Cueva de la Primavera

The cueva 289 is a small conduit (méandre du 14 avril) whose route is somewhat delicate at the start. Downstream, the watercourse has shaped a very fine gallery; large block deposits have been re-excavated and erosion has continued with the downcutting of a small gorge. At -115, one reaches a high chamber occupied by enormous fillings; the active stream has bypassed (lac Minoir) and inactivated a large meander, and then makes a 180° change of direction relative to the upper level (río Jose-Jose). Above, a small slightly ascending gallery, the galerie des Côtelettes, leads to a zone of narrows at 680 m from the entrance (-110), from which a noticeable draught arrives.

Abundant speleothem deposition crowns it all.

The cueva 289 allows, without rope, access after about a hundred metres to a stream (río amont) coming from the impenetrable sink of the río de la Sota (about 10 L/s at low water). After one hundred metres, the river plunges into a shaft. The Bibracte sump and the flooded fissures downstream of the Côtelettes mark the current low points where the active streams appear to disappear.

The cueva 288 (méandre de la Chèvre) is the most comfortable entrance, but quickly requires rigging a P.15. From the shaft where the river plunges, the cascades follow one another rapidly (P.18, P.7, P.14, P.22, P.17); throughout this sector, floods can be formidable. After a final 6 m drop, one reaches the Bibracte sump (-123). A very severe passage (Voûte Hard de Dijon) leads a few metres further to a small tributary stream whose upstream is quickly impassable.