt/v/fotokonkursai/metu_nuotrauka_2012/.

Voting for the photos will take place until February 07, 2013. Voting by internet is anonymous.

Interesting facts:

The country with the largest number of participants traditionally is Russia - 10 participants from Ufa, Moscow, Sankt-Peterburg, Rostov-Na-Donu, Samara, Novosibirsk, Koroliov and Gelenjik have sent 80 photos.
The second largest participant is Ukraine. 49 photos were submitted by 6 participants from Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kiev and Poltava.
3 participants from Spain have submitted 28 photos and 2 from Lithuania - 30 photos.
We also have several participants from far far away: Brasil, USA, Swaziland, Indoesia.
The rest of the photos were sent from various countries of Europe: Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Rumunia, UK and Germany.

THE COURSE OF THE CONTEST:

The exhibition of the photos on our internet photo album, evaluation and voting will take place from January 08, 2013 to February 07, 2013. Voting will be anonymous.
Important: Photos will be displayed grouped by categories, but they will be evaluated in common context, without reference to the categories. Recommended categories for the exhibition: the man and the cave, the portrait of the caver, expedition reportage, the underground landscape, „non-format“
Photos will be evaluated by the jury of 5 professional photographers and cavers. The results of the internet voting will have additional weight in the evaluation. The winners will be announced and awarded not later than February 17, 2013.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

Happy New Year!

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:20:58 +0100

Happy New Year to everybody and lots of expeditions, new friends and discoveries!

And if you can't wait to see the photos of this year's contest, you will be able to do this from January 8. Just to keep you interested I'll tell you a secret - this year we have a huge number of participants, like never before - 35! Our contest became known to someone in Indonesia, and in Africa...

Photo contest 2012: The start

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:28:08 +0100

The caving club Aenigma for the seventh time already is organizing the photo contest THE SPELEO PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2011 to choose the year's best photo on the caving theme. Every photographer who has taken any beautiful or interesting photos in the caves or speleological expeditions during the year 2012 is welcome to participate in it :)

You may send your photos until December 31, 2012 via e-mail photo[eta]speleo.lt. More information about the requirements and the contest may be found on the dedicated page.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - an ascender ASCENSION by Petzl.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a descender STOP by Petzl.

The sponsor and the organizer of the contest:

In memoriam

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:41:17 +0200

On Friday September 7, 2012 we buried Alexei Saveliev. He was a handsome bright-minded guy, sweet person and Great Caver.

On August 16, 2912 Alexei Saveliev and Alexei Axyonov installed a cave-camp behind the forth siphon in the V.Ilukhin cave system, and during two days they successfully explored new galleries.

This unprecedented expedition had been preparing for seven years, and the cavers have done it. Their pioneering underground and underwater way in the most impregnable on Earth karst precipice can be compared with famous expeditions of Peary and Cook to the North Pole, of Amundsen and Scott to the South Pole, of Hillary and Tensing to Everest.

Such an expedition is a challenge and risk, and those who go need skill and power, but else – fortune. There was a tragic lack of fortune. On August 20, 2012, on his way back in the second siphon Alexei Saveliev perished.

But with us stay his glory and eternal memory.

Hundreds of people made their best to let parents and friends of Alexei Saveliev to come to his grave at Khovanskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Tens of caver, voluntary rescue teems from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and Abkhazia postponed their urgent needs and came to Arabica Mountain. Philip Chrednichenko and Amina Chanysheva were first to descend to the camp-980. Then Philip took on himself a heavy load of organization of the rescue job. Caver Tatyana Gnedash headed the information and coordination center. Dmitry Molev managed organizational tasks at the sea coast. Abkhazian government, Minister of ecology Roman Dbar organized participation of the country’s rescue team.

Cavers Gennadiy Samokhin, Mikhail Tsybizov, Vladimir Akimov and Alexei Axionov fulfilled hard and dangerous work in the gallery behind first siphon and in the siphon. Yuri Kasyan helped to project and organize accident-free transportation from one-kilometer depth to the surface. Cavers from Saint-Petersburg, Minsk, Ufa, Kiev, Saratov, Moscow, Sukhum and other cities widened narrow passages, added extra ropes, settled additional camps, transported the stretcher up the huge cave, provided nutrition and possible comfort for tens of cavers, realized connection and handled the action.

Colonel Alexei Shtykov solved hard medical, juridical and transport problems in cities of Gagra and Sochi. Cavers of our club supported the parents of Alexei Saveliev. Many persons from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain and France sent money and rendered moral aid.

