Gouffre Berger


The Gouffre Berger is a French cave discovered on 24 May 1953 by Joseph Berger, Bouvet, Ruiz de Arcaute and Marc Jouffray. From 1953 to 1963, it was regarded as the deepest cave in the world at, relinquishing this title to the previous contender, Pierre Saint Martin, in 1964, after further exploration. The Gouffre Berger is now ranked 28th deepest cave in the world, and the 4th in France.
To return from the bottom of the cave back to the surface can take between 15 and 30 hours, without long breaks.
In 1967, Ken Pearce, a metallurgy lecturer from Britain, descended with the Pegasus Caving Club team from Nottingham UK, organised and led by Peter Watkinson, and along with a dive, reached a depth of. They emerged after 13 days underground, having set a new world record at the time. In 1968, B Leger and J Dubois reached a depth of. This record was held until July 1982, when Patrick Penez attained. In 1990, a breakthrough was made, connecting the cave to the existing system, "Scialet de la Fromagère". This gives the current recorded depth as. In June 2011 the terminal sumps were dived and in 2014 another attempt was made to pass the sumps.
In recent years there have been six fatalities in this cave, five due to water. During a storm or heavy rain, the Gouffre Berger can become a dangerous trap and the water levels rise very quickly. In 1996, Englishwoman Nicola Perrin and Hungarian Istvan Torda died due to violent flooding in the cave.
The water that flows through the cave has been traced to re-appear in the flooded sections of the Cuves de Sassenage.
As of 2017 the system was estimated to contain approximately thirty-seven kilometres of passage with eleven entrances.
Since 2013, clean-up actions have been carried out by cavers. At the end of 2018 the gouffre Berger has become clean again.

Location

The entrance is within the commune of Engins high on the Vercors Plateau. In June 2001, the commune lifted a two-year ban on exploration.