Cancellation of the incomming visits

 

In conformity with the new confined status of France decided by the French government, we are cancelling any visit of the Aven de Noël for the month of November and we shall not consider new booking prior to December 1st.

Thanks for your understanding

The executive board of the ARSPAN

First dive from the Aven de Noel

 

On October 22nd as part of the continuation of the exploration in the Réseau V, Réseau Philippe by members of the l'ARSPAN, Philippe Brunet accompanied by 7 helpers, performed a dive un the North Sump he discovered in 2004.  He reached a depth of 57m with a deep continuation downwards to go...

All the story of this dive is available in French on the following page reporting all exploration at the date of October 22nd CLICK HERE.

Welcome again to visit us

 We have now reoppened the booking for the Aven de Noël, nevertheless, it remains you full responsibility to apply the distance rules amongst your group and during the run.

Cancellation of the incomming visits

The Fédération Française de Spéléologie has prohibited caving for the incoming weeks due to the Sanitary situation and therefore we are cancelling any visit into the Aven de Noel for the next weeks untill the end of May 2020.

Further to that we will not take any more booking until we re-open the schedule

If you wish to be informed of the schedule re-opening please provide your contact details at agenda@arspan.fr.

Thanks for your understanding

Pierre GERAULT (Président of ARSPAN)

Junction at the Aven de Noël

It cannot be left as a rumour any longer and let's share this great news...

We are very glad to announce that the connection between the Aven de Noël (Bidon-07) and the network of the Grotte Saint Marcel (Saint Marcel d'Ardèche-07) is now real. The junction occurred in the "Capture passage" in the Réseau V branch behind a sump.

 

The work of the ARSPAN in Bidon and the GASOIL (Groupement Associatif des Spéléos d'Orgnac, Issirac, Labastide) in Orgnac l'Aven started during the october 2019 yearly camp. It allowed the discovery of 160 meters of new land prior to connecting with this passage.

All official autorities such as the Mairie of Bidon, Saint Marcel d'Ardèche, the Natural Reserve and the Grotte Saint Marcel were officially informed a month ago.

The Réseau V branch of Saint Marcel network was discovered and mapped  "post sump" by the club AVENS. The exploration is still going on via the Aven de Noël access under the ARSPAN cover.

This area remains protected also by the ARSPAN entrance flow management, and all exploration respect the rules of the ARSPAN regarding to the group size and visit frequency. Accurate report are provided to archive the work beeing performed.

A detailed communication will come in the next months and we surely will keep you updated with the latest discoveries.

ARSPAN

Best wishes for 2020

Every member of the ARSPAN office wish you a wonderful 2020 year filled with discoveries and many hours spent underground to enjoy this passion which is ours...

Call for donation

As you may have visited the Aven de Noël in Ardèche - France in the past years, we hope you enjoyed the experience and the cave protection measures.

Taking care of the cave preservation, can only happen thanks to the free assistance of the ARSPAN volunteer. Nevertheless, we always have yearly expenses for the fixed costs such as mainting the entrance door, the padlock some of the equipement and our webside.


We also pay very much attention to continuously enhance our scientific knowledge of the network.
For that reason, we purchased ans started the set up of a true automatic CO2 measuring and logging station.
We sill track the CO2 concentration and fluctuations to study ots variation in spreading according to the weather conditions. 
These data will be freely accessible in order for anyone to use them.
Further to that, an instantaneous reading of the CO2 rate at the bottom of the -90m pit will be accessible on the -30m platteform. This should enhance our visitors experience.

To help us carrying on our mission, we make a call for donation to the ARSPAN (NGO) with the following link, and thank you ahead for your generosity.. (100% of your donation will be dedicated to the cave protection.)

Thanks in advance and see you soon underground.

Pierre GERAULT

President of the l'ARSPAN
(Association de Recherche Scientifique et de Protection de l'Aven de Noël)

New year 2019

All members of the ARSPAN wish yo a wonderfull new year for 2019

Christophe Flahaut died

Very sand news for the ARSPAN family, as Christophe Flahaut passed away.

This mate always full of humour... Somme of us saw him grow amongst a proper caving bath before becoming a father. He would monthly see solution, instead of problems. As a king in DIY he was great in sharing his tips.

A very long year spent fighting against the disease, amongst thousands of projects, he was suddenly stopped in his flight...

His last day was Friday august 10th 2018 with those he loved.
 

His father Jean Claude FLAHAUT taught him caving and diving and he was keen in protecting the Aven de Noel joining his effort to run the ARSPAN from the beginning.

We arlready miss him as he was really a dynamic member.

Bye the friend, the mate, the partner, the husband, the teacher, the father, the son.

We shall think of you again and again in the future.

Wishes 2017

 All members of the administration Board send you their best whishes for 2017

Hans Litjens died

This small message to let you know that Hans switched off is head light a very last time  during the night on January 29th 2016. He was 68 years old.

No doubt he surely spoke about caving with the last visitors he had le previous evening...

We shall bear in mind his care for the underground nature beauty, which he really wanted to keep safe and picture with love.

Hans joined the ARSPAN IN 1995 and was elected president from 2005 till 2013.

We will not forget the energy him and Mariet, gave to manage the booking and welcoming the visitors of the Aven de Noel with care and patience.

There will be no burial ceremony but the ARSPAN will be close to Mariet when needed

A Facebook to share experience is available here

Wishes 2016

 We are very glad to send you our best wishes for 2016

 

  

Youa may find here all our previous years new year cards

Jean-Michel Herrero died

  Translation Pending - Work in Progress - Any volunteer welcome

Jean-Michel HERRERO, inventeur de l'aven de Noël et Président de l'ARSPAN de 1993 à 1999,
décédé en mai 2001 des suites d'une longue maladie.

Alors qu’il était Président du Spéléo Club de Sarrians, il  commence à partager sa passion en participant à de nombreuses sorties d’initiation.

Dans les années 1980, il découvre le plateau Ardéchois et se consacre à l’exploration de ces nombreux avens. Sur les traces de Balazuc et persuadé de la présence d’un réseau souterrain important, il entreprend une prospection systématique de  ce secteur. Avec persévérance et obstination, il passe son temps à observer, fouiller et désobstruer le sol karstique en remuant des mètres cubes de cailloux.

Sa ténacité est récompensée par  la découverte de l'aven de Noël en 1990, découverte qu’il a à cœur de faire partager au monde spéléo. Se refusant de reboucher cet aven comme il aurait pu le faire devant les difficultés de gestion engendrées par une telle découverte, il se consacre à l’accueil et à sensibiliser les spéléos sur la nécessité d'une protection.

Au delà d’un personnage humble et très discret, nous retiendrons de Jean-Michel l’image d’un homme passionné.
L'A.R.S.P.A.N.