Hidden Earth 2024

The Remote Pico del Oro Plateau in North Peru: Searching for Caves in 2,800m Deep Limestone

Lecture60 minute Lecture|Peter Talling

Abstract

This talk tells the tale of an ambitious expedition in summer 2024 to a remote and very beautiful high altitude (3,200 to 3,650 m) plateau located in Northern Peru, which is perched on the very rim of the Amazon Basin. The Pico del Oro Plateau is underlain by ~2,800m of limestone, and has an extremely large (~30 m3) resurgence at its base. This Rio Negro is the start of a major tributary to the Amazon, and it has an unusually cold temperature, and may thus drain quickly from a higher area. The Pico del Oro Plateau is thus one of a handful of places worldwide with potential for new caves that are much deeper than the currently deepest known cave (2,200m). But logistics and terrain are very challenging, with a 2-day walk with horses from the nearest village necessary to carry lightweight dehydrated food and all equipment to the plateau. An initial 10-person expedition in summer 2023 showed the Pico del Oro Plateau is exceptionally karstic, and that ‘most holes go’, with all 650m of their rope rigged down holes by the end of the first week. The 2023 expedition eventually left two major vertical shaft series (Lorenzo’s Left and Right Eye) and a beautiful river cave (Tragedero de la Soledad) open and ongoing at depths of 150-200m. This new 2024 expedition now seeks to push these caves to much deeper depths, and it will have 27 cavers from 7 nations, and a far greater amount of rope (2 km) and rigging gear. Three waves of cavers will go onto the remote plateau to see how deep the holes can go………

The team is grateful for support from the Ghar Parau and Mount Everest Foundations, and from the Speleological Union of Ireland (SUI) and International Union of Speleology (UIS). The Pico del Oro Plateau expeditions are also part of a wider series of North Perú Caving Expeditions organised by the Espeleo Club Andino (Perú) and Groupe Spéléo Bagnols Marcoule (France), with information archived on their excellent website (www.cuevasdelperu.org).