Dachstein 2019
2019: There have been British caving expeditions to the Dachstein plateau, high in the Austrian Alps, for over 50 years. In 2018 the expedition made the historic connection between WUG Pot, high on the plateau, with the monster 112 km Hirlatzhöhle system, yet the search for a higher entrance to WUG Pot continues. Read more, and on the successful use of the GPF-funded Cavelink set for making deep trips safer.

Izvor Licanke 2019
2019: The objective was to explore virgin cave passages both underwater and above, using advanced cave diving and caving techniques. The expedition had three exploratory dives, with 601 m of new cave passages discovered. The total length of the cave is now 1.5 km, of which 1,125 m has been discovered by this team.
The latest cave diving exploration of Izvor Licanke

Overlooked Armenia
2019: The 3rd largest cave in Armenia has been found! Furthermore, three regions were assessed for their speleological significance for a future expedition and relations with a newly formed club the “Armenian Speleological Team” were fostered.

GPF logo competition
2019: With the Ghar Parau Foundation now being an independent charity, the GPF needs an identity (i.e. a logo). Therefore we are starting a logo competition, looking for a design that reflects what the Foundation does or its link to the cave Ghar Parau. The winning logo will win a heavy duty Warmbac oversuit! Entry details can be found here.

£1,580 rasised at HE
2019: The Scurion Raffle at Hidden Earth, won by Phil Hawcroft, raised a total of £1,229 in aid of the the GPF! Thanks go to Maxine Bateman and Meg Gorry for their relentless selling tactics. A further £351 was raised by the silent auctioning of the silver Caver’s Cup, crafted and generously donated by Sam Drake.
A big thanks from the GPF to Sam, Rolf, Ceris and everyone who bought tickets.

Scurion raffle at HE
Scurion has generously donated another lamp to raffle at Hidden Earth in aid of The Ghar Parau Foundation. It is a Scurion basic 1500 set with one battery-module worth £625.
Raffle tickets will be on sale at Hidden Earth at the same price as last year: one for £3, two for £5.
More details here.
Silent Auction at HE
Samantha Drake has spent a long time making a Silver Cavers Cup, which she has generously donated to the GPF. It is a fantastic, hallmarked one-off piece. The cup will displayed at Hidden Earth 2019 in the Art Salon and be sold by Silent Auction, subject to a reserve price. We hope people will like the cup and support GPF by bidding for this fantastic, one-off piece of caving artwork. Tickets and more pics.

Winter 2019 funding
A total of 9 caving expeditions spread across 3 continents applied for GPF grant aid during the latest round of funding. The GPF Committee allocated them £5,750, plus 4 Alex Pitcher awards for young cavers going on their first expedition abroad. Browse the archive map to find out more about the funded expeditions’ objectives.
Junee-Florentine 2018
2018: The Junee-Florentine is home to many of Australia’s deepest caves, which drain into the Junee Master Cave. The Master Cave is only known in small unconnected sections, and this expedition was searching for new connections. Exploration in known caves and on the surface lead to over 800 m of surveyed new passages.
Read more on these Tasmanian discoveries

£1,050 raised at HE
The Scurion Raffle at Hidden Earth in aid of the GPF raised a total of £826, mainly thanks to the hard work of Ruth Allen, Meg Gorry and Emma Battensby. The Scurion lamp was won by Paul Gladman.
A further £224 was raised by Sam Drake who sold a number of knitted bats as part of her exhibition in the Art Salon. A big thanks extends to them and everyone for supporting the GPF.