martedì 26 novembre 2013
Auyan Tepui: nella dimora degli Dei
martedì 19 novembre 2013
Nel Grand Moulin del mare di ghiaccio
Il tempo di sistemare due cose e si parte per la Francia, un venerdì sera piovoso di novembre. Le due giornate di sole spettacolari che ci aspettano sembrano inimmaginabili guidando nella notte tra nebbie e acquazzoni.
Ma la mattina il Mer de Glace si staglia di fronte a noi, in uno scenario maestoso, chiuso ai lati da montagne come i Dru e l'Aguille de Gran Chamorz, e sullo sfondo niente di meno che la parete nord de le Grand Jorasses e il Dente del Gigante.
Ma noi non saliamo, bensì scendiamo... e nel ghiaccio. Al centro della lingua in ritiro ci avviciniamo al Gran Moulin, mitica cavità glaciale discesa la prima volta già nel diciannovesimo secolo. Mentre montiamo le tende le morene laterali scaricano cascate di sassi, ogni tanto un macigno grande come un automobile cade verso valle facendoci volgere lo sguardo un po' spaventati. Ma noi siamo al sicuro, al centro del ghiacciaio, con le nostre tendine in lento movimento su questa nave di ghiaccio. Già la sera cominciamo ad attrezzare. Il pozzo è maestoso ma ci frega dopo circa 60-70 metri di fronte a dei balconi di neve sventata che nascondono la prosecuzione. Ma ormai è mezzogiorno di domenica mattina... comincia la lunga marcia verso casa... La prossima volta ci ritaglieremo più tempo, per non farlo sembrare semplicemente un sogno onirico in una notte piovosa della pianura padana.
Un ringraziamento a Simond per averci fornito viti, piccozze e ramponi.
Hanno partecipato: Alessio Romeo (capo spedizione), Francesco Sauro (filosofo), Daniela Barbieri (modella), Andrea Pirovano (saggio), Matteo Barison (ingegnere)
mercoledì 23 ottobre 2013
domenica 15 settembre 2013
CAVES arrivano gli astronauti
Oggi è iniziato il corso, potete seguirci sul canale youtube dell'ESA, ogni due giorni verrà caricato un video sulle attività.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ESA
domenica 8 settembre 2013
Imawarì Yeuta sul numero di settembre della National Speleological Society of America
Esce questo mese un articolo sull'esplorazione di Imawarì Yeuta in Venezuela, scritto da Francesco Sauro, Freddy Vergara, Antonio De Vivo, Jo De Waele e Jesus Lira!
La copertina è di Vittorio Crobu.
Vi annuncio anche che sul numero di ottobre di M360, la rivista del Club Alpino Italiano sarà presente un bel portfolio fotografico sulle esplorazioni di quest'anno in Venezuela e Messico.
La copertina è di Vittorio Crobu.
Vi annuncio anche che sul numero di ottobre di M360, la rivista del Club Alpino Italiano sarà presente un bel portfolio fotografico sulle esplorazioni di quest'anno in Venezuela e Messico.
Quanto lontano possiamo andare?
Pubblico un mio post apparso pochi giorni fa sul blog dell'Agenzia Spaziale Europea. Riflessioni sul senso della parola lontananza...
Buona lettura!
Buona lettura!
FROM CAVES TO SPACE: JUST HOW FAR WE CAN GO?
We all know that space exploration is one of the most impressive challenges of our time, evoking the mysteries of a universe without limits, something impossible for human beings to conceive of.
The hardest thing to imagine is the massive distance that a spaceship will have to travel to reach other planets such as Mars or asteroids even further afield. We can talk about hundreds of thousands kilometres, but numbers are not enough to convey the deep sense of isolation and loneliness that astronauts will have to face during interplanetary travel. People normally think about a journey in terms of time: How long will it take me to fly from Cologne to Houston? How long will this Soyuz take to reach the Space Station from the Baikonur launch pad? What is the furthest place on Earth that you can reach from your office chair?
Rome might be very close for a Japanese manager on an international flight, but unthinkably far for a property-less nomad living in the Sahara desert. For humans, space on Earth expands not through the laws of physics, but according to social status and the availability of technology.
Returning to the Universe, even if our astronauts travel at 28,000 km/h, it will take them over six months to reach Mars. Their communications from the red planet will take up to 20 minutes to reach Earth, even travelling at the speed of light. They will have to wait a further 20 minutes for our reply, and in the event of an emergency, nobody will be able to reach Mars and rescue them in a matter of hours.
