The results of the 1979 expedition had not been brilliant, but a great deal
of interest was generated in the 1980 trip, in which several different caving
groups took part. Once again, the main objective was to join Uzueka and Cueva
Llueva. The fault chamber in Cueva Llueva, which had been looked at in 1979
was climbed again, reaching a height of 60m above the stream, but with no
sign of the hypothetical passage that would by-pass the upstream sump. On
12 August, this sump was dived by P. Papard and F. Winstanley, who succeeded
in passing it. They found a phreatic tube, a crawl and then a large chamber
ending in boulders. Two days later they returned with another two divers,
while another team of four went in to the end of Uzueka, armed with whistles.
However neither of the parties heard anything of the others, and in fact
the caves were still 170m apart. The connection would not be made until 1986,
after the discovery of new passages in Llueva.
On the 9th August, T. Fifield and A. Sweetman made an important extension
during a 15 hour overnight trip into Uzueka. They surveyed 800m in Third
River Inlet, ending near the sump in Torcón.
Other work in the area of the Four Valleys System included return visits
to Torca de Cellarón (found in 1978). It was photographed, including
the 50m wide main chamber, while a pit at the deepest point of the cave was
descended, finding that it choked at a depth of 14m. Other small extensions
were made in different parts of the cave.
Also, several shafts were descended on the ridge near Fuente las Varas and
at the head of the Secadura valley.
The divers were active in Sifón Claro (Secadura), where they found
that the account given by a certain diver in 1977 was basically a pack of
lies, and in Reñada. On 20th August, they dived through to Reñada
II, and had a quick look at the boulder choke ending the cave, noting three
possible ways on. On the same trip, some of the sherpas looked round the
final passages in Reñada I, and spotted the start of a new passage,
explored the following year and named Bootlace Passage.
The longest new cave of the expedition turned out to be Fuente de la Cuvía
in Riaño. The small entrance led to stream passage and larger
well-decorated tunnels, totalling 735 metres in length.
In 1980, considerable work was done on Mullir, by different groups. Some
time was spent locating new shafts, and several of these were descended,
such as a 58m deep and blind shaft located right on the top of Muela. Later
in the month, a group from Portsmouth Polytechnic joined the expedition and
spent many days dropping shafts on Mullir. Their deepest find was number
212 (-150m). These finds and other minor exploration was recorded in MUSS
Journal 10.
However, before the summer 1981 expedition was to take place, there were
several events of note. In the autumn and winter a group of young people
from Matienzo became interested in caving, and while they were active, explored
and surveyed caves such as La Cuevuca and Cubío de Cubija. Secondly,
a small group of British cavers came out at Easter 1981, pioneering a new
pattern to the expeditions. Last but not least, BCRA Transactions Vol. 8
no.2 was dedicated exclusively to Matienzo Caves, with a photo of Cellarón
main chamber on the front cover.