12The Illusive PitTerry Sayther, Ivy and Crystal Atherton, Gill Ediger, Dan Watson, Jill Dorman,Mike McKee, Paul Duncan, JiM Clements, Dorothy Tucker, Bill l~yne, Craig Bittinger,Patricia Asnes, Jim Moore.By Craig BittingerThe trip started from Austin and Corpus Christi on a Friday afternoon. Acamping spot near Candela was selected as the ronrlez-vous point. No trouble wasencountered crossing the border and around midnight Duncan's truck pulled up tothe appointed spot. Three hours later the Austin group arrived after a slight waitdue to Jim's shock absorber falling off. Morning soon came and a caravan <strong>for</strong>medand headed west from Candela. After an hour of bumpy road, the group approached aspring in the desert and found that it hadn't been totally destroyed by the Mexican's. highway construction. Several more miles of desert roads found us at the mroer'sranch where we obtained permission to visit the pit. He insisted on sending a manon horseback to show us the way to the pit so after fixing Terry's truck we continuadonward being directed by the horseman. After-crossing several arroyos wearrived at a stock tank and got o<strong>ut</strong> to survey the best ro<strong>ut</strong>e up the mountain. JimClements amazed us by stepping on a rattlesnake .and then leaping three feet intothe air. Deciding to head straight <strong>for</strong> the pit Terry pointed his truck in thegeneral direction and with lecheguilla and cactus flying we bounced up the mountain.After gettin~ organized, people started up the mountain with the 80 1bs. ofbluewater II rope. The 15 min<strong>ut</strong>e walk to the pit stretched into an hour hikethrough thick underbrush. The entrance was finally reached and the rigging began,one rope down the one meter in diameter entrance and a seccnd rope down the twometer in diameter opening. The first people into the 436' drop encountered aGordian knot abo<strong>ut</strong> 300' dotro and were <strong>for</strong>cibly delayed while it was untangled.As the group ascended and descended, they were impressed by the huge cavity belowand the tiny entrance hi~ above. The climbing times varied from 15 min<strong>ut</strong>esto an hour and by midnight all had left the pit, leaving derigging <strong>for</strong> the followingmorning. After a memorable hike through the cactus and brush in the dark, thegroup reached the trucks and collapsed. ~ofuen the sun rose again, a group headedup to derig the pit. Arriving at their destination they discovered Dan Watson hadalready pulled the ropes and had them nearly ready to be carried down. Tying themto a pack frame, the group was soon off the nountain and ready to head back <strong>for</strong>the U.S. Terry and Paul decided to drive back through Lampassas and discoveredthat the road had turned into a sea of mud. Terry managed to four wheel drivethrough the worst places b<strong>ut</strong> Paul's truck died in the middle of a raging riverand had to be pushed o<strong>ut</strong> by locals. Then he got stuck in a huge mudhole untila passing four wheel drive towed him o<strong>ut</strong>. All in all a good time was had by alland the Illusive Pit becane more than just a name to 12 <strong>cave</strong>rs who entered itsdepths.Notes on Cueva del PorvenirAs reported by Peter Sprouse in the October NSS News the illusive Cueva delPorvenir has finally been found. Several trips had attempted to reach this locallywell-known <strong>cave</strong> 70. Km across the desert SSE from Cuatrocienigas, Coahuila. b<strong>ut</strong>were sidetracked or met with various mis<strong>for</strong>tunes. However. with the new topographicmaps (Re<strong>for</strong>ma Quadrangle G14A6l) and Terry Sayther's speleotruck, we were able todrive almost to the entrance. A group consisting of Terry Sayther, Nancy Sayther,Craig Bittinger, Bill Russell, Logan Mcl~att, Dennis Breining, John Omnaas, andAnna Vrba mapped Cueva del Porvenir. b<strong>ut</strong> only started checking the numerous entrancesin the canyon walls. Cueva del Porvenir was found to be as reported, an impressivetunnel seldom less than 30 feet wide and 40 feet high, and <strong>for</strong> long sections a near~y circular tube 50 feet in diameter. Many domes extend upward beyond the reach ofa powerful light. The passage is not well graded, b<strong>ut</strong> trends generally upward followingthe strike SE along the east edge of the Sierra de San Marcos. The <strong>cave</strong> apparentlyends in a series of high dom~s. similar to Cueva de la Boca.