This sense of immense distance is really unusual in our modern world. But surprisingly, some humans can claim to have experienced something similar: through exploring remote caves under the surface of the Earth.
But what is really interesting is that there are no aeroplanes, space shuttles, submarines or robots able to reach the deepest and furthest parts of these caves. Only humans can do it, climbing with their own feet and hands, rappelling on ropes and crawling through tight squeezes for hours – sometimes days – in total darkness, impenetrable but for their lamps. People who in their ordinary lives are employees, sales staff or lawyers become geographic explorers in their free time. More often than not, they don’t know they are pushing back the boundaries of the known Earth, tracing its underground surfaces…
The most recent and extreme explorations have reached depths of over 2000 metres below the surface (e.g. the Voronya cave in Abkhazia) and travel many tens of kilometres from the entrance. For example, in the Sneznaya cave, Russian cavers need about five days of progression to reach the camp at the bottom of the cave and around seven to come back to the Sun with all their equipment. Their explorations inside this cave can mean spending more than one month underground, with no communication to the outside world.
Similar ventures are happening in many other places around the world, but no one knows about them because cavers are just ‘ordinary’ curious people who don’t need anything more than passion and courage to expand human knowledge.
So, where is the most distant place on Earth? I suspect most people would say “the Antipodes”. But this is not true, because the places that take the longest time to reach on Earth are the depths of caves. Inside caves, there are no fast means of transport and no one can help you in the event of an emergency: if an accident happens, the rescue team could take tens of hours or even days to reach you. Lost in these labyrinths, explorers feel a real sense of loneliness and isolation. You are thousands of miles further than in any other place you could be on the Earth’s surface.
That’s why the European Space Agency organized the CAVES course, which probably represents one of the most challenging experiences for an astronaut who may be sent on an interplanetary mission in the future. The exploration of the underground world is a great analogue of these long-distance, long-term space missions.
But just how far we can go? Maybe this is the question that both troubles and inspires astronauts and cavers alike.
Francesco Sauro
 |
| Immersion into the Earth, the first shaft of Spluga della Preta |
Distance is probably the most relative concept in our fully connected world. The time needed to reach a place now depends only on the availability of means of transport and money...
Rome might be very close for a Japanese manager on an international flight, but unthinkably far for a property-less nomad living in the Sahara desert. For humans, space on Earth expands not through the laws of physics, but according to social status and the availability of technology.
Returning to the Universe, even if our astronauts travel at 28,000 km/h, it will take them over six months to reach Mars. Their communications from the red planet will take up to 20 minutes to reach Earth, even travelling at the speed of light. They will have to wait a further 20 minutes for our reply, and in the event of an emergency, nobody will be able to reach Mars and rescue them in a matter of hours.
This sense of immense distance is really unusual in our modern world. But surprisingly, some humans can claim to have experienced something similar: through exploring remote caves under the surface of the Earth.
 |
| Exploring the glacier cave "El Cenote" in the heart of Dolomities. |
The most recent and extreme explorations have reached depths of over 2000 metres below the surface (e.g. the Voronya cave in Abkhazia) and travel many tens of kilometres from the entrance. For example, in the Sneznaya cave, Russian cavers need about five days of progression to reach the camp at the bottom of the cave and around seven to come back to the Sun with all their equipment. Their explorations inside this cave can mean spending more than one month underground, with no communication to the outside world.
 |
| Exploring the frozen depths of Dark Star cave in the Boysun Tau mountain range, Uzbekistan |
So, where is the most distant place on Earth? I suspect most people would say “the Antipodes”. But this is not true, because the places that take the longest time to reach on Earth are the depths of caves. Inside caves, there are no fast means of transport and no one can help you in the event of an emergency: if an accident happens, the rescue team could take tens of hours or even days to reach you. Lost in these labyrinths, explorers feel a real sense of loneliness and isolation. You are thousands of miles further than in any other place you could be on the Earth’s surface.
That’s why the European Space Agency organized the CAVES course, which probably represents one of the most challenging experiences for an astronaut who may be sent on an interplanetary mission in the future. The exploration of the underground world is a great analogue of these long-distance, long-term space missions.
But just how far we can go? Maybe this is the question that both troubles and inspires astronauts and cavers alike.
Francesco Sauro
mercoledì 14 agosto 2013
Preparing for CAVES 2013
I preparativi di CAVES 2013 sono in corso. Potete seguirci sul blog http://blogs.esa.int/caves2013/
A presto ci sarà anche un mio post sul blog dell'ESA...
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