Colorado Springs caver Aaron Zumpf coming out of a cave in Colorado.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Aaron Zumpf

An experienced caver has big dreams of getting into a recently discovered mega-sized cave in Wells Gray Provincial Park that has remained mostly untouched since its accidental discovery more than five years ago.

Aaron Zumpf of Colorado Springs, Colorado wants to explore the mysterious cave, informally named “Sarlacc’s Pit”, with a team of professional cavers, divers, biologists and archaeologists.

Zumpf, 49, has been caving since he was a teenager and is part of the United States Deep Caving Team. He said allowing professionals to get into the cave, explore it and map it, would be a “win-win for everyone” including the government, local First Nations and fellow explorers, and he’s hoping for permission to go ahead.

“It would be great to show Canada this great thing they’ve got,” Zumpf said. “I wonder if authorities would be interested in talking to professional cavers and give us a permit for a scientific study. We can help. We have geologists and biologists amongst our caving community and there are local BC cavers we want to reach out to.”

BC Parks closed off the Ovis Creek drainage area around the cave from the public soon after its discovery because of possible cultural heritage values and First Nations interests, public safety risks and the cave’s possible rare and sensitive ecology. Violations can cost up to $1,000,000.

The cave was first spotted by biologists conducting a caribou count in the area by helicopter and a geologist and researchers explored it later that year. The entrance of the cave is a 100 metre wide pit where a waterfall drains into unknown depths below the surface and the entrance is roughly the size of a soccer field. “Sarlacc’s Pit” is a Star Wars movie reference from The Return of the Jedi.

A newly discovered cave in a remote valley in British Columbia's Wells Gray Provincial Park just might be the country's largest such feature. The entrance to the cave, nicknamed "Sarlacc's Pit" by the helicopter crew who discovered it, is seen in an undated handout photo.

Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine Hickson

Zumpf has years of experience exploring deep cave systems.

“We do lots of expeditions in Mexico trying to find the world’s deepest caves,” he said. “It requires lots of rope work, and navigating pits and drops. This year we discovered a 700 metre drop, it was very impressive. This case is right up our alley.”

Zumpf is curious about what kind of life forms, geological formations and archaeological finds are in Sarlacc’s Pit.

“It seems like a large cave system and it should be explored and put on a map to let people know how big it is and the hydrology system in there, where the water is going and coming from. All that the government would want to know. If there was an archaeological find, the local First Nations would likely want to know about it.”

When asked what he suspects is hidden deep within the cave, Zumpf said “mostly a lot of hydrology because the water flows through it,” but “you never know, there could be life in there.”

Chance Breckenridge from Vernon is an active outdoors explorer who spends time in the Wells Gray Provincial Park. He too is curious about the cave.

“I’m not sure what could possibly lie within that cave, I’m certainly interested,” he said. “I know there is archaeological potential and it’d be quite the interesting exploration if you’re a caver. I’m not much of a caver, I just like getting into tough areas like that.”

READ MORE: How a Vernon man got this stunning photo of Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Park

Breckenridge said he’s explored west of the area the pit is located in and the ground is difficult to traverse.

“It’s very inhospitable, it’s very tough ground in that drainage,” he said. “The route I planned for if I ever got in there when it’s legal would take two or three days of travel. I’d be interested to explore those areas and yeah, who knows what’s in that big hole.”

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Tod Haughton, area supervisor for the Ministry of Forests, spoke with iNFOnews.ca on June 6. He described the area around the cave as “beautiful” and “remote.” He has not been into the cave.

He said initially there were plans for geologists to re-enter the cave in 2021 but the researchers who applied withdrew their application.

“No one has contacted me recently at all wishing to (explore), we are certainly open to an application but no one has come forward,” he said. “I don’t know what research is left to collect, there may be organisms unique to that cave, we don’t know at this point.”

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He said Indigenous communities are considering a formal name for the cave and have their language program and elders working on it, but they haven’t yet come up with one.

Geologists who studied the cave suggested it would have "national significance," especially due to its entrance. It may even be the country's largest cave of its kind.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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