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Aven de la Licorne

A highly decorated underground network whose equipped route links crawls, shafts and chambers all the way to the Trois Etroitures.

Saint-Privat-de-Champclos 44m

A highly decorated underground network whose equipped route links crawls, shafts and chambers all the way to the Trois Etroitures.

Characteristics

Location

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Aven de la Licorne

    44.269408, 4.332518
Download all entrances as GPX

Description

Morphology

The low entrance leads to a narrow crawl. The cave has a chamber where you continue on the right bank behind the columns, then the Galerie Blanche, the salle des Pavés, the salle du Soutirage, the salle du Léopard with its small brown spots on a white background, a low gallery (the étroiture Soufflée) opening onto a balcony overlooking the Galerie de la Grande Coulée, the gigantic and very decorated salle des Grandes Colonnes, the Passage de l'Anus (an evocative hole in the floor) leading to a small decorated chamber, and finally the Trois Etroitures, which follow one another and are sometimes wet.

Speleothems

The cave is almost entirely on AF and AN on formations. The Galerie Blanche is worth a look, and the salle des Grandes Colonnes is very decorated.

Progression

From the low entrance, you must rig a handline in the narrow crawl (boyau étroit), then a pit head (1AF + 1AN). After a rebelay, you reach a chamber where you must continue on the right bank, behind the columns, along a descending handline (2AF) to a new pit head (2AN). Descend it to the Galerie Blanche (do not descend into the hole of the trou du puits Cloche at the bottom of the chamber). The continuation is on the left bank, in the window, via a new pit that must be rigged with a dev; it gives access to the salle des Pavés, which must be crossed to the salle du Soutirage. The continuation is at the same level, opposite, in an ascending slot that is hard to see; to reach it you must place a handline at the same height as the metal bar located there. The climb of the Pal (E5) leads to the étroiture du Trou de la Lune, then a P5 that must be descended. A new E15 gives access to a low gallery (the étroiture Soufflée) that opens onto a balcony overlooking the Galerie de la Grande Coulée (R10), which must be rigged and descended. You then reach the salle des Grandes Colonnes. Leave the Passage de l'Anus aside; the continuation is opposite, high up: you must throw your own rope into the rope ring opposite to be able to climb the 4-metre climb. You must then pass the Trois Etroitures to reach the rest of the network, which is absolutely beautiful.

Other details

Data from work carried out by Jean-Louis GALERA.

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Contains information from Grottocenter (Wikicaves), grottocenter.org, made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0, https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/), modified. · https://grottocenter.org/ui/entrances/93356 · The derived data is available on request under the ODbL: [email protected] · data as of 2026 · Source: Grottocenter (Association Wikicaves), worldwide collaborative cave database (grottocenter.org), modified. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Grottocenter (Wikicaves) · Text by Paul AUBERTIN (De l'entrée jusqu'aux Trois Etroitures), Jean-Louis GALERA (Mise à disposition de données) · adapted by Espeleoworld (normalized, translated); the adaptation is licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ · https://grottocenter.org/ui/entrances/93356 · data as of 2026