les grottes de Choranche

Today I went on an excursion with API (the company with which we have our housing, insurance, and a few excursions contracted). We went, as a huge group of American students, to les grottes de Choranche – the Choranche caves in Vecors. The rendez-vous was at 12:45 (my family usually eats Saturday lunch around 1 PM, so we did some shuffling today) and we all got onto a charter bus which took us an hour and a half away from Grenoble. Our guided tour lasted about an hour, we had some free time (gift shop/café), and then the return bus ride. I ended up sleeping all the way home, so I didn’t touch the homework I brought with me, but I’ll have all of tomorrow afternoon.

The caves were discovered around 1875, by some of the villagers from Choranche, who were curious as to the source of the river which exits the cave. They discovered the first chamber, with its massive pool, and named it “Cou fin” – thin neck. This name is reminiscent of the term “bottleneck,” which is appropriate as the vast pool of water exits through a rather narrow hole, forming the river. Later on, further explorations followed, and now continue to follow. The specialty of these caves is the soda-straw formations. The vast number, length, and regularity of diameter set this cave system apart from others.

Also on display in the caves are a prehistoric species of salamander. The only place these amphibians survive naturally is in the Karst Mountains of Slovenia. The Olm salamanders live in aquariums in the caves in Choranche. From the Choranceh Caves’ website:

"Called the "living fossil" because it is one of the oldest species in the world and because it still has most of its original characteristics, Olm salamander is definitely the oddest of underground creatures. It is an amphibian that lives off micro-organisms and other cave-dwelling species and is the number one underground predator thanks to its size (up to 35 cm long). Like all cave-dwellers it has no eyes and is totally colorless."

I was very excited to visit a cave in France, particularly because visiting caves is a family tradition for me. Ever since Katie and I were young, my family has made a point of incorporating at least one cave visit into our summer vacations. Our first cave was Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana. Since then we’ve taken historic tours, with only our own candle light to guide our way, and I’ve even been swimming in a cave in the Philippines. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to visit a cave here in France, I couldn’t resist! While this cave tour was rather tame compared to what I really like, I was impressed with the work to maintain the integrity of the formations. I was also impressed with how the limestone formations were being to heal themselves from the no doubt generations of being soiled by contact with human touch – the dirt and oils on our hands leads to the discoloration of the limestone deposited by the ever flowing and dripping water inside the caverns. But there are many places within les grottes de Choranche where the discoloration is underneath new layers of clean white limestone. That was cool to see!

We also saw a very strange film in one of the galleries. It was projected on two of the walls – kind of a mix of a light show and movie. I noticed that there weren’t really many formations in that particular chamber, some of us were thinking about the potential damage from the sound vibrations and lights of the mini-spectacular.

All and all, I’m very glad I went. I also want to continue to explore more caves. If I were ever to pick up an extreme sport it would be spelunking! But, not while I’m in France.