To all those who helped – our appreciation and deep gratitude.

Cavers of the Speleological Club Sokolniki-RUDN (source: http://www.sokolniki-rudn.org/www/officialy/report/alex_savelev_psi_2012_press_en.doc)

The death of diver in the cave of Ilyukhinskaya

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:17:28 +0200

Yesterday, on August 20, there was an accident in the expedition of our fellow club Sokolniki-RUDN from Moscow - in the cave Ilyukhinskaya (Abkhazia) on his way back from the explorations beyond the 4th siphon a cave diver Aleksey Savelyev drowned in the 2nd siphon. His partner Aleksey Aksenov, a very experienced cave diver who has also dived in Lithuanian caves Karves ola and Zalsvasis saltinis, tried to reanimate him for several hours but in vain. The body at this moment is beyon the first siphon. After gathering all the information a rescue operation will be held.

We present our sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of Aleksey Savelyev.

You can track the informational thread in the archive of conference (in Russian): http://cml.happy.kiev.ua/cgi-bin/cml.cgi?num=13623

News from the club's life

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:37:45 +0100

On 11 February in Marcinkonys the caving club Aenigma has celebrated its 6th birthday. During this event we held a meeting of club members and accepted to the club 5 new members:

Audronė Rukšaitė
Mantas Kulikauskas
Aušvyda Kligytė
Pavel Starkevič
Urtė Starkevič

Congratulations to them on joining the Aenigma!

Also 3 members were excluded from club:
Romas Valaitis
Raimondas Daniūnas
Daiva Letukaitė

Sadly they are no longer the members of Aenigma.

We elected a new Council. It is almost the same as previous: Laura Tamoševičė, Aidas Gudaitis, Saulė Vaš, Artūras Artiušenka and a new member of the Council is Jolanta Pažūsytė.

Most important - the Council elected Aidas Gudaitis as the new President of the club.

We have also elected our traditional nominations: Jolanta Pažūsytė became the Mole of the Year 2011 and Audronė Rukšaitė became the Novice of the Year 2011.

Photo contest 2011: The results

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:45:13 +0100

This year 26 photographers from Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, France, Austria, Croatia, Bulgaria, Marocco and USA took part in the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2011. The 198 accepted photos were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet album. The members of the jury:

Jordi Borras, Spain, the president of the caving club of Barcelona Espeleoclub De Gracia
Stanislav Kotarba, Poland, an experienced caver and cave photographer
Yuriy Kasyan, Ukraine, the famous and experienced Ukrainian caver
Antanas Sadeckas, Lithuania, the oldest Lithuanian caver
Simonas Švitra, Lithuania, the photojournalist of the daily newspaper "Vilniaus diena"

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are:

1^st place (the photo gathered 126 points out of 180 possible):

The author of the photo: Roberto F. Garcia, Spain. He is also the winner of the last year's contest.

2^nd place (87 points):

The author of the photo: Viktor, Ukraine.

3^rd place (83 points):

The author of the photo: Kiril Bagriy, Russia (he took the 1st place in 2009 and the 2nd place in 2010).

This year four participants (out of 26) were from Lithuania. Together they submitted 33 photos. Rather unexpectedly the only photo submitted by Raimondas Daniūnas gathered 72 points and took the 7th place. The name of the photo is "The Joy of Discovery".

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka Plus.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop "Kuprine.lt" - a transport bag Aventure Verticale 35 L.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka XP.

The sponsors of the contest:

Photo contest 2011: The Voting

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:32:48 +0100

The second stage of the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year organized by the caving club Aenigma has begun! You can already see the photos sent by the participants, comment them and vote for the ones you like. The photos are displayed on our internet photo album https://galerija.speleo.lt/v/fotokonkursai/metu_nuotrauka_2011/.

In this contest you can see 198 photos sent by 26 participants from already traditional countries: Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, and ones more unusual - Spain, France, Austria, Croatia, Bulgaria, Marocco and USA.

Voting for the photos will take place until February 07, 2012. Voting by internet is anonymous. During the period of voting the authors of the photos are not noted, but their names will be indicated when the contest is over.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka Plus.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop "Kuprine.lt" - a transport bag Aventure Verticale 35 L.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka XP.

