Ghar Parau, Iran 1972

This speleological expedition followed on from the 1971 Speleological Reconnaissance Expedition to Iran and aimed to complete the exploration, survey and photography of Ghar Parau, including a world depth record attempt. Ultimately however the expedition was hampered, first by customs trouble, which left their equipment impounded for a number of weeks and then by the failure of a promised helicopter to materialise, meaning that equipment had to be moved to the plateau by donkey. This stretched the team very thin, but additional exploration of the cave system was completed, coming to a hault much earlier than expected when a sump (sump 3) prevented further progress.