Beyond the Sump | Oaxaca, Mexico | 2022
Sistema Huautla, located high in the Sierra Mazateca mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, is one of the most iconic and expansive cave systems in the world. It features over 30 entrances, more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) of known passageways, and reaches a depth of over 1,500 metres (5,000 feet). The system has been a focus of international cave exploration for over fifty years.
The Beyond the Sump team began working in the Huautla Resurgence in 2016, with the goal of pushing upstream towards Sump 9 – the Mother of all Sumps. The 2022 expedition focused on closing out the remaining leads beyond previous high points, where I joined the team as expedition photographer. The expedition succeeded in eliminating the last remaining upstream possibilities, definitively establishing the limits of the resurgence and providing a clearer picture of how water moves through the system in dry and wet seasons.