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CAVERS 'CAVING' IN ARMENIA
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2012/11/08/cavers-caving-in-armenia/
Community | November 8, 2012 1:26 pm
Members of a US caving expedition to Armenia. From left to right:
James Wilson, Greg Chavdarian, Chuck Chavdarian, Seda Chavdarian and
Steven Johnson.
By Alice Nigoghosian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - On October 12, Dr. Charles Chavdarian, a native
Detroiter whose family was originally from Keghi, provided an
enlightening talk and slide presentation about the caves and caving
exploration in Armenia, at a program sponsored by the Tekeyan Cultural
Association, at the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU)Alex and
Marie Manoogian School.
Chavdarian became intrigued with the subject while traveling in the
south of France in 1992, and after reading The Scientific Traveler
- a book about prehistoric cave paintings. Following this trip, he
became interested in caves throughout the US and Canada, learning
about them through the National Speleological Society and a local
caving club in the San Francisco Bay Area and by visiting various
national parks. He learned how to explore caves in a proper and safe
manner from his newfound colleagues.
The deepest caves in the world are located in the countries of
Georgia and Mexico. As a result, he believed that there would also
be significant caves in Armenia.
Chavdarian decided he wanted to do something for Armenia - and this
led to his organizing the first official US caving expedition to visit
and photograph caves in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia in 2007.
The initial trip involved his fam- ily - his wife, Seda, a professor
of French at UC-Berkeley, and son, Greg, who is a geologist - and
also his caving colleagues, Steven Johnson and James Wilson - all
from the Bay Area.
Chavdarian has been to Armenia three times - in 2007, 2010 and 2011
- to continue to explore and photograph the natural, wild caves and
also to visit and photograph church caves and cave villages.
In addition to Vayots Dzor, his travels have taken him to Syunik
and Lori provinces, and to Nagorno-Karabagh. The initial, and
most significant caving expe- dition in 2007 was supported with a
National Speleological Society (NSS) grant in the US and organized
with assistance from AdvenTour in Yerevan.
The first trip included a visit to four caves, including Arjeri (Bear)
Cave, Mozrovi Cave, Karmir (Red) Cave and Mageli Cave. Mozrovi Cave
includes about 300 meters of known passage and is noted for its
multi-colored limestone formations. Arjeri Cave - at 2.3 miles of
passage with many types of formations - is the largest of Armenia's
caves and included many challenges for the group such as walking
through narrow passageways, crawling, climbing up and down and using
hand lines. Karmir Cave was at the highest elevation of the caves
that were explored - nearly 7000 feet. A visit to Mageli Cave, with
1.1 miles of cave passage, found the cavers in the midst of a huge
bat colony, narrow squeezes, climbs, crawls and even tall, long
passageways. The team visited Geghard, a man-made cave monastery
carved out of a side of a mountain. Known by St. Gregory as the
"Monastery of the Spear," a visit to this site resulted in a deep-
er understanding and appreciation for our ancestors' devotion to
Christianity, and the importance of geography for the survival of
the people and their edifices.
The team also visited Jerovank, a water church cave, located at the
end of a narrow, pic- turesque canyon in Vayors Dzor near the village
of Arpi.
In fact, it was while traveling through rugged, mountainous Armenia,
that Chavdarian soon realized the difficulty of getting around,
and came to understand why churches were placed everywhere. True
to Armenian hospitality, when the expedition set up campsites, the
near- by villagers would bring them food throughout their stay in a
given area.
Chavdarian's slides helped to educate all as he identified various
types of beautiful cave for- mations that are part of living caves,
including bacon strips, pipe organs, stalagmites, stalac- tites,
coral, draperies and flowstone -all com- posed of limestone. The
caves in Armenia are also multi-colored, due to both mineralization
and organic matter leaching into the solubilized limestone and then
depositing in the caves resulting in colored cave formations. The mag-
nitude of colors in the Armenian caves, which are quite stunning, are,
in fact, rarely encoun- tered to this degree in caves around the world.
Armenian caving colleagues, led representatives of the foundation into
two caves, including Mozrovi Cave, and later developed a management
plan for that cave.
Chavdarian acknowledged the assistance of several cave guides and
experienced cave explorers during his trips to Armenia, including Vrezh
Nazaryan, Samvel Shahinyan and Smbat Armenia and the exploration of
Armenian caves a successful and safe one.
Who knows? Perhaps in the future, if a commercial cave is created in
Armenia, group tours of the cave may result in providing an additional
source of pride in Armenia's natural resources.
A brief question-and-answer period followed Chavdarian's professional
presentation.
