Gouffre du Trabanet P3 ou Aven de Callong

The barrenc Capella is a group of three fairly close shafts P1, P2, P3 that join at about -70 m. At -28 m, a small chamber opens to the west. At -40 m, a belay is made up of tree trunks and stones. We are roughly in the middle of the shaft made up of flutes that runoff has eroded in the dark grey rock of the Aptian; in front of us, narrow fissures separate the limestone beds. At -80 m, the bottom of the first shaft is nothing but fallen blocks and tree trunks. Lower down, a very wide gallery has a 50 % slope, where the floor is covered with calcite plates whose surface is coated with clay. At -110 m, one enters a high joint perpendicular to the one that brought us there: for a width of 6 to 15 metres, the ceiling is lost up there in the darkness, 30 or 50 metres above our heads. Towards the West, a 3-metre shaft is followed by a high narrow slot. Towards the east, by a gentler slope, on a clayey floor, we advance about forty metres to a fairly high stalagmitic barrier that almost blocks the passage, leaving us only a narrow slot to get through. From this point to the -125 m level, a fairly unstable scree slope brings us vertically to -130 m. In front of us opens a vast gallery with a raised ceiling; fairly steep at first, it then brings us alongside an extraordinary, very ancient stalagmitic flow. 40 metres further on, at -155 m, the wall is smooth, polished, garnished with potholes, and it seems that erosion has only just stopped. Suddenly the gallery turns south and west; here we are in a narrow joint and in front of us opens a vertical shaft. At -177 m, de Joly finds an earthy floor; the slope ceases at -180 m on a cracked floor indicating stagnation, as do the earthy walls. On the way back up, at -180 m, we discover a small side chamber to the south-east.

The very ancient stalagmitic flow that one passes alongside in the vast gallery presents frozen, parallel sheets more than 5 metres thick, faithfully following the shape of the floor; one would think one were before a torrent leaping a dam. This observation shows the great age of the cave. Towards the east, a fairly high stalagmitic barrier almost blocks the passage.

Towards the West, a 3-metre shaft followed by a high narrow slot gives passage to a stream. We must be there beneath the barrenc situated in the talweg of that of Capella, 30 metres upstream. This is the present bottom of the barrenc Capella, and, during floods, the water must linger in this crawlway.

Around 10 h, Monsieur De Joly begins the descent, at first delayed by the clearing of numerous stones wedged in the fissures or balanced on belays. At -40 m, a belay made up of tree trunks and stones allows him to wait for the arrival of Monsieur Gèze, after having tested the solidity of the natural scaffolding. In order to avoid the branches and trunks, we climb back up amid large blocks and discover a very wide gallery; the descent there is dangerous and must be done with a ladder between the legs. In the narrow joint, we have no equipment left apart from a 40-metre rope; belayed by Gèze, de Joly commits himself and disappears, walking in opposition between the steep walls.

Account taken from the work mentioned in the “Documents” section below. At -80 m, amid the fallen blocks and tree trunks, lies the skeleton of a dog, a little deeper that of an ox, but despite our investigations, no suicide. Having descended a few metres lower, we still discover no body, no characteristic smell reveals one, but as in this direction the shaft continues, we shall pursue our descent. Curious opposition between these two very close parts, one showing a grotte fossile and the other a living one.