Jochen Hasenmayer
| Jochen Hasenmayer | |
|---|---|
Jochen Hasenmayer, 2009
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| Born |
28 October 1941 Pforzheim, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Cave diver |
Jochen Hasenmayer (born 28 October 1941 in Pforzheim, Germany) is a German speleologist and cave diver from Birkenfeld in Baden-Württemberg, whose spectacular dives have frequently made headlines.
Hasenmayer began his cave diving career in 1957 at the age of fifteen, exploring the Falkensteiner Höhle near Stuttgart. Beginning in the 1960s, Hasenmayer explored many karst springs and caves in the Swabian Jura and elsewhere in Southern Germany, including the Wimsener Höhle, the Aachtopf and the Blautopf. He became famous in 1985 due to the discovery of the Mörikedom ("Mörike Cathedral", named after Eduard Mörike), the second big air-filled chamber in the Blauhöhle, about 1,250 metres (4,100 ft) into the cave system. Some of his terminuses (farthest point reached in a cave) have not been exceeded.
In the late 1970s, Hasenmayer was among the divers who searched for an underwater connection between Kingsdale Master Cave and Keld Head in the Yorkshire Dales. On 5 February 1978 Hasenmayer briefly became trapped in Keld Head. A British diver, Geoff Yeadon, shook Hasenmayer's hand through a gap in the cave, believing he was "shaking a dead man's hand", but Hasenmayer found his way out. The passage where the incident occurred became known as "Dead Man's Handshake".
Hasenmayer spent decades developing the necessary diving equipment for his explorations. Well known as a safety fanatic, Hasenmayer has introduced unique practices perceived by some cave divers as safe, but which contradict the basic rules of normal diving. Hasenmayer was a pioneer in the use of trimix breathing gas mixtures (adding helium to oxygen and nitrogen).
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