Bor Zeev: 148 metres in four months, now the deepest cave in Ofra
- Date
- 02.11.2026
On 25 October, members of the Israel Cave Explorers Club reached the bottom of Bor Zeev in Ofra: 148 metres from the entrance to an impassable sump. That makes Bor Zeev the deepest cave in Ofra, 45 metres below the previous record holder, Bor HaTichum, which is 103 metres deep.
- Depth to the bottom
- 148 metres
- Previous depth record in Ofra, Bor HaTichum
- 103 metres
- Members who went down
- 19, plus Bordugo, the family dog
- From start to bottom
- Four months and four days
Yoav Negev kept a work log, from the entrance to the bottom. These are the stops along the way.
23 June: moving on to a new sinkhole
A last visit to Bor Otzma, the 87th cave in Ofra: final depth 23 metres, with no clear continuation at the bottom. The team leaves it and moves on to a new sinkhole. Nadav Rubinstein spent a day off from work on it.
2 August: the 88th cave, a hall with drops
Crawling in, a 7 metre rappel and a traverse of a few metres, then a rappel into a hall with leads in several directions, at a depth of 13 metres. The cave has no name yet. Yair Mintzer devotes days of his summer holiday to it.
17 August: trying to descend the fissure
The team climbs a side fissure in the hall, rappels 5 metres and another 16 metres between small chambers and boulders, to the top of a large chimney estimated at 30 metres deep. Two bolts are drilled, but the scree starts to shift and has to be cleared again. Yair Mintzer is on this trip too.
30 August: 60 metres, and the rope runs out
The descent reaches a depth of 60 metres, and there the rope runs out. Eliyahu Waldman and others made the trip.
7 September: 106 metres, with another drop ahead
With Yuval Green the team reaches a depth of 106 metres, with at least another 20 metres of drop below. It was already clear that the depth record in Ofra might be broken.
4 October: widening work
Back at a depth of 106 metres, the team works on widening the passage. Roman, Yair and Toni went down.
11 October: the depth record in Ofra falls
With Amiti Cooper the team squeezes through and reaches a depth of 118 metres. Bor HaTichum held the record at 103 metres, and Bor Zeev passes it and keeps going. The cave is muddy, with difficult passages and deep pitches.
18 October: a narrow passage between stalactites
From the last point, at 118 metres, the team passes the narrow passage, descends 6 metres and another 2, and reaches a depth of 126 metres. Stones thrown past the stalactites fell 10, 10 and 20 metres, so the cave reaches a depth of 140 to 150 metres. Hagai Cohen was on the descent.
25 October: the bottom
The team reaches the bottom at 148 metres, four months and four days after the work began. A hard and astonishing cave. At the bottom there is an impassable sump, which is left for future generations to explore. On the final descent were Gleb Korbatov, Nimrod Rom Ami and Stas Malavin.
Thanks to everyone who went down the pit
Nadav Rubinstein, Yair Mintzer, Hagai Cohen, Neta Lieberman, Vladimir Buslov, Yuri Lisovitz, Raz Ben Yair, Danny Bilinson, Omri Gester, Robi Zaki, Arnon Ratzabi, Roman Har Nof, Toni Levanov, Stas Malavin, Nimrod Rom Ami, Gleb Korbatov, Amiti Cooper, Eliyahu Waldman, Yuval Green, and Bordugo, the family dog.
The equipment was bought with donations and stays with the Israeli Caving Organization, a registered non-profit.