The expedition will be in the field from 25^th July to 9^th August. We’ll be based at the village of Cain, approximately a 1 hour hike along the Cares gorge to the cave and will need to carry all our exploration and diving equipment along this route each day. The longer sumps will require either re-breathers or large diving cylinders and these will need to be carried out of the cave to be re-filled. However we hope to place a compressor near to the cave itself to avoid carrying cylinders back along the path to Cain every night.   

We expect to have to re-line the majority of the sumps in the cave. The resurgence takes a large quantity of water during the winter months and this is likely to have destroyed the dive line left from previous trips. In addition to the main upstream leads there are several undived sumps in the known cave as well and places which need to be revisited. We also plan to complete a full and detailed survey of the cave. Previously only the dry passage to the first sump has been surveyed above grade 2.  

On a daily basis therefore the team will be diving new sumps, re-laying line, aid climbing and surveying as well as making photographic and filming trips. The majority of the team will be using open circuit scuba equipment however for the longer and deeper sumps, Rick Stanton, Jason Mallinson and Tony Seddon will all be using specialised re-breathers in order to make exploring these deeper sumps in a remote location more practical.    

The aid climbing will be done using battery powered drills and thru-bolts. Due to the nature of the caves on the ario (being largely vertical) we expect a great deal of aid climbing to make progress upstream. We will be using specialised containers to carry the drills and other electrical equipment though the underwater passages.