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2012/11/08/cavers-caving-in-armenia/
Community | November 8, 2012 1:26 pm
Members of a US caving expedition to Armenia. From left to right:
James Wilson, Greg Chavdarian, Chuck Chavdarian, Seda Chavdarian and
Steven Johnson.
By Alice Nigoghosian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - On October 12, Dr. Charles Chavdarian, a native
Detroiter whose family was originally from Keghi, provided an
enlightening talk and slide presentation about the caves and caving
exploration in Armenia, at a program sponsored by the Tekeyan Cultural
Association, at the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU)Alex and
Marie Manoogian School.
Chavdarian became intrigued with the subject while traveling in the
south of France in 1992, and after reading The Scientific Traveler
- a book about prehistoric cave paintings. Following this trip, he
became interested in caves throughout the US and Canada, learning
about them through the National Speleological Society and a local
caving club in the San Francisco Bay Area and by visiting various
national parks. He learned how to explore caves in a proper and safe
manner from his newfound colleagues.
The deepest caves in the world are located in the countries of
Georgia and Mexico. As a result, he believed that there would also
be significant caves in Armenia.
Chavdarian decided he wanted to do something for Armenia - and this
led to his organizing the first official US caving expedition to visit
and photograph caves in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia in 2007.
The initial trip involved his fam- ily - his wife, Seda, a professor
of French at UC-Berkeley, and son, Greg, who is a geologist - and
also his caving colleagues, Steven Johnson and James Wilson - all
from the Bay Area.
Chavdarian has been to Armenia three times - in 2007, 2010 and 2011
- to continue to explore and photograph the natural, wild caves and
also to visit and photograph church caves and cave villages.
In addition to Vayots Dzor, his travels have taken him to Syunik
and Lori provinces, and to Nagorno-Karabagh. The initial, and
most significant caving expe- dition in 2007 was supported with a
National Speleological Society (NSS) grant in the US and organized
with assistance from AdvenTour in Yerevan.
The first trip included a visit to four caves, including Arjeri (Bear)
Cave, Mozrovi Cave, Karmir (Red) Cave and Mageli Cave. Mozrovi Cave
includes about 300 meters of known passage and is noted for its
multi-colored limestone formations. Arjeri Cave - at 2.3 miles of
passage with many types of formations - is the largest of Armenia's
caves and included many challenges for the group such as walking
through narrow passageways, crawling, climbing up and down and using
hand lines. Karmir Cave was at the highest elevation of the caves
that were explored - nearly 7000 feet. A visit to Mageli Cave, with
1.1 miles of cave passage, found the cavers in the midst of a huge
bat colony, narrow squeezes, climbs, crawls and even tall, long
passageways. The team visited Geghard, a man-made cave monastery
carved out of a side of a mountain. Known by St. Gregory as the
"Monastery of the Spear," a visit to this site resulted in a deep-
er understanding and appreciation for our ancestors' devotion to
Christianity, and the importance of geography for the survival of
the people and their edifices.
The team also visited Jerovank, a water church cave, located at the
end of a narrow, pic- turesque canyon in Vayors Dzor near the village
of Arpi.
In fact, it was while traveling through rugged, mountainous Armenia,
that Chavdarian soon realized the difficulty of getting around,
and came to understand why churches were placed everywhere. True
to Armenian hospitality, when the expedition set up campsites, the
near- by villagers would bring them food throughout their stay in a
given area.
Chavdarian's slides helped to educate all as he identified various
types of beautiful cave for- mations that are part of living caves,
including bacon strips, pipe organs, stalagmites, stalac- tites,
coral, draperies and flowstone -all com- posed of limestone. The
caves in Armenia are also multi-colored, due to both mineralization
and organic matter leaching into the solubilized limestone and then
depositing in the caves resulting in colored cave formations. The mag-
nitude of colors in the Armenian caves, which are quite stunning, are,
in fact, rarely encoun- tered to this degree in caves around the world.
Armenian caving colleagues, led representatives of the foundation into
two caves, including Mozrovi Cave, and later developed a management
plan for that cave.
Chavdarian acknowledged the assistance of several cave guides and
experienced cave explorers during his trips to Armenia, including Vrezh
Nazaryan, Samvel Shahinyan and Smbat Armenia and the exploration of
Armenian caves a successful and safe one.
Who knows? Perhaps in the future, if a commercial cave is created in
Armenia, group tours of the cave may result in providing an additional
source of pride in Armenia's natural resources.
A brief question-and-answer period followed Chavdarian's professional
presentation.