The sponsors of the contest:

Photo contest 2011: The start

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:44:11 +0100

The caving club Aenigma for the sixth time already is organizing the photo contest THE SPELEO PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2011 to choose the year's best photo on the caving theme. Every photographer who has taken any beautiful or interesting photos in the caves or speleological expeditions during the year 2011 is invited to participate in it :)

You may send your photos until December 31, 2011 via e-mail photo[eta]speleo.lt. More information about the requirements and the contest may be found on the dedicated page.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka Plus.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop "Kuprine.lt" - a transport bag Aventure Verticale 35 L.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka XP.

The sponsors of the contest:

Expeditions' photos

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:26:19 +0200

How long ago have you been in our photo gallery? Take a look at the newest pictures from this year's expeditions ;)

In memoriam for Aidas Žitinevičius

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:21:49 +0200

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fALMHF9_a8M&feature=youtu.be

The death of Lithuanian diver

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:22:43 +0200

On June 12, 2011, three Lithuanian divers: Linas Jakštas, Aidas Žitinevičius and Vytis Vilkas went to Latvia to explore recently discovered ballistic rocket shafts flooded by water. The first dive of Vytis and Aidas was successful, the second dive of Linas and Aidas ended up in fatality. During accident the diver Aidas Žitinevičius died.

We are deeply shocked and overwhelmed by this accident. Our sincere condolenses to the family and friends of Aidas.

Photo contest 2010: Results

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:11:26 +0100

31 photographer from United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Iran, Moldova, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia took part in the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2010. The 270 accepted photos were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet album. The members of the jury:

Jordi Borras, Spain, the president of the caving club of Barcelona Espeleoclub De Gracia
Stanislav Kotarba, Poland, an experienced caver and cave photographer
Denis Provalov, Russia, the member of the international caving team Cavex
Tomas Bauras, Lithuania, the press photographer of the newspaper “Lietuvos rytas”
Robertas Dačkus, Lithuania, the leader of the news photoagency “Fotodiena”

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are:

1^st place (the photo gathered 122 points out of 180 possible):

The author of the photo: Roberto F. Garcia, Spain.

2^nd place (99 points):

The author of the photo: Kiril Bagriy, Russia (the winner of the last year's contest).

3^rd place (83 points):

The author of the photo: Aleksei Podyachev, Russia.

This year there were very few Lithuanian participants in the contest (only three participants). The ones who showed the best results will be rewarded the prizes of encouragement - the subscriptions of the Lithuanian magazines “Foto” and "Kelionės ir pramogos":

Artūras Artiušenka, who gathered 22 points form the internet voting and took the 42nd place.

Tomas Rekašius, who gathered 21 points form the jury and took the 43rd place.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop Upėtakis.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HL20.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HP10.

The sponsors of the contest:

Photo contest 2010: Voting

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:11:09 +0100

In this contest you can see 270 photos sent by 31 participant from various countries: United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Iran, Moldova, Lithuania, Ukraine, various parts of Russia.

Voting for the photos will take place until February 07, 2011. Voting by internet is anonymous. During the period of voting the authors of the photos are not noted, but their names will be indicated when the contest is over.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop Upėtakis.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HL20.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HP10.

The sponsors of the contest:

Photo contest 2010: The start

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:24:02 +0100

The caving club Aenigma for the fifth time already is organizing the photo contest THE SPELEO PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2010 to choose the year's best photo on the caving theme. Every photographer who has taken worthy of note photos in the caves or speleological expeditions during the year 2010 is invited to participate in it :)

You may send your photos until December 31, 2010 via e-mail photo[eta]speleo.lt. More information about the requirements and the contest may be found on the dedicated page.

PRIZES:

The third place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop Upėtakis.

The second place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HL20.

The first place winner will get a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the shop "Armijai ir civiliams" - flashlight Fenix HP10.

The sponsors of the contest:

Results of the contest Speleo Pagonija

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:19:43 +0100

On one sunny October's weekend (on October 23-24) contest of the speleo technique SPELEO Pagonija 2010 took place in the woods near the river Jusnes (the district of Vilnius, Lithuania). This contest is the only contest on speleo techniques held annually in Lithuania and usually atracts a lot of participants from other countries also (Russia, Belarus).

The results of this year's contest are:

The contest of pairs

Liana Sirazova, the caving club „NoMos“, Moscow, Russia and Ivan Ilin, the caving club „Belaya Mysh“, Moscow, Russia.
Roman Lepei and Aleksei Kliushun, the caving club „Geliktit TM“, Minsk, Belarus.
Darja Pleshakova, the caving club „Sokolniki RUDN“, Moscow, Russia and Aidas Gudaitis, the caving club „Aenigma“, Vilnius, Lithuania.

