Barbara Wielander - Diving research in the Hirlatz Cave
Wed, Sep/17
17:30
I've been to a lot of caves with Barbara ("Wetti") - but cave diving was always too intense for me.
I talk with her about her cave dives in the Hirlatz cave near Hallstatt.
The Hirlatz Cave is one of the longest and deepest caves in Austria with over 100 km of passages and a depth of over 1000 m.
Expeditions lasting several days with correspondingly complex logistics are necessary to reach the outermost research endpoints.
Wetti and her diving team are exploring siphones in the west of the cave, around 12 hours’ walk from the cave entrance.
One of the questions Wetti is investigating is whether there is a human-accessible connection between the Hirlatz Cave and the Waldbachursprung spring some 150 m below.