13Sotano Hondo de Pina1itoBy Steven BittingerIn December, 1974, Donna Atkins, Steven Bittin~er, and Bill Mayne fromTexas first visited Sotano Hondo de Pina1ito. The <strong>cave</strong> is located near km.post 105 on highway 85 north of Jaca1a, Hida1~0, Mexico. Preliminary reconnaisancereveals a typically vadose multi-drop system as deep as the presentlimit of exploration at -175 m. Noticeable airflow encourages further ef<strong>for</strong>tsat exploration.Sotano Hondo (as the <strong>cave</strong> is known by the inhabitants of the village ofPinalito) lies at the end of a small arroyo in the bottom of a large closedvalley where it receives significant runoff. It is possible to drive to withina few meters of where the entrance is hidden in a clump of cedars. Although noother major <strong>cave</strong>s have been explored in the immediate area around Pina1ito,the altitude of nearly 2000 m. and widespread internal drainage suggest thatextensive systems could be present.Sotano Hondo is a fun and interesting <strong>cave</strong> to visit. Few <strong>for</strong>mations arepresent, b<strong>ut</strong> the upper portions of the <strong>cave</strong> are scoured smooth and clean. Theinitial drop into the <strong>cave</strong> is easily rigged from a large tree which shades theentrance. From the bottom of the rope, a low passage dips down, then up to enterthe first large room. Here a 3 m. climbdown (aided by a log) is followed by aclimb down the left side of a 6 m. drop. A fairly long tie-off to a boulder thenallows the immediate descent of a 20 m. drop. This is followed by a slightlyoverhanging b<strong>ut</strong> climbable short drop to the top of another short drop requiringa rappel. The rope can be rigged through a crevice on the right wall. A furthershort climb brin~s one to the top of a 3 m. drop into a small lake. This can berappelled or bypassed by following a ledge along the right wall, then bridgingthe canyon to chimney down. The horizontal passage soon splits, the right-handside ending in a sump, while a squeeze straight ahead leads to the top of a 30 m.drop. A rope can be tied off to some holes right on the lip of the pit. After a5 m. crawl from the bottom of the drop, another c1imbdown is encountered -- thisone requiring a few meters of handline. A steeply slopin~ squeeze on the rightprobably extends to the lower level passage which is more easily reached by ashort rappel of 6 m. down a shaft on the left. A horizontal canyon leads intoan area floored by breakdown where the passage soon doubles back under itself.At this point a tight vertical squeeze makes noticeable a flow of air that hadpreviously been undetected. As an aid to returning back up throu~h the squeeze,a handline is advisable. Doubling back again along the same prominent joint, thepassage makes another drop of 25 m. The bottom of this pit was the maximum limitof exploration in December, 1974. From here a water crawl leads off, possibly.being the ro<strong>ut</strong>e taken by the airflow. (See map next page)It seems surprising that a <strong>cave</strong> so easily reached has not been exploredbe<strong>for</strong>e. Local inhabitants seemed quite friendly and indicated that there wereother sotanos in the area which also received surface drainage. Another trip toPinalito would provide the opportunity to map and explore further in SotanoHondo and perhaps locate other equally promising <strong>cave</strong>s in the area.* * * *From Mike Boon "r'll have a note on Huistan <strong>cave</strong> names in the next CanadianCaver. Chen-sen-vil-m<strong>ut</strong> is hopelessly wrong. Ch'ensibi1m<strong>ut</strong> is correct. JoyaChen or Hoya Chen (you have both on page 9) are both wrong. Joyo'eh'en iscorrect. Two of the people who surveyed the "sink end of the same system" werenot menbers of the Alberta Spelelogica1 Society and none of these (myself,George Tracy and Tom Miller) who explored and surveyed the main passage(4000of the 4600") in K'ocho' (upstream from Joyo'ch'en) were A.S.S. members
- Page 1: ASSCCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVE STUDIE
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- Page 15 and 16: 3Michael Schulte has been working o
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- Page 19 and 20: 7Diamond Cave RevisitedAndy Grubbs,
- Page 21 and 22: 9CHE~-VEN-SIL-MUTSYSTEM\+--1000 ft.
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- Page 25 and 26: 13I NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL ISOCIETY
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- Page 29 and 30: 17Discussion of Map Symbolsby Bill
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- Page 37 and 38: 3After leaving Valladolid we went t
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- Page 81 and 82: 13Date: January, 1975Destination: A
- Page 83 and 84: 15Trip Report, Christmas-New Years
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elev 1310mmeters 0Hoya de las Conch
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AMCS ACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bil
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3View across the botto~ of Hoya de
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dubbed "The 170" quickly led to ano
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Roy dropped 3 pits an'i :l cave nea
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which would have been hazardous hol
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\I0YA DE LA LUZProfile B-B'Located
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12hotic DiseasesThe August 1976 iss
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14San Juan Area Nov 1976"eo?le: Tr~
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16Caving in Puebla, Vera Cruz, and
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RETURN TO HUAUTLA~Jith t~e 1976-77
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20SCHOOL BUS SCOOPSZOaUITLAN AREA~)
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enU~«
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2April 1, 1977, marks the 10th anni
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TRIP REPORTSDestination: Cueva del
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5uestination: Sierra las Alazanas a
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The Fissure t..as located by T.P.
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11The next morning Francisco "Kissi
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12could scamper up a wed~ed log and
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14This idea was thwarted given an u
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16NEW YEAR'S DAY IN SAN AGUSTINan t
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1'1later Jim and I began the long c
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20Our group of six intended on rapp
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22here and poked around for leads.
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24and myself about trash and abando
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line didn't cross; nylon against ny
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...'"1IIc.21II .._1II~(,),-• c..'
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30Medical Report On The April 1977
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'32One caver alInost lost her voice
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34considered normal. The diabetic d
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36Jim Smit~ Has followinp, Blake Ha
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3~the spot would make a smaU slip.
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AMCSACTIVITIeSNewsLe TTe Rno. 7
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'International NewsTHE SIERRA DE GU
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International Newsin the entrance a
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The Ten Deepest Caves in Mexicoby B
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to a drop. t returned and dropped a
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to the entrance. From San Andres we
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stove in a semi-catatonic state. He
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above the roaring cascades. At time
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With two leads 'beckoning we began
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Chaining a passage in Cueva de Infi
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the cave. We pulled our rope down b
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increased the cave's depth to -197
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series of parallel ascending (+30 0
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La Sistema Purificacidn: a theory a
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Between the Cold and the" GlorybyTe
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Back tothe Bird PitsbyBill StoneSum
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'Getting Down in Peiiaby Bill Stone
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CUEVADELAPENAPROFI LEmetersoRanc ho