The contest of pairs, Lithuanian championship

Mindaugas Kudirka, the caving club „Spelaion“, Kaunas, Lithuania and Jolanta Pažūsytė, the caving club „Aenigma“, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Jurga Jankauskaitė and Andrius Pranskevičius, the caving club „Aenigma“, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Men group

Kirill Kharitoshin, Moscow, Russia.
Fedor Martynov, Moscow, Russia.
Sergei Kuziakin, the caving club „Geliktit TM“, Minsk, Belarus.

Women group

Aleksandra Ryabushko, the caving club „Geliktit TM“, Minsk, Belarus.
Laura Juknaitė, the caving club „Spelaion“, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Eirida Šataitė, the caving club „Spelaion“, Kaunas, Lithuania.

More results and photos are on the official website of the contest.

Condolences for the French diver

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:21:19 +0200

Dans le monde de la spéléologie nous sommes débutants, mais nous voulons exprimer nos condoléances à toute la communauté internationale de la spéléologie et particulièrement à la famille de Monsieur Establie. Une grande perte de cet homme nous rappelle que nous avons encore beaucoup de choses à découvrir. On avance en réalisant des défis, mais pas en les renonçant. Nous n'avons pas connues Eric Establie, mais nous sommes convaincus qu’il était un homme courageux et fort, qui pouvait relever tous les défis. Ces travaux peuvent nous enseigner beaucoup.

------

Dear All,
As you may know, Eric Establie, 46 , who was missing in the sump of the Dragonnaière de Gaud (Ardèche - France) since the 3rd of October, has been found without life on the 11th of October at 900m from the sump entrance at -70m, after 8 days of an unprecedented cave rescue that have included cave-diving rescue experts from numerous European countries.

Here are the official report links of the SSF (Spéléo-Secours Francais) :
*In French original :
http://www.speleo-secours-francais.com/ … ;Itemid=83
*In English automatic translation :
http://translate.google.fr/translate?js … temid%3D83

It's with a great sadness that we reproduce here: http://fsue.ffspeleo.fr/forums/viewtopic.php?id=260
the English translation and the French original of the message written on the 13th of October by his son, Arthur, 14, and his wife Evelyne. At the end of the post you will find the English and the French version of the message written by the president of the French Federation of Speleology (FFS).
An homage will be paid to Eric at the end of the month in Casola during the IInd EuroSpeleo Image'In Festival.

Condoleances messages can be written on the FSE commemoration page: http://fsue.ffspeleo.fr/forums/viewtopic.php?id=260
They will be transmitted to the family.

For information, Arthur has also opened an official page on: www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Establie/121399631251637

Voronya's photos ad more...

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:04:52 +0200

The photos from the expedition to the cave Krubera-Voronya on August 2010 are placed in our photo album.

Also you can read a report about the expedition and see a short movie about the diving in Voronya (warning: the speech in the film is uncensored).

The results of the Voronya expedition

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:22:03 +0200

It is already three weeks when the last participants of the expedition to cave Krubera-Voronya have come back. This cave is the deepest cave in the world and is located in the west Caucasus Mountains. Please excuse us for such a long silence but the returners were overwhelmed by all the things undone. After all some of them were away for a whole month...

So, everybody’s returned sound in life and limb, tired and satisfied. The results of the expedition:

- The data from data loggers measuring water level, air pressure and temperature was successfully taken. Primary data analysis surpassed all expectations: during floods the water level at the sump Two Captains located in the bottom of the cave at the depth of 2140 m can rise up to more than 200 meters, submerging on the way all the lower part of this branch of the cave.

- New loggers: temperature logger in the entrance pit and rain logger on the surface were installed. The latter logger in the future will allow to determine the dependency between the rain on the surface and the floods in the cave.

- The exploration of the Spanish Branch located at the depth of 1340 m was finalized.

- Some specimens of cave insects were found and taken to examine. One of the largest was a about 5 cm long centipede found in the Spanish Branch.

- Most members of the expeditions reached their own depth goals: 9 members of the expedition reached the depth of 2080 m – the pit Game Over that is the deepest point accessible for a non-diver caver. Though on the way it one sump has to be free dived. 4 divers passing on their way three other sumps reached the depth of 2140 m – the beginning of the sump Two Captains. One of them – Lithuanian Saule Pankiene - is the first woman who has been there.

