asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ...

dubbed "The 170" quickly led to anoth~r deep pitch. One hundred twentyfeet below Tracy stopped on a flowstcne bridge. From here a 100 footfree drop places one 1n the second lunch room. This large, silt flooredroom is about 1350' down. A quick inspection yielded no leads, ho~cvera fissure on the side opposite the rope opened into a 40' fre~ drop.From there Gary squeaked throu~h a tight fissure crawl to a 30' drop.We bypassed this via a crawlway and 15' climb to a small chamber. ~solution scoured stream pass3ge led off. By this time we had run outof rope and decided to bag further exploration.The next day we R&R'd it in our ha~ocks talkin~ to the large crowdof locals who wandered through camp. By dawn all four \"ere psyched topush the crawl. within 6 hours we were sloshing down the pool flooredpassage, having surveyed in from the first lunch room. The passagedropped in a series of 10' down climbs to a crawlway. A 3n' pitch offthe crawlway led "to a breakdown roo~. After some careful considerationconcerning the stability of this pile of rubble, which was perched directlyover the next pitch, three of us decided it was too risky. Tracy, howeverfelt it was perfectly safe. So to demonstrate its stability he pin~edit gingerly with his rock hammer. Three or four pin~5 and a half tonof ~ock down the pit later we decided it was safe: Tracy's "ReconstructionAlley" droppped 70' to a small room overlooking a vast black chamber.A 7S' free drop from there places one on the floor of the immense "Hallof Oztotl." Roughly ISO' x.IOO' and70'-100' high, it is the largestroom in the system. The survey later showed this room to be almostprecisely SOO meters below the entrance, and another large drop loomedahead: Unfortunately, we were out of rope again and gettin~ quitefatigued. Seventeen pitches later we staggered into the surface campat 4k~. Upon awakin~ that afternoon we realized that we had used allour rope in getting to the Hall of Oztotl. So the next morning Tracyand Gary hiked back to the truck for our 900' rope. Larry and I wentlead checkin~ to Milpas Viejas (later renamed ~ilpas Lejos). Sotano dela Ca1avera, located on the ridge west of Nogal was a miniature Cuesta;a lOa' free drop into a 100' diameter room with excellent cave pearls anddual light rays casting sufficient illumination so that lamps were unneccessary•Six other insignificant caves and pits are located way off on thewest ridge above :filpa "Lejos" and are not worth returninl1, to.Armed with another batch of rope, we went to work on Nogal again.It only took 3 hours to arrive at the Hall of Oztotl. !'1uch to our dismay,the next pitch (80') led to a mud sump. We left the cave rigged forphotos and started out. Just above the 30' crawlway pitch was a tightfissure lead. Tracy and I popped through to a 15' down climb. Thisquickly led to a deep pit. We rigged a 150' rope with a big knot on theend and I dropped in. The pitch goes free, all the way to the Hall of Oztotl,so I ended up dangling 100' off the floor just above the final pitch. Thisis definitely the easiest way in.Back on tne surface, Roy and Patty greeted us. Don and Shari arrivedthe next day. While we rested, they tied in the surface survey from ~ogalto Conchas.All descended ~ogal the following morning. Don, Shari and Patty tookphotos down to the l4Q' drop below the fault room. Roy and I deri~~edfrot:l the bottom to "The 170" where the relief teal!! of Tracy, Larry andGary took over. Everything was out by 2 A~1.Durin~ the following two days we finished up all the odds and ends.5