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A Calgary-led group of explorers has uncovered the deepest cave in Canada, north of Fernie, B.C.

Currently measured at 5.3 kilometres in length and 670 metres deep, they say those numbers will grow as work continues over the next number of years.

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The project began in 2012 when explorers first started mapping out the cave, named Bisaro Anima, which is located in a remote mountain plateau north of Fernie. About 10 visits since 2012 culminated in the record-setting expedition this past New Year’s Day.

“We’re finding new ways to climb mountains, maybe ski down them, but we’re not finding a lot of new mountains. We’re finding new caves all the time,” said project leader Jeremy Bruns. “We’ve got tons of projects and not enough cavers to work on them.”

The team of nine explorers, six of whom are from Calgary, set up camp inside the cave for a week, enduring temperatures of two to four degrees Celsius and complete darkness. Cave passages were characterized by deep canyons, waterfalls, crawlways, uneven floors, loose rock and difficult squeezes.