- During this expedition various equipment was tested in the extreme cave environment. New ideas for solving ecological problems of the cave were tried. Time will show if they serve their purpose.

Later we promise to put more detailed reports and photos, don’t forget to check the news!

This expedition is supported by European Speleological Federation (FSE) as one of the EuroSpeleo projects and is sponsored by:
Sati (service), Gandrs (equipment), Petzl (speleological equipment), Optimus (Nova stoves), Beal (rope), Aventure Verticale (transport bags), Scurion (caving light), Vilnius Heart Surgery Center (medicine), Canon (photo camera), Expedition.lt (equipment), Waterra (loggers), Speleological Union of Ireland (financial support), Duracell (batteries).

News from Voronya 08-24

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:30:54 +0200

Today most of the camp are packing their things and today at 14 p.m. the car comes and all the members will go down to Tsandripsh except Jurga and Laura, who's waiting for Aidas and Vytis to come back from the cave.

News from Voronya 08-22

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:27:35 +0200

Yesterday: A. Gudaitis, G. Švedas, S. Pankienė, V. Vilkas successfully descended to the cave bottom. Collected data from waterloggers, but the diving didn’t happen. Currently they’re going up. Everybody feels good.

One day there was no link with the cave camps. Rebounded on Saturday only. It was a flood in the cave tonight. Despite the team goes slowly up.

Today: Team is coming back to the base camp. Yesterday evening Laura and Jurga came back from the cave. Today, the Spanish came and hopefully irish will come this night. The French and Serb went to-700m.for the bags and returned. Aidas, Saulė, Gintas and Vytis tonight reached the camp-700m. And tomorrow evening they’ll come all the way up. Neighbours Russian camp today has a farewell party. Tomorrow they’re going home.

News from Voronya 08-17

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:50:29 +0200

Yesterday: Weather is still good. Expedition plans changes every half hour. There's also missunderstandings related with underground camps. By yeasterday plans all the team had to sleep -1400, and -1800 to go today, with the exception of two Irish teamers. Today we're still unable to establish communication between underground camps, the final versions are not known. Today Laura and Jurga planned to go to the -700 , but again it is unclear what they will do, because underground camp will be full this night. Will they go straight to -1200m. or postpone it till next day decission still unknown. Jolanta today goes to "Sokolniki" club where they'll train are newcomers.

Today, Lithuanians dive siphon "Kvitochka" (-1950m), Spaniards and Irish goes to "Game Over" ( -2080m. ). Wish them success.

News from Voronja

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:16:36 +0200

Two days ago Spanish changed 150 meters of rope in -500. Petzl headtorches works very good. The problem on the surface with the fuel which burn out of almost 10 liters. They'll try to get fuel in Tsandripsh. It was a strong wind during the whole night, but tents survived perfectly.

Yesterday the team (Aidas, Gintas, Saule, Vytis, Nial) went for 11 days in a cave. The plan was to come down to -1200, because -700 camp is settled by the Russian club. Tomorrow, to the same depth comes Spanish and Irish. The French will run to -1200 and will come straight back, because they do not like to sleep in the cave. Thus, the action began.

Today, the team goes according to plan. Tonight was spent in -1200 and will go on to -1600. Today the base camp left and all the other guys except Serbian Ivan. The Irish and the Spanish today went to -1200 and tomorrow will move further. The French "monsters" will run to -1400 and will come back . Weather is still very good, just thunders a bit away from camp, but still we didn't experience any rain. Hopefully, today it will stay as good as it was. The fuel on base camp ended, but Laura and Jurga are genius, here they organized some fuel . Still waiting for the evening news from the cave.

News from Voronya 08-09

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:47:26 +0200

Yesterday, French and Serbian went to -700m. within 8 hours and carried five bags. Serbian Ivan tested the new Petzl Ultra Wide headlamp. Another team went to to-230m.. By now in the cave are 28 bags, 6 of them with diving equipment. Today 6 people went to -700m., 5 to -500. Laura with Jurga done acclimatization to-230m. The French and Serbian are on duty today.

The members of expedition already settled

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:31:40 +0200

The expedition started according the plan. Yesterday all the equipment was carried to the base camp. A part of equipment carried donkeys. In the afternoon all transport bags with the food were carried to the first pit. 7 bags went to -230m. Spanish undertook the water distillation control. today 3 people goes to -700, 5 more goes to -500, others to -230. The weather is amazing.