Discover a gigantic unexplored cave in Canada.
3 min read
A huge cave has been discovered hidden in the remote Canadian nature, and despite its overwhelming scale, researchers suggest it may never have been seen by human eyes before!
We live in one era in which Google Maps, street view or similar are available in every smartphone, tablets, computers of billions of people on earth, so one would think that there are no unknown corners of our planet, but this thought is far from being reality!
It was recently discovered in Canada, in the “Wells Gray Provincial Park”, a cave that could house inside a colossus like the Statue of Liberty and which, it is believed, is completely unexplored by humans.
The announcement was made by John Pollack, speleologist and president of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, which states that the cave is also one of the largest in Canada, and tells the story of its sighting and subsequent exploration.
Nicknamed the “ Sarlacc Pit”, like the monstrous pit-dwelling beast in Star Wars, the giant cave, hidden amidst the rugged terrain of British Columbia’s Wells Gray Provincial Park, it was discovered early spring when a group of biologists and researchers were conducting a census on mountain caribou.
During the operations they noticed what, at first sight, looked like a black hole on a snow-covered slope. The helicopter pilot sent the photographs to Dr. Catherine Hickson, geologist who worked for decades in the Geological Survey of Canada, and who conducted her research doctorate in the park. Dr. Hickson then contacted a group of experts, including Mr. Pollack, preparing for an in-depth exploration.
Before the operations they had to wait until the snow melted completely, and the day chosen was September 9th. In the morning a helicopter was raised from Clearwater, in the northeast part of the park, in an area that has hardly ever seen the presence of humans.
Once found on the cavity it was clear that it was indeed a huge unexplored cave.
The exact location of the cave has not been disclosed, so as not to allow amateur speleologists and “Instagram” tourists (as the New York Times have defined) to reach this pristine area!
The opening of the cave is unusually large: it extends for about 100 meters in length and almost 60 in diameter. The depth is 180 meters, but probably the crevice does not end in the visible part, and therefore could articulate in much longer cavities. The attempt to get down inside has failed: in the cave there are impressive waterfalls formed by the melting of the glaciers above, and therefore the expedition has managed to descend for only 80 meters of depth. From the cave, probably, creates a river that gives life to waterfalls, and that flows about 2 kilometers away from the cave.
The team of speleologists authors of the discovery have planned two more descents within the cave by 2020, when the climatic conditions will (perhaps) be better for the descent to its base.
