A British explorer is celebrating leading a team of cavers to
the lowest depth ever recorded in the Western
Hemisphere.
Chris Jewell, 31, spent seven weeks with his group navigating
the Sistema Huautla cave system in Mexico, one of the most remote
places ever reached inside the earth.
Located in Sierra Mazatec mountains, the cave system has 17
entrances and endless different routes into the centre.
Jewell's group, made up of 40 people from around the world,
managed to dive, swim, climb and descend through a labyrinth of
pitch black tunnels.
They had the gruelling task of navigating eerie, water-filled
abysses known as sumps.
At one stage swam underwater in darkness for 600 metres in a
28 metre deep river.
During these dives, the group had no knowledge of where they
were heading.
Team member Jason Mallinson, from Huddersfield, reached the
depth of 1,545 metres, the deepest anyone has been in the Western
Hemisphere - and the eighth deepest in history.
The group beat the previous record of 1,484 metres set nearby
in the Cheve caves while the previous record in Sistema Huautla was
1,475 metres.
The experience is a far cry from Chris Jewell's day job,
where he works an office-based software consultant in
Manchester.
For the expedition, Chris managed to negotiate nine weeks'
unpaid leave.
He said: 'You don't know what is happening in front of you
but we traced the water's route to a canyon seven miles
away.
'We knew where it is heading but we didn't know what was
between. It is genuine exploration and it is really
exciting.
The team spent up to ten nights underground at a time,
sleeping in the cave and scuba diving flooded tunnels.
He described his once in a life time experience: 'You don't
feel the depth underground, but you are aware of the remoteness and
that you're two days away from sunlight.
'It is quite tranquil and eerie in places, but it is also
very noisy in others because of the fast-flowing river.'
The largest underwater sump was 600 metres long and 28 metres
deep while the last sump reached was 440 metres long and 81 metres
deep.
Team members came from the UK, USA, Canada, Poland and
Mexico, working tirelessly to haul ropes, camping equipment and
scuba gear up and down.
They set the record around three weeks into the exploration,
before spending the next four weeks removing all their
gear.
First, the cave drivers had to swim 600 metres underwater
through two flooded tunnels to reach their advance
camp.
They then spent one week exploring 'sump 9' and looking for a
way to bypass the flooded tunnel which represents the current end
of the system.
It was sump 9 where Jason reached the record depth, with the
explorers going without natural light for more than ten
days.
In total, they took 500kg of
equipment for the trip, when they set off on February
28.
Chris added: 'It was
incredibly deep and incredibly remote. It was a challenge and
adventure and it was physically very demanding.
'At the time the depth wasn't the most important thing, we
were just pleased we ran a safe and smooth operation'